The Martino Family

Has it been 3 months?

2011-12-28T11:19:00.001-08:00

Wow, things have been busy and crazy and wonderful since Alina was born! I can't believe it has already been 3 months! I felt a strong need to document a few things about this adorable child and get it saved before the precious memories slip my baby brain.

Alina has been a real sweetheart from day 1. We had a wonderful all natural delivery (see Alina's Birth Story) and proceeded home from the hospital with relatively few complications. As it turns out I was group B strep positive, which many women are, and didn't know it nor was there time to treat it anyway, so it required an extra 24 hours of observation for the baby's sake. I guess that was better than unnecessary anti-biotic treatments (because she did not catch an infection) and we had full insurance coverage for the hospital stay. We had a bit of a time deciding on her name, but it has finally caught on and it is growing on me by the day.

She slept and nursed quite well in the hospital and it wasn't just beginner's luck. Alina has been sleeping through the night - 10 hours on average now, since 5-6 weeks. She wakes up sometime between 7:30am and 9am, nurses and then goes back to sleep for another 2-3 hours. I am the luckiest mom on the planet! She is a little more petite than Quentin was, but she is not small to say the least! She was born almost 9 lbs. and is just cruising up the growth charts at a healthy pace.

We have had a few minor blips, but nothing serious. Alina had a tongue tie that we had an ENT doctor clip. That just means the "skin" that connects the tongue to the bottom of the mouth was connected all the way to the tip of her tongue making it hard for her to stick her tongue out and could cause speech issues later on. It didn't affect her nursing, but we had it clipped anyway. She did not cry much and thankfully I didn't either.

Another strange incident was she had a little bit of green poop. I had to google this one...I spoke with Alina's doctor about it as well and there was unlikely any serious reason for it, I tried a few things and eventually it went away. My doctor sometimes forgets this is my second child and perhaps doesn't realize how much I went through with my first, so she thinks I have to be seen for every little thing like a paranoid new mom. I am paranoid about some things (with good reason), but green poop isn't one of them.

She has so many similar expressions and tendencies as Quentin. I am not sure how many of them are common to all newborns, or just mine, but they sure are cute. When she has been sitting or sleeping for a long time and I go to pick her up, she does this cute thing where she puts her elbows out and sticks her butt way out at the same time, like she was stuck in the sitting position. This is hard for me to capture in a picture since it usually only happens when I am the one picking her up.

She also is balling her fists in such a cute way, it is like she is punching the air and stiffens her arms. Darling!

She also has the funny drunk like expression after nursing sometimes, and she literally can smack her lips in satisfaction. It is so funny! She can also burp-with-the-boys as far as I'm concerned. She thankfully does NOT spit up often and does not drool often either, so my whole laundry situation has been much different this time around. However, we just started having blow out diapers where it goes up the back and requires an outfit change. I am not thrilled with this stage and can't remember how long it lasts.

She is cooing and smiling and started doing that much earlier than I expected. I have also been working with her on tracking with her eyes, which is following an object around smoothly as it is moved in front of her. I wish she were better at this, I would be less worried, but it is there and she is capable of it. The doctor told me that she needs to be doing it well by 3 months, so I may call and discuss this with her since it isn't a fantastic skill yet and after Quentin's issues we are watching this particular skill closely.

By the way, did I mention that she has SOMEONE wrapped around her little finger?

She surprised us in Denver over the holidays that she rolled over from front to back and from back to front once. She is not doing it regularly, but I was not kidding when I said she is strong. She is constantly trying to stand with her legs and push off with them to avoid being "sat". She was not quite 3 months!

She loves the swing and has more recently enjoyed sitting under her activity mat and batting at the hanging toys. She can grip things pretty well and will certainly start "playing" with things soon. I am going to have to do some research on what signs I should look for that she is ready for solid foods, since I don't intend to rush it. Her doctor has commented several times that because she is not fussy, has gained so much weight and sleeps so well and consistently, I must make really good milk. I know she has been "early" on many of her milestones already, but I am trying to approach new things for her on the most natural timeline and not Gerber's timeline.

Quentin has been the best big brother and I couldn't ask for anything better considering their 6 year age difference. He is so sweet and loves her so much! He mimics my tone of voice and speaks nicely to her, puts his head really close to hers and asks me to take pictures of them, and kisses and hugs her. He even puts himself under the activity mat too and will ask to hold her (using my boppy pillow). He helps get her pacifier when needed and does everything EXCEPT listen to me when I ask him to be a little more quiet around her when she is sleeping or resting. It could be worse.

She still has dark reddish hair and blue eyes, so we'll enjoy watching it grow longer and possibly change into a more permanent shade of whatever! She has a very light whitish blonde streak on the side of her head that is probably a hair birthmark and will probably always be different from the rest of her hair color. There is also a small patch of lighter red hear right across her forehead, so she could have natural highlighting that most people have to pay big bucks for!

She was born on the same day as a cousin who was born only 14 hours later, so they met for the first time over the Christmas holiday. She was also able to meet the rest of her immediate family so everyone on both sides of the family have now met our Alina! It has been a wonderful 3 months and I will try and update more often!

Pictures of Alina (First Week)

2011-10-09T19:00:00.000-07:00

Click here to view these pictures larger

Pictures of Alina (Hospital)

2011-10-09T18:50:00.001-07:00

Click here to view these pictures larger

Alina's Birth Story

2011-10-09T18:11:00.001-07:00

Alina’s birth story really starts back to some point in time after the birth of our first child, Quentin, and the moment I found out I was pregnant. I have changed my perspective on everything health and nutrition related since our son was diagnosed with Leukemia and Asperger’s Syndrome. We have embraced many forms of intervention for our son to get him in the excellent place he is today. Many of those interventions have to do with understanding our bodies and how they work, and more importantly understanding how our current environment and common practices in medicine and nutrition are affecting our health. I know not everyone would agree with me, but approaching our son’s treatment and recovery with this philosophy has improved the outlook of his life in so many ways I will never be able to deny the effect taking care of our bodies naturally can have on our health. Going into a pregnancy with another child, you can bet I recognized the opportunity for a “blank slate” to apply the things about health and nutrition I had learned to bring our next child into the world.

So, it would not surprise anyone who knows me now that I was hoping for a natural childbirth, meaning completely non-medicated unless it was a true, life threatening emergency. And, anyone who knows me, would also not be surprised that I read 3 books about natural childbirth and enlisted the help of an experienced friend (I considered her my birth coach) to prepare me for bringing this child into the world “my way”, which is not my way at all, but the way our bodies are naturally designed to give birth.

What I learned as I read and discussed with my birth coach is that it is very difficult to work against the modern system of prenatal care and typical hospital births. My doctor told me 90% of his patients had epidurals for childbirth and most receive pitocin through an IV. He only has about 20% c-sections, but for an obstetrician in 2011, this is actually pretty low. My first birth was vaginal but induced and with an epidural. Everything went very well having my first baby, and considering that I had no specific birth plan back then except to avoid c-section if possible, I couldn’t have asked for a better delivery. This time around if I wanted to have an non-medicated childbirth I knew I would first have to avoid induction, and then work to decline the standard practices of giving pain relieving narcotics, pitocin and other drugs, episiotomies and of course anesthesia. To be honest, I was more worried about fighting doctors and nurses “standard care” than the actual pain of childbirth.

So, by Wednesday September 28th, I was 40 weeks and 4 days overdue and completely panicked about being induced, because my doctor was only going to allow me to go one week overdue before scheduling an induction. He was supportive of natural childbirth if all the conditions were still favorable, but he did not want me to go past 41 weeks. I had an appointment with the doctor Wednesday morning and I had absolutely no contractions and I was not dilated at all. Everyone talks about how your second comes quicker and the fact is, there is nothing that is true for everyone. I was pretty sure as I left the doctor’s office on Wednesday that I would end up being induced the following week. Since the thought of being induced upset me so much, I admit I tried a few of the do-it-yourself labor starting techniques, and although that could be a separate story in and of itself (if I could determine if any of them actually worked), let’s just skip to the labor starting around dinner time Wednesday evening.

I was starting to feel crampy and decided after dinner to take a bath. That helped with the cramping and I proceeded to wind down for the evening and went up to our guest room to sleep, where I had been sleeping late in the pregnancy to spare my husband the tossing and turning and multiple trips to the bathroom common at this stage. I had a bit of heartburn as I usually did making it even more difficult to get to sleep and stay asleep, but more unusual were the sharper pains in my back I was starting to feel. Only able to get about 20-30 minutes of sleep at a time, I finally defined what I was feeling as back labor, but I was not sure if this was “it”. I had hoped I would never be a person who would have back labor because it seemed like when other women told me they had it, they described it as worse than “regular” labor. I started to experience true back labor contractions (meaning I didn’t feel anything across my stomach) on and off all night long. At one point I got up and watched a bit of a movie, read and commented on Facebook and sent a fairly long email to my birth coach with the details about the night, because at this point I was pretty sure my baby would be born on Thursday.

I should have actually called my birth coach, in the middle of the night, because I ended up doing all my laboring by myself including counter pressure on my back to relieve the pain of the contractions. In my husband's defense, I did not wake him up to help me through labor at all, he was very disoriented I'm sure waking up to the situation the way it was. It would have been nicer to have help, but I was doing okay holding my own and applying pressure as they got worse. I was thinking that either my husband or my friend could help me in the morning. However, by around 5am, I was ready for some help or relief. I went downstairs to get in a hot shower, hoping, like the bath the night before, that water would provide some relief. As long as I didn’t move too much in the shower, it did provide relief and there was a good stretch of time without contractions, again all in the back. At this point I had no reason to doubt we would get to the hospital in time if my contractions could be stopped with a shower. Oh, how wrong I was. That was the calm before the storm.

I got out of the shower and within minutes I was having pretty intense back contractions only a few minutes apart. This woke up Ryan (my cries of pain) and I told him we needed to call the doctor’s answering service, the birth coach, the babysitter for Quentin, and get to the hospital. Within 20 minutes we left for the hospital at about 6:15am. Since it was still pretty early, we didn’t have any issues with rush hour traffic, especially going the direction we were going, and we made it just before 6:30. Since it was still “after hours” at this hospital, we had to enter through the ER. Before getting to the door I had another contraction and was clinging to Ryan pretty desperately. A security guard offered to get a wheelchair, and during a quick stop at the check in desk, my water broke and they had me going up to Labor and Delivery with surprising efficiency. Thank goodness I pre-registered.

On the Labor and Delivery floor (which I was very familiar with having visited multiple friends there, been monitored once during pregnancy, and gone on the formal maternity tour), they attempted to put me into a triage room, where I knew they were planning on “checking” me first to assess my progress and follow up with the doctor before moving me. I knew there was not time for that, so as politely as I could, I told them if they put me in a triage room that would be where I would be delivering. I’m glad they listened to me. The floor was full, meaning every regular room was occupied, and they only had a smaller room typically not used for deliveries, but it was much better equipped than the triage room.

After getting into the hospital gown and on the bed, I was checked and determined to be completely dilated. According to their typical protocol, the doctor himself had not been notified, just the answering service. The hospital is supposed to contact him AFTER I’ve been assessed. So, I knew about then he was going to miss the birth. My birth coach was on her way as well but would likely miss it too since her drive was more than twice as long as ours, and clearly we didn’t leave much time for anyone to get there. Approaching the 7am hour, it was also shift change for the nurses. Let’s just say it was a drastic awakening for everyone!

The strange thing is, I remember the intense contractions at home after my shower, I remember the contractions in the car on the way to the hospital, I remember having a contraction in the parking lot, but I don’t remember having them clearly after my water broke. Ryan actually had to leave the room to go back to the car to get the cord blood collection kit, and I remember trying and hoping I wouldn’t deliver the baby until he got back. I was also realizing that I didn’t know who was going to deliver the baby or tell me when and how to push if my doctor and birth coach weren’t here yet. As soon as Ryan was back and I verified that I was dialated enough to push, I just did it, and all at once (in one push) Alina was born at 6:49am. We had been inside the hospital less than 20 minutes and a nurse had to “catch” the baby. It was an amazing relief and in retrospect it was not as bad as my worst fear of the pain. I did it and it was awesome.

The most important things are 1) that we made it to the hospital in time, 2) that everything was okay with the baby, 3) that a nurse knew how to collect the cord blood, and 4) that I had made it through the entire labor and delivery without any medications like I wanted and without staff confrontation. They never even got the required IV in me. My doctor arrived shortly afterwards as did my birth coach and she was able to celebrate the euphoria of childbirth and the accomplishment it was and of course, see the precious baby girl.

What I didn’t expect was having ALL of my labor in my back all the way until the end. Everyone said that the second one could come really fast after the first, but I didn’t know how to measure what “fast” would be comparing a medicated/induced first baby to a non-medicated second baby where I actually went into labor on my own. I had studied the stages of labor but had a harder time recognizing them than I expected. I also didn’t expect that the answering service for the doctor would not have asked for enough information to see if the doctor should wait for a call from the hospital or meet us there. Granted, most people don’t cut it as close as we did, but the doctor missing the delivery was what resulted from not having a few bits of key information when we called from home.

If I were ever to have any other children, I would certainly do a non-medicated childbirth again if I had the choice. I would also probably be a little better at recognizing the right time to go the hospital. I can also say that my own physical recovery has been so, so much better than after having my first baby, even though I thought that recovery went pretty well. Just for emphasis, I am going to repeat myself. My own recovery was so much better without any drugs being involved and I would definitely do it again.

A little bit harder than deciding when to go to the hospital was deciding what name to give her. We finally decided on Alina Rachel Martino, born in Sugar Land, TX at 6:49am weighing 8 lbs. and 14 oz. and measuring 20 inches long. We are very happy with how her birth went and we are even more happy to have her in our family!

It Came and Went

2011-09-25T21:46:00.000-07:00

So, today was my "official" due date, and I am still pregnant, which is fine with me. I am moderately uncomfortable anyway, but I am more interested in going into spontaneous labor than rushing things for convenience or because I can't hold out any more. My disclaimer is, give me a few days and I could be singing a different tune, but for now, let the waiting begin.

I am suprised at how much I learned about pregnancy and my own body this time around, and surprised at how little other people know (including myself before my additional research this time around). For example, it is very common for people to call a birth either a c-section or a "natural" birth, meaning vaginal, but most vaginal births today are not that natural. It's okay, I notice men using this term the most because I don't think they are comfortable saying "vaginal" anyway and since they can't relate to the feeling, medicated or not, they get a free pass to use the wrong term.

It is more natural to give birth vaginally than surgery, yes, but the protocol of medical interventions starting with induction of labor, pain drugs, epidurals and artificial hormones given to women having these "natural" child births is far from the unmedicated real natural child births I have been reading about. I was enlightened to learn about how possible and rewarding it is to give birth starting with spontaneous labor and ending without major or even minor medical interventions. In particular if it is achievable, I look forward to a dramatically different recovery for ME. So, I am hoping for an unmedicated natural childbirth. We'll see....

I think I am prepared for an unmedicated delivery, but since I am still having a hospital birth with a standard OB doctor, I am preparing for the list of compromises: when to induce if I am pressured/forced to, how to induce if at all, how much monitoring during labor, and avoiding the other list of interventions from pitocin to narcotics to epidurals to episiotomies and even pitocin again to deliver the placenta. I admit, however, that I am not as prepared as some would be had I taken a series of natural child birth classes, practiced the techniques more, etc. I could have also gone with a mid-wife or something besides a conventional OB if I wanted better chances of not having to fight the "system". Oh, well. We'll see how it goes.

So, my due date came and went and I am not in labor, but I hope that she comes on her own soon enough to do this my way, and of course I pray for a healthy baby without complications regardless.

Things I've Learned About Pregnancy

2011-09-15T05:47:00.000-07:00

Things are going well. I am about a week away from my due date and I feel enormous. I could be in worse shape, my biggest ailments are swollen feet and ankles, heartburn, and the overall heaviness of carrying around the weight. I have decided to attempt a natural (unmedicated) childbirth and I'm hoping my research and nerves hold out to actually go through with it. I had a great baby shower hosted by 2 terrific friends and our fantastic babysitter and I am nearly completely ready for the baby to arrive.

I have learned a few things about my pregnancy this time around that I didn't know before, even though I did this about 6 years ago.

1. Age does matter - I actually feel older this time, and I have to fight myself to move around and stay active which I know helps in having a healthy pregnancy. I am just too old for this!

2. It is scarier than the first in terms of having another child already and wondering how things are going to be when both kids are having meltdowns at the same time, which is surely going to happen. Quentin has a schedule to keep up (he is in 1st grade at a school we have to drive to or carpool for every day!!) and I didn't have to keep a schedule for another child before.

3. Like most first time moms, I way overestimated how much "stuff" you really need to keep a baby content and happy last time, so I probably complicated everything the first time around (hence my storage unit full of blue baby stuff). This time around I feel like I am going to be more laid back, but then again, I can barely remember what the heck I'm supposed to do (bathing, feeding, sleeping, etc.). I don't know if this is like riding a bike. Can I just get on and ride again? Last time I read a great book and I can't find it now! It truly helped us get on a nice breastfeeding schedule and assure me how many times a day to be feeding, how many wet diapers to expect, and got us sleeping through the night ASAP. I must find that book! **update, I found the book, and I think I'm more anxious than ever. I forgot how many hours of the day I will spend feeding and changing in the first 6-8 weeks. I mean I knew, but seeing it again is daunting. I hope I can nap frequently during the day when Quentin is at school**

4. Hormones are fascinating to me, and I have learned in much more detail the role they play in pregnancy, particularly progesterone and oxytocin. I really have enjoyed understanding this small part of the big picture that makes the miracle of childbirth possible. I had to supplement progesterone in the first trimester and in the second trimester I started taking natural thyroid. It has been amazing, practically life changing. I do not consume any caffeine, I get adequate sleep, and despite being pregnant I have observed that I am much less tired and stimulant dependant than so many people who are NOT pregnant and I'm making a person around the clock here!

5. Pregnant women use a lot of toilet paper. I didn't know it was possible to feel the urge to urinate EVERY time you stand up, but it is definitely possible!

6. Girl names are harder. Nearly every girl name, traditional or not, has 3-6 spellings and it is not always obvious how to pronounce it from the spelling. Our baby might come home "Baby Girl Martino" from the hospital until we get a handle on this difficult decision.

7. 9 months is a long time for a 5 year old future sibling. He "figured it out" when I was only about 2 months along. He has gone through many phases of being into the idea, and ignoring the idea, then he's into it again, then he gave up waiting.....

8. I have been studying natural childbirth and I believe that is what I want. However, the pressure to do it with all the modern day medical interventions is very high, especially if you want to have your baby in the hospital. It is amazing to me how hard you have to advocate for yourself to avoid induction, pain drugs, epidurals, episiotomies, and c-sections. I have also concluded that if you get one, you would pretty much want them all so if you want a natural childbirth, the trick is to avoid that first medical intervention. This time around (if all goes as planned) I will have the support of my husband AND another support coach who is experienced and has spent months with me and knows what I want and will help me get it. We'll see if I can do this unmedicated, and I'll update later if it turned out that way.

9. Every pregnancy is different, which I read in books and heard from the wiser, but now I know. I think what worries me more than the pregnancy being different is that the baby will be different. I want another baby who is an excellent feeder and sleeper and has the most pleasant dispostion. I am afraid the "guarantee" that all babies are different means I won't have one or all of those 3 characteristics in this next child. Perhaps there will be plenty of other differences that are easier to cope with - hair or eye color, love of vegetables in the future, and interest in arts and crafts. Yes, I vote for those kinds differences!!

10. I thought I would feel experienced, but after 6 years I basically feel like we are starting all over and there are so many unknowns. I am due 1 week from today, and I can't believe I will start this overwhelming responsibility in the next few weeks to sustain life of another human being. I know this sounds lame, but I still feel like I am not sure I should be allowed to leave the hospital with a new baby - like I need parent permission. I don't even trust myself with real plants or pets!! What was I thinking?!

Two Extremes

2011-07-18T11:07:00.000-07:00

I ended last week on such a great note, it is such a contrast from the tired low I am on today. We had a minor power door locking issue with our newer car and at our dealer service appointment on Friday, they decided to cover it completely without charging us even though the car is barely out of warranty by age, even though it is still under the warranty limit in miles. I decided to see the Harry Potter movie by myself while I waited for the car to get done, so that worked out great!

I spent as much time with my little Quentin as I could before he left us for 2 weeks to visit his grandparents in Kansas, and he was being particularly sweet and fun all week. He did great in his last week of summer camp and his camp counselor (who happens to have worked previously with children with his same diagnosis) after his little talent show on Friday said he did amazing adapting, blending in and coping with the week's activities. This was especially great compared to another child in his group (who happened to have the same diagnosis as Quentin) who did not do as well with his socialization and behavior, so it assured me we have made noticable progress with his schooling and therapy and he is well on his way to being "mainstreamable". She didn't know about his diagnosis until I told her on Friday, so she spent 5 days with him not treating him any differently because I told them to expect certain things of Quentin. She said she was glad I didn't tell her and said it all went great, and since mainstreaming is the ultimate goal, of course, we hope his schooling can start in a mainstream environment next school year. This is what I hoped to accomplish by sending him to various summer camps this year instead of the usual one put on by his school that is ultra familiar to him, so even though I don't think he is quite ready for regular public or private school, I am more confident that by the end of this coming school year, he will be. I hope I will be!

We had a family date night on Friday night and went out for some wings. Quentin was so funny, he was so chilled by the air conditioning, he was literally shivering. We kept having to trade off taking him outside into the Texas evening heat to "thaw out" and run up and down the sidewalk so he could come in and eat a little more. I don't know if you can "store" hugs and kisses, but heaven knows I tried, and thankfully Quentin was obliging, but at his age, cuddling with mom and getting extra TLC is not something I was guaranteed.

Saturday was spent mostly in the car taking Quentin to our usual drop off point in Oklahoma and by 2:30pm Ryan and I were alone in the car on our way back to Houston. I do have a lot of baby preparation to do, so I need to use the next 2 weeks as efficiently as I can, but I just really miss Quentin. I am sure part of it is being pregnant and hormonal, but part of it is that he simply brings so much to my everyday life it is actually shocking to be without him. He and I have a true relationship now that goes beyond his dependency on me for the basic needs of life, of which I've had breaks from him before, but this time it is different and longer. I don't think I realized how interesting our lives became with Quentin until it was no longer there overnight and I actually missed doing the redundant little things like preparing meals, fighting with him to take baths, getting dressed to go out for the day, and forgiving him for waking up every morning between 6:30-7am (but what's not to forgive when he crawls in bed, snuggles with you, and says it is the best part of the day?). Ryan and I agreed we wouldn't want to be without him and "go back" to married life with no kids, not at this point. That is exactly what we are for the next 2 weeks, married without kids around, and it is the last time we will experience that kind of quiet (since we have another on the way due in 2 months) for quite a while.

Since I'm have not slept well or long enough the past several nights, and since I am sad and missing Quentin, I am just hoping I can get it together and get my things done this week. I am going to try and work at work a bit too, but there is so much to do at home and no better opportunity to get it done. What is my excuse now? Quentin's schedule is full and exhasting, so why do I miss it?

So, due to the general fatigue of pregnancy, the heartburn and reflux leading to me not sleeping well, I went from a great high on Friday to a great low of Monday with a long two weeks ahead of me to get a lot done and wait until my family is together again. Wish me luck!

What a kicker!

2011-06-25T04:16:00.000-07:00

A little indulgence on the pregnancy side, I do want to make it clear that although I am anxious about the baby coming in September, it is only because I have so much to do and there are still so many unknowns for me. I know that because of what we have been through with Quentin, there are so many things that will be different this time around when we have this baby. Not because we think we did something wrong with Quentin or expect everything to be perfect, just because it has been 6 years since having a baby before and a lot has changed, in the world, and as far as the knowledge I have goes.

I am sure that I won't do things as easily just for convenience, if there is a more "natural" way, starting with the birth, and moving through feeding (breastfeeding more exclusively, making my own baby food, glass bottles?), bathing (avoiding certain common ingredients in soaps and shampoos) and even development (more attention paid to key milestones that Quentin struggled with). I am pretty sure I cannot do cloth diapers 100%, so don't think I am going completely tree hugger on everyone, I am just screwed up now with my persepective and to be quite honest, I think I will be a fairly strange and weird parent, as if I am not already.

This pregancy has been the same and different for me. I was a little more nauseous than I was last time, but it was still mostly confined to my 1st trimester. I am starting to have heartburn/reflux issues now, but this is about when they came on last time too. The big difference for me is the movement in the womb. I can't believe how much I can feel this baby! She is moving all the time, and there is a good 3-4 week stretch I am in now where there is still plenty of amniotic fluid and the baby's size and activity level are such that the movement is so distinct for this phase I am having a hard time remembering it being this distinct with Quentin.

I was supplementing with progesterone early in the pregnancy because I was right at low-normal, and I have a tendency to be low on progesterone anyway, so that was different for me, but I also ended up starting Armour Thyroid about a month ago. I have my bloodwork and hormones tested regularly now, and they were all fine in December (hence the green light for getting pregant) and by early May, my thyroid was low enough to warrant taking some for the first time in my life. Having enough thyroid has made all the difference in the world for the past month, and it would be VERY easy for the symptoms of hypothyroidism to blend in with the common side effects of pregancy and go undetected - fatigue, weight gain, dry hair and nails, etc.

I have noticed such a positive difference that I wish I had experienced a few months of thyroid supplementation before I got pregant just to see if that would really have made me finally feel as healthy and energetic as I should feel at my age. I am taking the natural version of it and at this point they will have to pry it out of my steel gripped hands. It is amazing how great you feel when you are balanced the right way hormonally! I should know, I've spent 2 years doing it.

Our future daughter is still nameless, but we are discussing it. I am trying to figure out how to do a natural, unmedicated birth without the hassle of birthing classes. If anyone knows how to do that, let me know!

Productivity - A Recap

2011-06-24T16:21:00.000-07:00

I am trying to make the most of what little time I have these days, so I am attempting to update my blog from my iPhone while sitting at Quentin's swimming class. I am only a couple weeks away from the start of my 3rd pregnancy trimester and my remaining to-do list is a little overwhelming.

But, I hate to leave too much time unaccounted for, so I'll try and update for the last few months.

Quentin finished Kindergarten in May and had an outstanding year of learning and progress. It was his 3rd year at The Parish School and he will return for another in the fall. This coming school year is likely going to be his last year at that school, which is quite bitter sweet. It is unlikely we will ever have the close relationship with teachers, staff and other parents at any other school, and it will be an adjustment for all of us to transition to what is sure to be less nurturing environment. However, it is inevitable and necessary.

Quentin completed some academic and IQ testing for the public schools and, surprise, surprise, he's one smart cookie! The decision to go public or private for 2nd grade and on is coming fast, and that is going to be a difficult process. We must decide and apply by the end of this year.

Ironically, for me, choosing Quentin's next school seems to be an easier decision than deciding what to name our baby. This is just one more way it would have been easier if we were having another boy, but she won't be nameless forever. I'm sure we'll figure out something.

We started the summer with a 2 week trip to Denver to visit family. It was great and went by fast. I don't think we'll make it back there until Christmas, and we aren't likely to see anyone in-between except possibly my mother around September or October when the baby comes. I soaked up all I could of them - it was a great trip!

Our family visits aren't over for the summer though. We are visiting my dad and family in Nebraska at the end of July, after Quentin gets a week or two in Kansas with his grandparents and cousins. In the meantime, our days are scheduled with various summer camps and programs, swimming lessons and occupational therapy, all of which Quentin seems to love!

School starts early for us (earlier in private schools vs public schools) in the middle of August, so after we get back from Nebraska we will only have a few weeks before school starts. I hope I am more ready for the baby to come by then than I am now!!

Ryan went to Denver with us and is going to Nebraska with us too. He is playing basketball one night a week as well. Him and Quentin have recently bonded over common interests in a few select video games. It is pretty cute to see them gaming away on the couch every now and then.

My time is nearly up - at least it's something, right?

*Written from my iPhone*

Early Baby Pictures

2011-05-23T19:15:00.001-07:00

I had several early ultrasounds, and I picked one from each one to share here:

6 weeks:

8 weeks:

12 weeks:
20 weeks:
It's a girl!:

Time to catch up

2011-05-09T05:22:00.000-07:00

It is worse than I thought. I have been avoiding this blog for a while, and it is worse than I thought because it cannot really be 4 months since I last posted, but it has. I am not sure if anyone will even read this anymore, surely some people have stopped checking for new updates. I am sorry, I have had reasons, but I am not trying to claim they were good ones.

I stopped posting basically right after we found out I was pregnant. Yay! As of this week I am 20 weeks, so that is the halfway mark. We didn't tell anyone until middle of March, which was easier than I thought. In March we mostly only told family, and I was still not showing, so we waited to tell friends until April. I think pretty much everyone knows now who needed to know before we made the annoucement via Facebook or blog, so I think I can talk openly about it.

I think that is the main reason I've been avoiding my blog, because I didn't want to just write about things as if I weren't pregnant, and I was not ready to be talking about it a lot either. Everything is going well, but I think mentally and emotionally we are still trying to get in the "right" place about it. It was not completely unplanned, we just knew we couldn't wait much longer if we were going to have more children. However, the long and difficult 5.5 years we've had with Quentin has us both still tired and nervous about having another child. Plus, I haven't been pregnant in 6 years and my body is telling me that. As if I didn't have energy problems before, this is really testing my body and resolve to get through it, and hopefully I can do it without wearing myself out in a bad way.

I think a huge part of this for me is the upcoming adjustment to not working. Because I do work and have for so long, which has many reasons and consequences behind it, I have all those reasons to adjust into not working after the baby comes. I work because I love my job, it keeps my brain active and uses the education I acquired and value. I work because it helps ease the stress of how expensive treatments have been for Quentin over the years, both health related, therapy related and educationally related. I work because it makes logical use of my time and daily drive out to Quentin's school, on a toll road no less, and because I work part time and have unlimited flexibility, it's a hard gig to give up. However, the consequences of working are strikingly obvious in my house. I have had a backlog of disorganization at my household. I am simply not here to keep up with things - cleaning, sorting, filing, etc. I am also not home and as available to plan and make meals, not to mention I seem to loathe doing it lately. We don't just eat out as an alternative, we just treat dinner more like lunch - sandwiches, leftovers, soup, and keep it light and easy.

So, I am not sure what to do with myself when I am not working. I dream of finally having the time to keep my house clean and orderly, but I'm not sure I can do it taking that on with 2 children instead of 1, and since I am SO badly out of practice. Quentin got cancer when he was 11 months old, and my life has been turned upsidedown ever since. I have only faint memories of my life before that complexity and cannot even recall if I did the normal amount of cleaning, cooking and organizing back then. I know I was still working at that time, but from home. Oh how different my life is now.....

In other news, Quentin does know he will be a big brother this September, but we do not know yet if it is a boy or a girl. I suppose we will find out this week, so I will update again with the news. Just for the record, I am completely fine with either gender, and I have reasons for loving the idea of having either a boy or a girl next. Most people are predicting a girl, but for a bunch of non-scientifically backed reasons, so I am thinking that is more a choice they would want for us, rather than a real prediction. I expected a pregancy to be different for me after 6 years and in my 30's, so I will say this one has been different, from what little I can recall of being pregnant with Quentin, so we'll see.

Yesterday was Mother's Day, and I did a lot of thinking about the amazing mothers and grandmothers in my life. I am so grateful I learned so much from them, and I will need to draw on their wisdom in every way possible as my life completely changes later this year. I have a lot to do between now and then, and I am a little nervous about actually being ready for this baby come fall. Wish me luck!

Great Day!

2011-01-08T20:21:00.000-08:00

This day would be even better if I thought I could stay up a few more hours and get some things done while it is "quiet" (meaning Quentin is asleep), but I doubt that will happen. Darn my body - it is just so used to getting a "full" night sleep it kind of demands it now and pretty much has a mind of its own.

I had a really nice day today. I woke up and got the house picked up a little, which included putting away the chaos of toys and books added from both Quentin's birthday and Christmas. I got it done properly this time since there was a chance we were having friends over today to play with Quentin. We went out instead, but it was a GREAT excuse to get right to it on a Saturday morning! After making some visible progress, we went to breakfast. Quentin tried all the various IHOP syrups on his french toast, the first time I allowed him to order wheat bread for breakfast at a restaurant.

He was very excited for his playdate today, which included meeting up for lunch and bowling with a friend of his from his class in school last year. I again allowed him to eat wheat, a pita cheese pizza and I had a ceasar salad, and we went on from there for Quentin to bowl for the first time. He loved it, it had bumbers up and was fully automated of course. He scored an 84 and even got one spare! It was not bad at all, for a five year old bowling for his first time.

He and I took naps when we came home and had dinner together as a family at home too. We went out as a family to shop for groceries, mostly, and came home and put one tired little boy to bed. He ate and drank so much today! I think he is on a growth spurt, which is not something he looks like he needs right now. He is getting SO BIG!! He is around 50 lbs. and tall, and just does not look like a toddler anymore. Not at all.

Honestly, I am having a hard time adjusting to him growing up so much, I think my parenting is all messed up. I still carry him, which probably makes me insane. He still asks to be held when he is tired, and so I do what I can, but he is so huge! I never see anyone else carrying a child his size around. I am not always patient enough or leave myself enough time to have him dress himself, even though he can and does sometimes. I just need to get it in my head that he is finally catching up on all the things he has been behind on for so long, and it seems like it happened all at once, overnight. He eats constantly, and I think he will really start impacting my grocery bill in the next few years. He doesn't "need" me in the bathroom anymore, so I can't monitor how "regular" he is anymore, and I failed to teach him to close the door when he does go especially when he isn't at home. He was a late potty trainer so I it feels so new still, but in kindergarten he is really expected to close the door behind him and this is something that took a bit of work his teacher told me. At least he washes his hands most of the time.

If I can keep up with his constant eating and snacking, and take advantage of his recent interest in trying new foods, things might turn out just great this year! I made a batch of enchiladas last week differently than I have ever made them, and he ate 2 of them and claims now they are his favorite food! I had to feed the bites to him (getting it on the fork AND trying new food was too much for him to do at the same meal) but next time I think he might do it himself. I just hope by the time he is 6 we are all pretty much eating the same meals. That might be my most important goal of this year regarding Quentin. I can't believe he doesn't get sick of eating chicken and potatoes. I get kind of sick of making them, but I made some of his gluten free breaded chicken I cook in coconut oil the other day and put some on my salad, and wow, it is really good!

I did have another cooking victory this week. I made Bang Bang shrimp for Ryan's birthday and a simple salad, because he said he was having a bigger and "heavy" lunch. He still ate over a dozen of the shrimp because he really loves the dish. This was my first time making it, previously I had bought it as Bang Bang Chicken from the Sam's Club deli/meat department, but they stopped making it from what I can tell. I was relieved it worked out and that it was not a disappointment on his birthday! We will go out for steaks later, his "real" birthday dinner, as soon as he decides where. I think he has spent more time deciding where to eat steak than we spent picking out our new car.

We did get a new car last month, new for us, but previously owned. It is a silvery/greenish/blue 2008 Pontiac G6 with low miles. We took it to Kansas City on a road trip for Christmas and we really enjoyed it! I had to say goodbye to my 12 year old car from college.

I hope everyone is off to a great start this new year and had happy holidays!

Tooting My Own Horn

2010-12-01T19:45:00.000-08:00

I am proudly a person who has completed the ordering of my Christmas cards this year, something I never thought I'd get done at a reasonable time based on how this year has gone. I am always so behind on so many things, this was bound to be one of them, but I think my December will be more relaxed knowing it is already done. Well, half of it is done anyway....the addressing and stamping is yet to come. That can take longer than you think - at least that's the way it is every year.

I also put up our Christmas tree (artificial pre-lit with pine cones) and the Christmas Express radio controlled train I got after Christmas last year. It may be the only thing we decorate this year since we are not staying home, but it will be less to put away and less to get out. I think Ryan and I are both okay with taking a year, this year in particular, off from the madness of holiday decorating.

I have a little, but not much to shop for this year, and we will be heading for Kansas City in a few weeks. It is getting cold here in Houston, and people I know everywhere seem to be having their home heating systems going out on them all over the place. I have to admit though, I am equally sympathetic to Houstonians (I'm one of them now) who have their heat out as Coloradans (this is where I grew up), even though the low temperature is much different. To us, it is all relative and the upper 30's is freezing cold weather around here! I had a Chinese co-worker tell me that they have one car that isn't in their garage at night, so this morning in Houston there was a frost on the window. He said he had to go into the house and get water to pour on the glass to get rid of it. I told him, you know, most people use an ice scraper to get frost and ice off their car windows. He seemed to think that it sounded like a good idea in theory, but had no idea what one looked like or where to get one, or if they really existed I guess :) Oh, what a big difference 1000 miles south makes!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-30T06:23:00.000-08:00

We went to Colorado for Thanksgiving this year. It was nice to have a family birthday party for Quentin since normally we are not around family on or near his birthday. We stayed about a week, enjoying several visits and meals with family.

Unfortunately, several people including Quentin got sick while we were there, some kind of stomach bug. For a while, Quentin couldn't keep down fluids and after 17-18 hours of that, I decided to take him to an urgent care clinic to get some anti-nausea medication so he could at least keep down water. He was so dang determined to drink, he kept throwing it up anyway and wouldn't even give his body a rest. I am pretty sure he doesn't get this kind of stubborness from me :)

Still, it was a bit of a downer on our trip. He wasn't himself for several days, so we didn't go as many places or do as many things. Although this did make for a bit of a less active trip, it didn't seem more relaxing when it just piled up the people to see towards the end of our trip with less time to do it in.

Colorado is where my family lives, and I am not sure when we are getting back to Colorado again. Also, we have not made any spring break plans and usually by now we have. I guess that is okay, and we will see how it goes. I am thinking of just staying at home but taking a week off from work in addition to not having Quentin's school.

We are heading to Kansas City for part of Christmas break by car, and we will work our schedule around the weather. It is so easy to forget how inhibiting weather can be when you live in Houston, TX. I admit that after not even 3 full years here, I am completely adapted to the heat, humidity, and have decided I prefer this weather to the cold, dryness, snow, scraping windshields, cold and wind that takes your breath away, layers and layers of clothing, etc.

We were able to eat turkey twice, one of them deep fried and the other cooked in a roaster until the meat fell of the bones. I also made a prime rib and enjoyed lots, and lots, and lots of pie. I took some holiday pictures of my brother and his wife and new baby. It was nice - wish I could get back into the regular routine a little better. I think I need one more week off!

Family Pictures 2010

2010-11-30T06:20:00.000-08:00

We had a new set of family pictures taken this fall by a talented friend of mine from my camera club. I have not decided what video conversion software to purchase, so in the mean time, this video below has a water mark in it, but you will get the idea and enjoy a slideshow of family photos taken this fall in our back yard.

How can I possibly remember everything?

2010-11-18T21:46:00.000-08:00

I am a bit overwhelmed at the end of a long day thinking about this amazing child I have who just turned 5. He has overcome so many things and continues to impress and amaze me! In the last week he lost his first two teeth. He turned 5. I actually started the day crawling into bed with him and told him the story of the day he was born in New Jersey, then we got up and showed him the pictures I had that went along with the story (him in my tummy, then a new little baby). We celebrated in several ways today, at home, at school, and he even sang the birthday song to himself!

Today we watched him struggle for a second time to blow out his one candle (so this isn't something everyone is automatically good at, apparently) and he tuckered himself out playing with friends and we put a sleepy boy to bed, who prays for things like not getting hurt by our couch (long story) and is grateful for each and every friend who comes to play with him. We ended the day putting his second tooth under his pillow and he fell asleep telling me that he will be "angry and frustrated" when he loses all his teeth because he won't be able to eat anything, and then rambles on about a broken lamp (it made no sense, by this point he was delirious) as he is starting to lose consciousness and is drifting off to sleep.

He asks me to lay down with him almost every night, and I don't usually except for "special occasions", so tonight I watched this amazing child peacefully fall asleep whispering to me he had a fun birthday. When tucking him into bed sometimes we find him clutching a favorite toy our car, or literally sleeping on top of books. He does so many cute and wonderful things, it is impossible for me to remember them all. All I know is he has my heart wrapped around his tiny little sticky finger.

4 long, long years

2010-11-11T07:32:00.000-08:00

I am not emotional as I start this blog post, because as a matter of fact, it has now been 4 years since Quentin's diagnosis with Leukemia. The emotion wave will likely roll in soon as I get into the recap.

On November 11, 2006 Quentin was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. This one event has completely altered my life over the past 4 years in ways I could've never predicted. However, I have to say that being Quentin's mother has me smiling almost non-stop these days, and I am SO thankful for him and that he is still with us.

I was summarizing our experience to a friend last night who didn't know many details since she has only known us for a couple years. For the past couple years, Quentin has been off chemotherapy and we have had more of a normal life and we "blend in" to most people who only see us sporadically at church, school, work, etc. However, the day to day of our life has been and continues to be exhausting, but it has its rewards.

So, to summarize, Quentin was diagnosed at 11 months old with Leukemia. His symptoms were mostly flu-like, but his immune system was compromised because Leukemia is cancer of the white blood cells, and our white blood cells fight infection. He was a walking vulnerability for several years.

It was the most dangerous to be so compromised for the 6 months we were in the hospital. I was re-capping last night to my friend 4 of the most serious complications, and this wasn't even all of them. He had a yeast infection in his blood at one point, with a dangerously high fever and the risk that the anti-fungals would not treat it. He also had c-diff and rota virus pretty much back to back, so we had weeks of diarrhea, diaper rash, and hospital isolation. He had pneumatosis and had to go almost a month with no food or water by mouth. He was also CMV +, which led to several flare ups that included respiratory treatments around the clock and the necessary anti-viral regimen that pretty much kept us in the hospital for 6 straight months.

While at the hospital he was frozen in time developmentally, because from the ages of 12-18 months he should've started walking, talking, eating table foods, and many other gross and fine motor skills. Instead, he just happily crawled around in relative silence eating baby food when he could and drinking formula completely oblivious to the abnormality of his life, and we did our best to conduct a daily routine with naps, playtime and Daddy coming "home" after work as if we truly lived there. We did truly live there, and in 6 months time Quentin only went outside one time. In the hospital we did laundry, ate, slept, watched TV and movies, chatted with our new oncology friends, and so was our life.

We began working more seriously with speech, occupational and play therapy after we left the long term admittance to the hospital, and Quentin's more serious developmental issues emerged. He had red flags for Autism, but we were way too disbelieving that it wasn't just a side effect of the hospitalization and cancer treatments. We had no proof and we never will that the cancer "caused" this secondary issue. We will just deal with it and continue the effort to make the most of Quentin's quality of life.

We were told that Quentin could have learning disabilities brought on as a result of the cancer treatments, so we took him to a psychologist in New Jersey to get a baseline evaluation so that we could see when these late effects of chemo hit and get him the remedial help he would need, whenever that was, assuming he survived. So far no relapse. This was the evaluation that gave us a non-specific diagnosis of a pervasive developmental disorder (PDD).

Before we left New Jersey when Quentin was barely 2, we discovered he could read words, which honestly was quite the opposite of the learning DISability they prepared us for. He could sign the words having learned sign language from Signing Time! videos, and he could label read from his baby books. We just happened to stumble on the fact that he could read any of the words from his baby books without pictures or context, and in any order, written by hand, lower case, upper case, or whatever. It was shocking. It still is, actually.

We knew that my number one priority when moving to Texas was his development, because we already knew which oncologist we were transferring him to. That was easy. Finding the right therapy program was probably the most pressure I've ever had as a mother, because I knew if I didn't get him the help and early intervention he needed soon, his autistic like symptoms (PDD) could stay, get worse, and I would watch his independent future just fade away. At this point we had to be confident that the cancer would stay away and that this would be our only focus now. However, the worry in the back of our minds and the regular oncology visits are a reality and will be for the rest of his childhood.

We were extremely fortunate to find The Parish School, a school that teaches children with learning differences from ages 18 months - 12 years old. They recognized the PDD and his hyperlexia, which is the term for his ability to read at such a young age. I wanted to cry in happiness that there was a place where the staff knew "exactly" what to do to help him. He has been going to this school ever since.

We have reached every positive milestone a cancer survivor and child with a pervasive developmental disorder could have. He has even exceeded typical expectations and started kindergarten a year early at his learning differences school, because his academics and social behavior are not quite aligned, and he is struggling to learn appropriate social behavior and age appropriate expectations. He is doing SO well and he has quite the sense of humor that keeps us laughing and smiling all day long! Think of a mini-Sheldon Cooper, a character from the TV show "The Big Bang Theory". You gotta love him! He is extremely smart, learns very quickly, can read beyond anything I could've imagined a child could do at his age, and we are just watching him amaze us every single day.

We are so blessed to have Quentin in our life. Because of him we value our lives, our health, our time and our future so much more. Because of him we have sympathy and compassion for a large group of families who have a child stricken with cancer or an autism spectrum disorder. We have turned our lives upside down to see this child reach another very near milestone, his 5th birthday next week. We have much to celebrate and be thankful for on this 4th anniversary of Quentin's Leukemia diagnosis.

Fall, Halloween and Pictures - Finally!

2010-11-04T21:32:00.000-07:00

I have been horrible about keeping my blog up to date, and my Facebook activity has decreased somewhat, at least what I post about myself. It turns out trying to slow down my life requires wrapping up a lot of loose ends first, which is making my schedule crazy for a little bit longer.

I also vowed I would not post any more to this blog without pictures. So, finally I have included some pictures from Halloween.

I can also post this link to a good set of pictures from our trip to the Texas Railroad for "A Day Out With Thomas" with Grandma Jackie and Riley. It was a beautiful day with perfect weather!

Quentin is doing so well in school! He has really reached a groove as far as routine and expectations go. We had his first parent teacher conference in October and because his birthday is coming up, we had his annual ARD (admission, review, and dismissal) with the school district. Everyone is very pleased with his progress and impressed with his academic skills. However, everyone also agrees he has a lot of things to work on before he is "caught up" to average levels in social and behavioral type assessments acrossed the board. So, on we go with that!

We are several months into Quentin's piano class, which is a special Yamaha Music School course for kids 4-5 years old. He does very well and like everything else, he learns very fast! I don't think practicing is very interesting to him if he thinks of it as "required", but that's how it goes with nearly all kids, right? He does remarkably well without practicing, I have to admit. It's a bad habit I'm letting him get into....

He is quite healthy overall, and we've not missed any school yet this year. He continues to progress and we are continuing to explore any and all nutrition and health and preventative medicine alternatives that would strengthen his immune system and keep him healthy overall!

Ryan has slowed down his basketball playing...partially because of league schedules and partially from a sprained ankle from a few weeks ago. He is full steam into the college football watching season though! We all leave the house at about the same time in the mornings, between 7:15 and 7:30am, so Ryan has become a much more important part of getting Quentin ready for school in the mornings, and even takes him to school almost once a week. When Quentin goes to bed before 8pm when he doesn't nap, Ryan also has to use the little time between his arrival at home from work and Quentin's bed time to spend time with him, so he helps with his homework and bedtime routine frequently. I love it!

I am still working part time when Quentin is at school, and I usually take him to and from school. We have our piano class once a week, and speech therapy on Fridays. I am trying to figure out a time to put a few swimming lessons back in the routine, but it will probably need to wait until next year. I run, and run, and run our schedule. It is nice that he is not at home watching TV or playing on the computer much this school year - it seemed like that phase would never end this summer.

Quentin is trying a few more new foods and I am slowly introducing wheat back into his diet. He seems to be tolerating small amounts okay so far, but I need to stay disciplined to keep it in moderation for his own sake. We watch closely for behavioral or digestive changes, but so far they are minor or non-exisitent, which has made life a little easier recently.

Quentin's 5th birthday is 2 weeks from today, well that is if I post this before midnight! Time for bed...it's been another long day, long week, long year.

Funny to the Fourth

2010-09-27T18:40:00.000-07:00

Quentin cracks us up, and I know we have so many friends and family too far away to catch some of these spontaneous moments. Here's what you missed:

1. Quentin and I were at a local indoor climbing play area for kids with another playmate and her mom. Quentin wanted to get a snack at the snack bar. Last time we had been there, I had sent him up to the counter with $1 to pay for it himself. Apparently he remembered that and knew he needed money to get a rice krispie treat. While I was talking to my friend, and when I thought he was only rummaging through my purse looking for tic-tacs and loose peppermints, he found a quarter. He took that quarter up to the counter and was talking to the man behind it. I didn't think he had any money, and my friend kept looking at him and I told her, he doesn't have any money, but he did. She said, no, I think he does have money, and I went over there and he was trying to get the man to give him the "red" (packaged) rice krispie treat for his quarter. The man was telling him it wasn't enough money and Quentin was insisting that it was. It was so funny! Not only is 4 years old a little young to be stealing from mommy's purse, but he started his first financial negotiations!

2. We were driving to piano class and a train was blocking the road in the middle of our route. At first, being a big train lover, he was excited to see the train. Then, when he realized it was why we weren't moving, he started calling out to it to move. He got more agitated by the minute (and so did I, of course) and he finally yelled "Go away you big puff ball!!". I cracked up and asked him where that came from! He said that Diesel said it (in one of his Thomas stories).

3. Quentin only thinks of our iPhones as our only phones, so when we need to make a phone call, he says "let's get your iPhone", etc., but when we are at home, I ask him to get the regular phone. He must've asked one of us why we have the other phone, and we must've answered him that it is for phone calls at home, or for an emergency. So now, everytime the phone rings, he calls out "Oh! The emergency phone is ringing!!".

4. Quentin has reduced his naps from pretty much every day to only Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Mondays. On Sunday night, it was only about 7pm but he didn't have his usual nap and he had been up a little late the night before. We were talking to Ryan's parents on the phone and he was rubbing his eyes for like 2 straight minutes! He was so tired, you could see it from our side of the phone with him, and you could hear it in his voice from their side of the phone. Ryan's mom asked Quentin a question and he paused.....sighed.....and finally said, "I really don't know" in a very, tired and exasperated tone! It was too funny!

An Unexpected Favorite

2010-09-16T07:12:00.000-07:00

As part of Quentin's speech therapy, it has been recommended to us that Quentin gets some wordless books. This might sound strange for a child who can actually read so young, but his ability to read words is actually a little bit of a distraction from gaining the skill of following the plot of a story with comprehesion. Taking away the words encourages story telling, making different observations each time you read from the illustrations or speculative discussion, etc. So, we have bought some (nearly) wordless books for Quentin, and he reluctantly has allowed them to move into our naptime/bedtime story rotation.

Two of his favorites have been "Goodnight, Gorilla" and "Pancakes For Breakfast".

A while back I found a new one that I see almost every time I go into a book store and until a couple weeks ago we hadn't read it even though it was back home in our collection. It was called "Lion and the Mouse" by Jerry Pinkney. I didn't recognize that the story was based on one of Aesop's Fables, nor did I even bother to "read" it myself, but like most things with Quentin, eventually we force him into some variety and I pulled it out for him. I was so glad I did when I did! It has been amazing to watch!

First of all, Quentin loved it and immediately wanted to read it again. The story is about an unlikely friendship between a lion and a mouse, where the lion should naturally be a predator of the mouse, but he let's him go and the mouse is able to save the lion from a poachers net later on. The story is told through watercolor pictures and Quentin had all kinds of questions about the owl the mouse runs away from, the trap the poachers set and how it worked, and we actually ended up pulling out stuffed animals to act out the story so he could better understand the "action" the still pictures were describing.

He asks for this story a lot now and has decided to take it to school for his first elementary show and tell. We have been practicing having Quentin tell the story and I just hope he is able to do it in class for his teacher and friends tomorrow with as much enthusiasm as he has shown us!

I'm looking forward to seeking out a few more of Pinkney's books to see if he has any more wordless stories and hopefully I can expose Quentin to some more classic tales in a theraputic way!

Off He Goes!

2010-08-31T23:19:00.001-07:00

I am pretty sure I will get too busy in the next few weeks to write a few things about Quentin, so I will update a little now.

Quentin started kindergarten a couple weeks ago. For the most part, it is going well and his teachers could quickly see how smart he is. However, he is stubbornly testing all his boundaries and is strangely clingy to me lately.

He is struggling the most with handwriting, and it is a bit of a power struggle between him and his teachers. He hasn't shown a preference for right or left yet and frequently uses both, so improving on either hand is very....very.....s..l..o..w. He is in a writing intense (relative to preschool) level and so this is becoming a daily issue. Honestly his letters are pretty good, it is really his "attitude" towards writing that is the really big problem.

I am sure it will improve over time. The good news is, I don't think he has nearly as many behavior issues for gym, science, reading, etc.

He got a new backpack since his other one gave us two good years and was ready to be replaced. It is so cute, we got his name put on it! I took some first day of kindergarten pictures, but I'll post a few more in the coming weeks.

Ryan is still playing basketball and I am fairly swamped with a few church things for the next few weeks. I hope that the whole family is in a better groove by the end of the month! It will be less chaotic I hope!

First Day of Kindergarten

2010-08-17T10:15:00.000-07:00

Well, we finally did it! Quentin made it to kindergarten! I just got a report from the school nurse that he is having a great first day (I'll explain later why he had to see the nurse) and is heading to lunch. We had to get up pretty early since we needed to leave around 7:25 this morning, so both of us will need a few days or weeks to adjust. He always gets up pretty early, but it will be not having an hour or so to play and watch cartoons that will be the adjustment for him.

Quentin has been taking swimming lessons and got swimmer's ear. We have had a cranky boy on our hands this week. He is doing fine, the nurse and I talked yesterday and gave him Tylenol at lunch to help him cope with the discomfort on his first day of school. He is fine, I hope, but I may take him to follow up with the doctor and clean out his ear. Apparently is a "waxy" guy and doesn't eliminate it from his ear well. We've been told by doctor's and nurses his entire life - it makes me wonder if anyone has ever had a good look at his ears.

Anyway, this is a meaningful milestone for us, and we are grateful and blessed he has come so far and that we have such a WONDERFUL school to send him to that specializes in his condition.

That funny kid!

2010-08-03T07:45:00.000-07:00

Quentin got back from a week at his grandparents house, and he is cracking us up! It is good to have him home.

Somehow Quentin is observant enough to notice that Ryan sometimes watches a show "on-demand" from the History Channel called Pawn Stars. It is about a large pawn shop in Las Vegas that people bring unsual and rare items and collections and the owner authenticates the items and negotiates sales of the pieces. It can range from a rare coin to airplanes. One evening around Quentin's bedtime Ryan and I were watching an episode about a home-made mortar, which is like a cannon that was tested on the show with a bowling ball which launched it hundreds of yards away. Quentin must've been watching too, and this was several weeks ago.

Last night, we got back from Quentin's piano class and a quick errand and Quentin was a little hungry because his dinner had been so early. He talked us into giving him a sandwich at a time of day that is normally bedtime or PAST bedtime. Ryan bargained with him that while he was getting the sandwich ready, he could watch one quick episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He said, "Quentin, you can watch one show before bed. Just one. How many shows can you watch?" just to verify, and Quentin said "One." Ryan follows up and said "....and then what are you going to do?" and out of the blue Quentin said "How about after that we watch Pawn Stars, the one where they shoot the ball?". This, of course, was hilarious and we were cracking up! He has mentioned this several times, I guess he was interested in it too.

He never ceases to amaze me. Yesterday in the swimming pool he was spelling words like "jump" and "frog", and he is a little too proficient at logging himself into a computer with password enabled profiles and starts internet games he is familiar with without any help from us. I think his trick is Google search history, but he doesn't need us to find a webpage for him anymore. Scary.

He started his year round piano class last night and is doing quite well. I think the class is moving a little slow for him, but he needs to get used to slowing things down a little. I wish he would slow them down a lot. He is only 4!! Next week he will take another session of swimming lessons. The first one went really well and I would like him to keep progressing towards independent swimming steadily.

Quentin starts kindergarten 2 weeks from today. I can't believe it! I hope he enjoys his new teachers and classmates!

Is summer halfway over already?

2010-07-11T15:31:00.000-07:00

I guess because for decades of your life, summer meant you got a break from what you "normally" did, which was school. Now summer doesn't feel so much like a break, but a hassle. People always in and out on vacations when you need them, it's hot, so if that bothers you, you just complain about it a lot or listen to other's complain, and more than the complaints about the weather, is what to do with the kids.

It seems like summer is one big inconvenience for everyone - keeping kids entertained and occupied. I think the US is not even in the top 10 countries when it comes to how many days in a calendar year kids are in school. Even locally, the announced jobs cut in local school districts make me think that number isn't going to go up anytime soon.

It seems like kids actually like school more than they let on when they can't stop saying "I'm so bored" when they aren't in school with friends and daily expectations. Quentin hasn't quite learned to use that word, but he is definitely missing his normal routine, and therefore I am too.

I am trying to mix things up with different playdates and things, and swim lessons start tomorrow. I hope it works out!

Happy July 4th!

2010-07-03T23:21:00.000-07:00

I am not sure anyone follows this blog anymore, I have been so pathetic this year. I am sick of saying "I'm so busy" or "We're so busy" so I will just skip that part (but we totally are)!

I think I will blame our computer on the sad record of updates in 2010. Now that we just got a new computer, it will be hard to know what to blame anymore. Nothing - I hope I just get better!

Quentin had a routine exam this week and his bloodwork came back beautiful and perfect. I can't get enough of those. He is finished with his summer day camp and we are moving onto the next phase of activities for the summer. That will include group piano class and swim lessons, along with a few more playdates than we are usually available for.

There is also a week at his grandparents house planned for Quentin at the end of the month, with time at Vacation Bible School. We also rearranged the game room with the arrival of the new computer and opened it up to accomodate for all Quentin's train track building. It was getting a litte crowded in there, and he is spending a lot of time with his trains again lately.

It is hot and wet in Houston right now, but we are staying bug bite free and making it to the pool a couple times a week somehow. I think Quentin really likes the pool and should like his swim lessons too.

The last bit of news is a bit embarrassing actually. Many of you know or have seen Quentin at work on our iPhones, mostly mine. It was very easy for him (being an early reader) to use our iPhones proficiently to navigate the iPod application, games, setting timers and alarms, sometimes sending text messages or emails, making phone calls (but thankfully only when asked), browsing YouTube, etc. Yes, he has about as much fun with it as Ryan and I do.

Ryan has had an iPhone for 3 years now, and still had the original (with its original battery) which is pretty amazing, but an upgrade was overdue. Now an iPhone 4 user, Ryan has retired his older iPhone. I admit, I was pretty excited to finally have exclusive use of my iPhone by now having an "extra" that works as an iPod touch now (with no phone or texting abilities but still works with WiFi) for use by....yes, Quentin. I put the games/apps, music and things he liked the best, took everything else off, and can finally not fight him for my own phone. We are out of the house so much it is nice to have on the road when he is not "talkative" (and neither am I) or when he needs something to focus on to keep from being overstimulated.

He does have rules associated with it, like where he can and can't take it, time limits, etc. Still, it is NICE and I find it helpful in ways that I am a little embarrassed by (seriously, he is 4). But, if any of you saw him working his way around a computer, you could see that technology and Quentin are attracted to eachother, and I am having a very hard time separating the two. I am trying to keep his exposure to be mostly educational, and, like I said, limited in time overall, but for now, it works. :)

Happy 4th of July. For any of you not sopping wet from a week of rain, have a BBQ and fireworks for us!

Summer is Busy!

2010-06-09T10:45:00.000-07:00

Not only do I feel like we pushed through to get to the end of the school year, but I have a bit to stay on top of this summer too! We are done with our traveling for the summer, a trip to Denver. Quentin may go see his grandparents at the end of July in Kansas City, but for the most part we are sticking around this summer.

We have lots to do! Quentin is in summer camp, which is just a day camp, but he is also doing a handwriting group a couple times a week and from what I can tell, he really likes! Ryan and I are adult leaders for a summer youth musical through our church, so we have multiple rehearsals a week and lots of craziness with that too.

Our pools are open and available for swimming, if we can ever find the time to get over there! Quentin loves the water even more this year so he is taking a couple weeks of swimming classes in July. I think he will be on a local swim team next year with lots of his friends from Sugar Land and church he doesn't get to see much during the school year.

I am playing around with starting him in group piano classes for 4-5 year olds once the school year starts in the fall, but we may start in July to try it out since by then summer camp will be over and he will only have the swimming, which is a short lesson compared to the long dog days of summer.

I have a million projects and would love to plant a garden, but the summer is slipping away and it may have to wait until next year. I hope everyone is having fun getting out of school and diving into some R&R! Keep in touch!

Some News for Next Year

2010-05-14T07:19:00.000-07:00

I think the fact that I haven't posted on my blog in almost a month is not a good sign that I am staying afloat very well. My life has become a carousel that goes round and round with only brief stops to let new riders get on and off, and then the spinning begins again. I have acclimated to the "nausea" that inevitably comes from going around and around that much, but it seems to take a lot of energy to concentrate on not letting it make me sick. Oh, what an analogy. Sorry!

However, there is a fine line between my life now and pure insanity and I don't think I've crossed it yet, but it is way too close. I think (at least I say this as optimistically as I can) that things will be a little better once this school year is over. We are actually winding down several aspects of our life in the next few months and moving on to a new chapter.

Quentin has been going to preschool, with a different schedule every day. Mondays have 3 therapies (one of them is every other week), Fridays is 2 therapies, Tuesday and Thursday he stays at school later than M-W-F and Wednesday would be our "easy" day in the afternoons in comparison except that is usually filled with doctor's appointments or other less frequent obligations we don't have time for any other day of the week. This schedule where every day is different is exhausting and I think I will be glad to see it end with this school year.

Quentin is going to the day camp this summer at his school, which is supposed to be a little more laid back (for who?) but it still requires getting him there and back every day, packing a lunch, etc. The few weeks between summer camp and school starting in the fall will be a bit crazy for opposite reasons, without a schedule, things can get less structured which is only good in small quantities. Quentin and I both need some structure, routine and purpose to our lives, so too much time off isn't good for either of us. I need to be productive and Quentin needs to be engaged.

That's why, the crowning jewel of 2010 is that Quentin's school schedule changes next year to be full days every day, even Friday. At first this was stressing me out, but the fact that we have to be at the school a full hour earlier is going to be a good thing, because now that my fatigue issues are getting better, I am becoming quite the morning person. It's my favorite time of day to get things done.

A little bit of news for next year. Quentin was originally going to attend his school in a Bridge class, which is a late Pre-K/early kindergarten class for kids who need an extra year or who are not old enough to start kindergarten. I was already thrilled that he has progressed enough to be in that class and to mainly be working on kindergarten learning objectives. It has the same schedule as the elementary school (meaning full days starting an hour earlier than this year) but I was shocked with more news at Quentin's end of the year parent/teacher conference.

They would like to put him in the kindergarten class next fall! About half his current class is moving up to that level, and he could clearly handle the same environment as those 5 children, but he has shown a learning pace that would probably need him to have the next level up of instruction giving him more room at the end of the year to keep going if needed. He would get this in the kindergarten class, but not Bridge. It is hard to explain without getting into all the level distinctions used at his school, but the bottom line is, Quentin is going to kindergarten in the fall! He turns 5 in November, so he will be a little bit young, but he will benefit from the slightly older kids modeling development for him. It's a good thing and I wanted to post an update! By the way, we have no idea what this means for him next year (which school and what grade), so unless you have an accurate crystal ball that reads the future, don't ask, because we have no idea.

So, this news and several things recently have caused me to reflect on motherhood. Mother's Day is the obvious one, but just wrapping up an intense school year and realizing that even with my one child, I have been pushed to my limits when it comes to motherhood. I have made Quentin's recovery from cancer and a pervasive developmental disorder my priority, and it has made a lot of things go to the wayside. I've said that before, but I just want to repeat it because I constantly have a twinge of guilt that I am not keeping up with all the things I would if.....well, saying "if only" doesn't really do any good. I have the life I have, I have the son I have, and I am just celebrating in the accomplishments he's made and I know that there have been a lot of sacrifices I've made along the way and that they were all worth it to give him a brighter future. I just hope that as onlookers you can celebrate with me and not be too hurt by the neglect from us in the mean time. Just look at Quentin and how far he's come and hopefully you will get the teary eyed joy that I feel looking at him. I have silently celebrated the smallest things lately that he has done, for the first time, and had a little mental party for myself.

I am so far behind in sharing pictures and videos I actually have no idea how to get caught up. I am going to think of a plan and get on it, because I would love to update my friends and family that I love and that love Quentin. Here's a quick preview:

In this video, we had just found one missing DVD to his "Signing Time!" collection (yes, that is signing, not singing - sign language). Usually he sings for any similar situation "We (or You) did it! We did it! We did-did-did! Whoo hoo, whoo hoo, whoo hoo, yee haw!" I just grabbed the camera for a late and somewhat forced second verse (not as good as the first, but you'll get the idea).

In the home stretch

2010-04-15T19:53:00.000-07:00

We are winding down the school year quickly, and I'm not sure how that happened so fast! We are making plans for the summer (or plans to not make plans). We go to Denver for my sister's graduation, and then we have a week or so before summer camp begins for Quentin. After 4th of July the summer camp will be over and we will be bound to stay in Houston for pretty much all of July because Ryan and I are helping with a church summer youth musical and that is our primary month of rehearsals. I am guessing by August 12th we will be having back to school night and meet the teacher days, because I think school starts August 16th for us. Private schools are exempt from the state mandate for public schools to not start until the last week in August. Lucky us.

So, we will have a very short window in August to go anywhere or do anything this summer out of town, if at all, except that with Quentin not going to school in July, I could probably use some serious stay-at-home time. I think I need to start talking to my work about that, I will at least be working from home if not taking a sabbatical until school starts again. We plan to put Quentin in swimming lessons for a couple weeks at least after summer camp, and see how it goes. If he likes it he will probably keep it going for most of the summer and fall at some level, in place of some of the therapies he is dropping but giving him a chance to be around other typical kids. This is mostly based on a recommendation from the school (for the social opportunities, swim classes were only one of the suggested ideas).

We took him over to the local swim club (it's open year round here) and he was excited about it. It looked fun and he wanted to go back. Yeah, that's no guarantee everything will work that smoothly, but last summer he was already pushing me away wanting his independence in the pool. Since he is 100 times more independent now (see my last post), I am guessing it will be a good thing to get him the floating and swim lessons when it comes to putting all that independence in water. We have a couple pools we can go to in our subdivision this summer, so I plan to go frequently like we did last year. At least we went the most frequently in the earlier part of the summer before the water was warmer than a bath!

All this swimming talk is making me want to be outside more and more. I started working out again, and it feels good. I think I must be getting better because exercise used to leave me with so much less energy, where now I can feel it giving me "more" the way it is supposed to. Yeah me! Maybe there is a light at the end of this very, long fatigue tunnel I've been in.

Independence Nightmare

2010-04-11T21:03:00.000-07:00

Quentin is becoming SO independent it is scary. I am hearing the phrase "I want to do it myself", "I can do it", etc. about 4-5 times a day. It is a more mature level of independence, not just the kind that just makes you proud like your child getting out their own toys, or being able to put them away when you ask, but the kind that is scary, messy, frustrating and nerve racking, like letting him pour/serve AND prepare his own food and drinks, putting on his own clothes, socks AND shoes (backwards sometimes, however, and having him insist that he wants them that way), putting the toothpaste on the toothbrush AND brushing his teeth, and unbuckling the seatbelt AND opening the car door. I feel on the verge of a heart attack all day.

The other part is that mixing this determined independence with his extreme intelligence is a recipe for an exponential increase in my already graying hair. He is too dang smart for his own good....he can hardly be tricked, not that I try often, and he just simply knows too much. I can't hide things involving words because he can read, he calls me out on everything if I am not consistent, and he has the memory of an elephant. It is beyond kids keeping parents in check in a humorous and harmless way - he is policing my parenting! He is also capable of telling a teacher she is not reading all the words in the story in case she is trying to paraphrase for time. He is correctly insisting that she is changing it, but we are working on getting him to be more flexible about that kind of change.

Plus, there is no way I could get away with anything bad or humiliating because he may tell all to his teachers at school, sometimes just for the purpose of having an emotional story to tell and exaggerate. Sometimes "telling all" for him is not telling the whole story, and either way, the mother of a 4 year old needs to have an explanation for just about everything that comes out of their child's mouth. It won't last long (because sadly one day I really won't know everything), but for now, I have pretty much a 360 degree view of his life.

So, when Quentin goes to school saying he was upset and cried in the car, the imaginations of a listener could probably see a host of things that got him to that point, and possibly not the simple explanation that it probably is. All I know is I better be on my best behavior!

10 Ways the iPhone Re-invented our Spring Break Road Trip

2010-03-22T20:13:00.001-07:00

Ryan has the original 2G iPhone and about 9 months later I got the 3G model. It has really changed the way we live our extraordinarily busy lives, but I underestimated it's value on an road trip!

Here are 10 ways the iPhone re-invented our spring break road trip to Chicago, a road trip we took from Houston stopping in Kansas City, KS to leave our son with his grandparents.

1. NAVIGATION: The most obvious - GPS, we did not take a single paper map. We knew how many miles and estimated hours it would be to any destination or midpoint. Google traffic maps told us how much longer we would be bumper to bumper in unexpected I-35 construction traffic (which we have come to expect anyway, every trip).
2. ACCOMMODATIONS: Booked a "last minute" hotel twice from the car ~2 hours before arriving AFTER doing price and availability comparisons online.
3. DINING AND SHOPPING: Decided where to eat using location, reviews, menus, prices, etc. We made and confirmed a reservation at a Chicago steak house (for our 10th anniversary) by email. We also found a hidden Target just off the highway when we decided to get drinking water before heading into Chicago, plus we found our own bank (out of only a handful of available locations) to get cash out with no ATM fees. In a few minutes I found every men's clothing store on the Magnificent Mile to look for a new shirt (but as it turned out, we didn't buy anything)!
4. WEATHER: We knew the weather to dress perfectly for the day, not only locally but for our destination. This is valuable when you are on foot almost all day. We also used weather radar/satellite pictures/road map to see severe weather regions and re-routed to drive around a major spring snow storm. Probably saved us hours on the road.
5. MOVIES: Found movie theaters, movie times, and movie reviews since we had no idea what was even in theaters. As it turns out, we didn't see a movie in theaters, we rented one at Blockbuster and watched it at the hotel.
6. ENTERTAINMENT: Kept ourselves occupied in the car with an entire audiobook, music, YouTube, internet browsing, and we were in the middle of nowhere (sorry midwest, nothing personal).
7. TOURISM: Found "things to do" around town, for example, we made a phone call during a late breakfast about taking a mid-day architectural tour of downtown Chicago. The next day we also found the closest hop-on spot of a double decker tour bus only minutes before getting there.
8. KEEPING IN TOUCH: Kept up with email, both personal and work, so that I did not have to take a laptop at all. We were obviously reachable by text or email for Ryan's parents who were watching our son and our neighbor who was watching our house. Of course, we could keep up with FB (Facebook) so we didn't "miss" anything if we didn't want to.
9. HOMEWORK: Prepared my Sunday School lesson on Saturday on the way back accessing the bible and my teacher's manual through a Scripture app.
10. MISCELLANEOUS: Answered quick questions using Wikipedia to satisfy my curiosity about random towns we drove through, like the industry and major employers, colleges, and what caused Chicago to burn to the ground in 1871, and anything else I wanted to know!

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Amendment: My husband may think my list is incomplete because I didn't mention #11 - Ryan was able to keep up with the NCAA basketball tournament scores to the minute....

Spring Break is Sadly Over

2010-03-21T20:58:00.000-07:00

I want to report on so many things, but I would stay up very late and start the week of poorly. I am so sad to see this spring break end. The only secret hope I have is that Quentin can't go to school tomorrow and I HAVE to stay home with him instead of taking him to school and going into work. How am I ever going to make it until....well, it just doesn't really stop for us. The end of the year is closely followed by a summer camp (not overnight, just a day camp) and we will have a little bit of air by July.

As for now, spring break was fun and a true break. I needed it. We went on a road trip. Quentin spent the week with his grandparents and Ryan and I got away to Chicago for a few days. It was fabulous. I will have to leave it at that and dig out my recap and pictures another time.

I am going to wrap this night up and cozy up in my own bed, waiting for the alarm to go off in the morning!

Spinning, Spinning

2010-02-28T06:21:00.000-08:00

So, the way I would describe the last few weeks of February is this:

First, imagine my head spinning, slowly at first, then getting faster, and faster, and faster and faster until I reach up my hands to stop it. When I do, my head does stop spinning, however I stopped it and it got stuck in the wrong position, you know, not facing forward, so my head isn't on straight. Then, as I try to walk and move, my eyes and head are looking one way but my body's natural movement is going a slightly different way. So, the phrases "my head is spinning" and "get your head on straight" both have much more powerful imagery to me now.

It was parent teacher conferences a few weeks ago as I blogged about in my last post, but with the conferences comes the official contract from the school to hold a spot for Quentin. On March 1st, they open the remaining spots to the public and other children are evaluated for admission to the school for the first time. They give us a 10 day window to make the decision based on the recommendations and the conference, pay around a 10% tuition deposit, and complete a financial aid application for scholarship money. Of course it is tax time too, and as it turns out, Ryan's annual bonus schedule is such that we don't find out for several more weeks (sometime mid-to-late March) what that is. It is high stress for a few weeks here reviewing finances, making plans, waiting on unknowns, and committing to costs that way exceed the typical investment into a child who is not even kindergarten age in the fall.

Quentin is making huge, huge strides in developmental recovery and it is largely thanks to this school, and we can't imagine what we would do with him for one more year waiting for him to be kindergarten age. Even now, I have no idea what they will recommend for Quentin next year. I knew a while back when we discovered Quentin's natural academic gifts that there was a very good possibility that public school would never be the "appropriate" education for him, but I want nothing more than to just have a 5 year old go to the wonderful school right down the street. Sometimes, as we all know, we do not get what we want.

So, February has wiped me out, but it was also fun and rewarding along the way. We did outings with friends, hosted a playgroup, had friends come over for dinner, game night with friends, several dates for Ryan and I, doctor's appointments with good news that Quentin is still in remission, a smooth minor surgical procedure for and recovery for me, and a food intolerance discovery that has made me so much more comfortable now that I've excluded corn.

There is so much to be grateful for, and no matter how difficult making all the therapies and schooling happen for Quentin can be, I have been wrapped up in the joy of his progress for weeks. We are just in a daze by how much he is changing and so many neurological and behavioral concerns are just melting away before our eyes, bringing me to tears as he says or does one more thing I have been waiting for. His teachers have written home 3 notes to us this month telling us stories about how great Quentin handled something, or how he is developing a good technique for dealing with his emotions and communicating his feelings to deal with a "problem".

Things aren't perfect yet, but sticking with the direction we are going feels right when you look back and see how the path we've been on has done nothing but bring us closer to our ultimate vision of Quentin as a fully recovered child who had the unfortunate history of being treated for cancer for two years very, very early in life during very, very critical developmental stages.

On another subject, I am excited to go to Denver for a quick weekend to see my family and do one activity after another with them, packing the weekend then heading home on Sunday. It will be another very busy month for us, but hopefully after a little vacation in the middle there with Ryan, my head will be on straight again!

Its already the middle of February!

2010-02-15T19:44:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how fast 2010 is already passing! We have implemented some of our goals and resolutions. I have been essentially wheat free, for example, since the first of the year, and I have cut wayyyyyy back on dairy, not that I was consuming much before. In eliminating these two allergens, I actually discovered a bigger culprit in my digestive woes: corn. On days when I had no meat, dairy or wheat, I was still getting stomach aches, and have been nearly stomach ache free since I stopped eating corn. This is not easy to do actually, because even a bit more than wheat and dairy, corn is in everything! It is not one of the top 8 allergic foods like wheat and dairy are, so it is still in everything and all forms of it are used in foods. The food industry is not currently required to label it in their "allergy information" section, so to avoid it you have to look closely: corn starch, corn meal, corn syrup, xanthan gum, etc. Then of course there is corn chips, taco shells, pop corn, kernel corn, and I am depressing myself because these are some of my favorite foods.

The good news is that I may be able to stop my war on wheat at some point, but I think I may have to pursue some assistance from an allergist/nutritionist/GI doctor to really get a handle on what I need to do to get a healthy GI tract. I think I have proven I have the discipline to exclude anything needed to feel better, I just need to know what that combination is!

On to other topics, Quentin is doing great and has been recommended to attend a bridge class next year working on kindergarten objectives and goals! He won't be 5 years old until November, so he can't start actual kindergarten, but if he for sure returns to his current school, he will go to an all day bridge class from 8:15-3:15 Monday through Friday. Wow....I can't believe I will have a child in school all day by August!

We are in the process of planning out a few other trips and breaks. For example, my sister is in her last high school play in a few weeks, so I am traveling alone for a quick weekend to Denver to see her in "Anything Goes". A week later is Quentin's Spring Break, and Ryan has some left over vacation to use up, so we are going on a trip too! Quentin will spend most of the week with his grandparents, and Ryan and I are going away for several days and will celebrate our 10th anniversary.

Later in the spring, my sister will graduate from high school, and Quentin and I will spend a little over a week in Denver to attend her graduation and visit family in Denver. It was nice to get these trips all scheduled and on the calendar. We now have to decide if we are going to send Quentin to the 4 week summer camp at his school - it would be the 3rd summer for him. I think he likes and needs the structure, you should see how out of sorts he is after a long weekend like this one! He didn't have school Friday or today (Monday) and he is ready for his routine again.

I had a small surgical procedure on Friday, nothing serious, but it has ssssllllllooooowwwwed me down. I follow up with the surgeon tomorrow and I hope to at least be able to take a normal shower by the end of the week. Sponge bathing and washing my hair over a bathtub is not my idea of the ideal way to feel refreshed, and neither is having days old gauze bulging out my side with all kinds of tape residue and antiseptic stain on my skin. It needed done, but I have been busy at work with a software release so testing and extra hours (as if I have any) have been stretching me pretty thin anyway.

Ryan is at a basketball game, he has been keeping up his church, community and work leagues this winter and I hope he has it in him to play tennis again when the weather warms up. We have a few yard activities we are preparing for - major mulching, planting some grass sod in places we have done some rearranging in the yard, and finishing up the leaf and seasonal removal of dead plants and twigs. I am kind of looking forward to spring, I just wish we had the time to plant a vegetable garden, because we have to do it in the next few weeks if we are going to do it at all. I am not sure if we have enough sun anyway, but I would love to grow our own vegetables.

Quentin just finished spending the weekend with Ryan's parents and his cousin Cate, and had a playdate with his good friend Shazer today. Ryan and I got a date on Saturday - we found a Mongolian Grill in Houston and went and saw a movie. I found out some great extended family news last night and didn't have to cook much, so I can't ask for much more than that! It was a fabulous weekend!

Quentin has one of his appointments at the cancer clinic this week, and we will be busy, busy, busy again all the way until next weekend I'm sure!

Rodents and Weepy

2010-01-26T07:09:00.000-08:00

I bet that title was a bit catchy! Quentin has had a few days recently where our schedule has been pushing him a bit, he has missed some naps, or is a little under the weather with a little bug or something, and has had moments of weepiness. He is starting to cry at movies, a little, getting big sad eyes, sometimes tears, and his lower lip out and mouth turned down into a frown and asking why Nemo is leaving his dad and stuff like that. It can carry over into the classic parent-child moments where he acts like not letting him have marshmellows for breakfast is cruel and unusual punishment. "But I want marsh-a-mellows!!"

Now, the rodent thing. We have burned many movies to DVD over the years that we recorded off the TV, and one year I got Stuart Little and Ratatouille about the same time, so I made a "mouse movies" DVD that someday Quentin would get into. Well, he's into them now and he is going back and forth asking for what he calls "Start Little" and "Rat-a-till-ee", because he tries to sight read words that aren't familiar to him and doesn't always make the connection between what he reads and how WE are saying the words to get it right, so it has been a cuter than usual week. I am not a fan of rodents, but I admit those are two pretty cute movies. It was even funnier when Quentin told Ryan that for Halloween he wants to be a mouse. Ha!

The Other Blog

2010-01-13T20:14:00.001-08:00

I actually have 3 blogs - one for the family (this one), one for my photography, and one for my newer interest and love: nutrition. I remember coming up with the title for my other blog a long time ago, and eventually I got http://betterfoodformyfamily.blogspot.com/. I started it and then life happened it got so crazy, I just started archiving my ideas in the back of my brain waiting for the time to get back to it. My focus of obtaining better food for my family hasn't changed with time, I have just gotten a little better at it. This doesn't mean I am a Martha Stewart by any means, cooking and baking up a storm. This is NOT the same as a recipe blog or finding real joy in cooking. I love cooking, I hate the mess. Can't have one without the other, so I have to be selective.

Anyway, as a reward for getting a bit more organized over the holidays, I am trying to blog more and get a little caught up on pictures and get back to my nutritional blog. I had a huge list of small and large topics I have learned a snippet about that has influenced my family's health, so I thought I would share those snippets all in one place. I wrote one a long time ago about sugar, for example, but most topics are yet to come.

So, I am re-launching it (but I never really told anyone about it the first time), and sort of committing myself to keep at it on a regular basis. It shouldn't take too long to keep up, especially with all my ideas already listed, I just want to expand on some of the things I've learned over the past few years as I have focused on some health issues I've had and the nutritional program as part of Quentin's recovery from cancer treatments that has been a huge success.

If you are interested, go to the blog, and my latest post is here.

Is Christmas over yet?

2010-01-09T20:39:00.000-08:00

I absolutely love the sweet celebration of the real reason for the Christmas season....the birth of Jesus Christ. However, the rest of the stuff that gets in the way can be very intrusive and neverending. I don't have our tree down yet, but the rest of the Christmas decorations are at least unplugged and in a pile ready to re-box. In one day I made any returns or exchanges that needed made, and a few purchases with gift cards received, so that immediate pressure is off (especially when you hope to find the same item in a different size or something). I ended up with some very nice items and Ryan ended up with his first video game console (that was actually a birthday present). Quentin has really enjoyed this Christmas as well, since his concept of surprises and anticipation has improved this year. He was also blessed to receive some very nice gifts from aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc.

However, where I am falling extremely deficient is in my thank you card writing. My mother always taught me to send thank you cards and I don't mind sincerely thanking everyone who gives to us so generously with a hand written thank you note. However, with Quentin's birthday in November and along with the delayed opening of some gifts from his birthday and again at Christmas, I have not been as good this year since I kept waiting for "everything" to be received and opened (and therefore recorded). It is high on my list of things to do tomorrow though, so please know to any of you who sent us a card, an email, a gift or a gift card, we sincerely thank you and I will be sending out notes shortly! Keep in mind, if I thank you for one item and you actually gave us something different, it is not because I didn't care to keep track, it is because this year with Quentin it was a little harder to keep track. Once he got the hang of opening up presents, we caught him doing it unsupervised a few times! Ryan and I found a gift opened that appeared to come from wrapping paper labeled "To: Ryan and Jen" and it was an empty box by the time we found it. Quentin very innocently pretended to know nothing about it! I think we finally figured out what it was but I'm not sure we'll ever know for certain.

We have been so blessed to have stayed in touch with so many friends and family members over the years and I absolutely love hearing from everyone at this time of year. I think before I take down the tree I'll spend a quiet hour enjoying the soft glow from the tree, reading over all the letters and pictures we got and enjoy thinking about all of our friends and loved ones and the excitement in their lives. Again, thank you for staying in touch with your family and for taking an interest in ours!

It's already starting!

2010-01-07T12:27:00.000-08:00

The chaos I felt almost daily last year (oh, so long ago) is already in full force this week. I started to back out of the driveway twice today and had to go back for something I forgot. I have not been too late to drop off Quentin during carpool yet, but I have not been there early enough to help like I usually do. I am frustrated that in only 3 days I am already running my schedule completely out of control!! I am not back in a good routine yet. Wait - "back in" would imply that I was ever in one. Sigh.

I am going to keep working on it. I sent a "helpful" message to a new Parish School parent earlier in the fall of my tips for getting ourselves out the door and on top of things in terms of the daily school schedule, the 20 trees they kill sending us papers home in Quentin's notebook, and all the participation events to either raise funds or educate us on our child's special need(s). I should go back and read my own advice. I am telling you, specialized or private schools are a full time job! I am suddenly very wishful that Quentin can go to the public school kindergarten right down the street from us - one of the reasons we moved into our particular part of Sugar Land in the first place!

How are we doing so far?

2010-01-02T20:10:00.000-08:00

This year started off not as spotless as I wanted, but that is just silly to even care about how many days (or more like hours) we can have a perfect record in every aspect of our lives starting on January 1st every year. I was in a bad mood after New Year's Eve because I spent a lot of time making homemade pizza that is usually REALLY good but got distracted with an unexpected phone call and it got way overcooked. I think in an attempt to make me feel better, my family (husband and brother and sister) said it wasn't that bad and not really burned, but it was gross looking and I knew what it was supposed to be. I wanted to blame one of them for just sitting there and letting it overcook. I guess I just hated that it was wasted. They barely choked down 4 pieces and I know there would've been no leftovers had it been as good as I know it should've been.

I carried my bad mood over to New Year's Day and just moped around as the house got really quiet. Jamie and Zack, my brother and sister, left that morning and I had a few days ahead of me before Quentin would get home. This is exciting in some ways, for the opportunity to not have a child underfoot and to do things I can't normally do, but I think the weight of an exausting 2009 hit me like a ton of bricks and I could barely move. I have managed to get some things done and cleaned up in Quentin's abscence, but for the most part I am looking forward to the little guy coming back home and keeping my life interesting - exhausting, but interesting.

One of my cleaning projects involved straightening up our storage room. In the quick 15 minutes I spent doing that, I reminisced about a whole year of our life when Quentin was sick because various items in that storage unit were from our hospital and cancer experiences.

For example, the blue blanket that was somehow out of the storage tub all by itself was the one they had in his crib the day we got admited to our room at the hospital and stayed for the next 173 days. I remembered the feeling I got when I realized that having a non-hospital issued blanket in our bed as an attempted to make us feel "at home" was only slapping me with the reality that we had to make ourselves comfortable and make it our home. They wouldn't have given a new blanket to an overnight patient.

As I was working I was wearing a pair of jeans I got from Target shortly after we were admitted, a pair I would not be afraid to get vomit on since it was happening frequently and I was using a lot of clothing myself and stressed about running it to the washing machines. I wanted a couple pair of jeans that were inexpensive, stretchy and comfortable, but would give me the fully dressed feeling so I wouldn't just go 6 months in the hospital wearing my pajamas. That would be a recipe for depression. I got two dark pair and several long sleeved dark shirts. I refer to these as my vomit clothes. I should get rid of them, shouldn't I?

As I put away some loose scattered 2T sized clothes I remembered the many sets of clothes and pajamas that he wore for those months - always with a tube or IV sticking out somewhere, and comfortable enough to crawl around in, since nearly all of Quentin's crawling days were in the hospital on the hard floor. Ryan did not like using any of those pajamas after we got home because it reminded him of the hospital and Quentin being all sick and puffy. I thought it was just the pictures of him being all sick and puffy that bugged him....so I got Quentin new pajamas after that.
And last, I was re-packing an open tub of infant/toddler toys that Quentin has outgrown, but remembering that most of the had come to us as gifts from some kind of donation to children with cancer. Believe me, all the kids had truckloads of things given to them, we just had a bit of a monopoly on the 12-24 month toys, since there were very few other kids in that age group.

I am startled to think of how distant this chapter in our life is now....and how strange it is that I have the responsibility to figure out when and how to explain this to Quentin someday. For now, I'll just keep taking him in for his checkups to the 14th floor of the Clinical Care Center at Texas Children's Hospital and one day he may ask me why we are going to the doctor when he isn't sick. Actually, he will probably never learn from me that doctors are only useful when you are sick, but anyway, I guess if he does ask I will just hug him for dear life and tell him that getting his finger poked for blood once in a while when he isn't sick is much better than being really sick every day, right?

Picture this Christmas

2009-12-28T06:11:00.000-08:00

Quentin's preschool program and holiday party!
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Christmas morning at our own house!
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A visit from Jamie and Zack (Jen's brother and sister from Colorado)! We went to the Transiberian Orchestra Concert too!
(click on collage to view larger, than click your browswer's back button)

A "Pictureless" Christmas Recap

2009-12-25T14:09:00.000-08:00

I will start with the narrative of what we did for Christmas this year so I don't forget the fun details....but I have taken photos, posted them on Facebook, and hope to take a few more (maybe even one with ME in it)! I will probably post within the day the "wordless" recap with just pictures soon.

We did not get to sleep in, our day started with Quentin waking up at his usual time, a little BEFORE 7am. He could not be convinced that it is still night time, not time to get up, etc. like we try EVERY DAY and so we got the video camera, camera and Christmas lights on to prepare to let Quentin into the room with the Christmas tree and his presents.

We captured his thrill of seeing a new bigger-boy bike (Lightning McQueen) and helmet, and we gave him his stocking and everything started to click for him. He enjoyed getting a few wooden trains as well as some add ons to his LEGO Thomas train and track set. He also enjoyed expanding his Disney Cars collection too. I think we had just the right amount of everything this year...thank you to those who sent gifts for our family.

We reached a "saturation" point where a 4 year old is too distracted by what he has opened that he forgets there could be any more and just wants to play with what he has. He played while I made breakfast (Eggs Benedict with hashbrowns and fruit) and Ryan enjoyed a joint gift I got for us, a Shiatsu Massaging pad that goes behind your back while you sit in your favorite chair or couch.

I enjoyed my turn with the massager after breakfast. Quentin's babysitter (and one of his favorite people in the world) dropped by since she lives a few houses down and he showed her he new toys. After she left (with a promise to return after hs had breakfast and wasn't in pajamas anymore either), we couldn't keep Quentin contained much longer, he wanted to get on his bike and ride! We got him dressed and took him out, got some pictures and video and we were impressed at how well he did but SHOCKED at how big he looks! Isn't he still my baby? He can't be riding a bike with training wheels yet!

We came back in and before you know it it was time to put the roast in. Prime rib, mashed potatoes, carmelized butternut squash and crescent rolls were on the menu. I took the liberty of treating myself to one special meal consideration: everyone was going to eat the same thing, so my reward was not having to make Quentin a special meal in addition to getting the regular one on the table. Whew! That was a nice treat! I took a chance since Quentin has been more open minded to eating new things...I guess PB&J and chicken and potatoes was bound to get a little boring eventually.

I decided not to do the cleanup (and Ryan is giving me another gift by doing it for me now) and sat down at the massager one more time before hitting the house for final preparations for my visitors coming this evening. My brother and sister from Colorado are coming to visit for a week! I somehow found the time to upload the photos and a short video to Facebook and get our computer ready for video calls in case we get any using our video camera as a webcam.

As promised, Quentin's babysitter Madison came back over and played with him for an hour or so, making his day! He opened the rest of his presents with her and then she read him a book and we put him down for a nap....he has had such a great day! Hopefully we'll make a few phone calls this evening and check in with more family that are all out of state from us. This is our first Christmas as just our family in many ways...it is nice, but it feels different not having our extended family to share any part of the day with. But, thanks to technology, we can be "involved" with eachother so quickly and we hope that anyone who can share their favorite memories of Christmas will do the same.

I'll conclude with a brief mention that Quentin has been resisting the change to his routine before bed and naptime to read from our collection of Christmas season books instead of just his regular books...and although several of them tell the real story of Christmas, not all of them do, but when given the chance to pick any book last night, Quentin chose to read the story of the first Christmas in a manger. He has learned quite a few more details about Christmas this year and the characters in the nativity scene (last year I bought the Little People Nativity so he could play with it). Beyond any of the presents we've gotten, which we love and have enjoyed, we have enjoyed being with eachother and making fun and happy memories. No matter how many presents are under our tree, that is what I will remember most.

Quentin Sings Raffi (All I Really Need)

2009-11-17T14:20:00.001-08:00

Quentin started singing this song because apparently they are learning it for the Preschool Program next month. I guess he learns fast (I knew that already)! He woke up one morning and sang this to me before I was even awake, grabs my cheeks gently and asked me to sing along (even though I didn't know the song and had never heard of Raffi). It was so sweet, so a couple days later I grabbed the camera and got it on video to share. Enjoy

3 Years Ago....

2009-11-10T19:30:00.000-08:00

Three years ago, Quentin was diagnosed with Leukemia. It's funny how you think you will never forget things like that, and we won't of course, but the details are getting fuzzier and fuzzier every year. Ryan thought it was yesterday, or today, and I asked him if he thought THE anniversary was the day we went to the hospital (and didn't come out for 6 months) or the day they actually told us and confirmed that our baby had cancer (November 11, 2006). Then he didn't remember that Quentin still had a central line in his chest when we moved to Texas, and it has only been out a year. It doesn't really matter, I think this year there are several things to point out and the exact date isn't one of them:

1. Quentin is a survivor (so far), and among the physically healthiest kids I know.
2. When Quentin went into remission a few weeks after his chemo started, he stayed there.
3. Quentin's amazing spirit gave us the strength to get through it. Trust me, it wasn't the other way around.
4. We have met some amazing people along the way, some have lost so much more than I can imagine.
5. There are some really dedicated people to the families of children with cancer and blood disorders. They are living angels.
6. We will never know what "normal" is, but I've concluded that normal is for the self-involved. Our life is way more interesting and blessed because of what we've learned through this experience.
7. Life is a precious gift, and like all gifts, I hope we can be grateful to the giver of that gift, express that gratitude regularly, do not take it for granted, and when possible share it with others.

I love Quentin so much, and I am overwhelmed with my life sometimes, but he is completely worth it and I hope and pray for his continued recovery, remission, healing and developmental progress. He has already exceeded my greatest expectations, and I have a feeling he will continue that for the rest of his life.

Thank you to all of you who keep up with our family, who ask about how Quentin is doing, and who attempt to recognize in your own way the unique life we have. We have enjoyed the love and support from so many people near and far, and once again, after another year has passed, we thank you.

An Unexpectedly Busy Month!

2009-10-30T20:36:00.000-07:00

I suppose my life will stay pretty busy for a number of years ahead of me, but I guess I was a little thrown off by how busy everything is this fall! I think with the hurricane last year we didn't have a normal fall, many events were cancelled and only some rescheduled, and we knew that there was a good number of things that were not typical.

This year I thought by October we would have adjusted to the routine with school and would be "coasting" by now, you know, without a natural disaster to plague the whole season.

It turns out that EVERYTHING happens in Houston in October (on a good year) because the weather is so nice! It doesn't get into the 90's anymore, everything is still plenty green, and even though we've had quite a bit of rain, it is just enjoyable. I guess people who know the climate here wait until the summer is over to schedule their events and then everything seems to happen all at the same time!

I added to the madness by having a Pampered Chef party for the first time. I did it for a couple of reasons - mostly, I was forcing myself to do something social where I had people over to my home for something other than playgroup, which I've only done that once in the last 5 months anyway! As it turns out many of the people I invited already had one or two other things going on that night to choose from....however I still had enough people show up to call it a success, and it was fun and I enjoyed the company!

Since I work in the primary at church with the children teaching music at a group level, I am busy all day on Sundays and rarely get time to talk to anyone one-on-one, children or adults! I am always running in and out of work, and chasing after Quentin in other places like school and other public places that it was just SO nice to have adult conversation for a few hours!

I also participated in a musical cantata that was being organized and directed by a couple of the young women in our church, and I offered my help and past experience on the same performance, so I ended up heavily involved for several months with rehearsals, music arranging and that just wrapped up on Sunday night too. It was beautiful and very rewarding to have been involved with.

We also had parent teacher conferences for Quentin, several birthday parties, and 3 Halloween events and Halloween isn't even until tomorrow! I had family pictures taken, taught a 2 day training class, and managed to squeeze in several doctors appointments, dentist appointments and hospital/clinic visits between all of us. Of course we had regular school and therapy schedules to keep, but I have to confess a few of them slipped my mind as Quentin had a few off-routine days because of the school conferences.

The first half of the month I was still on my yeast elimination diet, and then I went off of it as I knew my schedule was getting stressful and the parties were coming up making it hard to stay on track. I thought almost 2 months would've been enough time on the diet to be "done" with it. I felt great doing it, I lost 10-13 pounds, and then it became obvious when I started eating grains, dairy and sugar again that either I wasn't "done" eliminating digestive yeast from my body, or I may need to permanently eliminate or reduce my wheat and dairy intake. I don't feel well eating what we call "normal" in this country, and I am transitioning back to the healthier eating plan. I don't think stress and convenience are worth the misery I've been experiencing in compared to how I feel eating mostly vegetables, meats, fruits and nuts/good oils.

I am going all digital with my appointment planning, so I am really becoming an iPhone junkie, as if that wasn't already the case. I have an application that will sync my various Google Calendars (one for myself, one for Quentin, etc.) that are color coded and layered so that I have an online backup in case something happens to my phone, which would be a real tragedy. My friend showed me a website called The iPhone Mom that may become one of my favorite random Internet sites to check...if it's a blog, I guess I'll just subscribe to it. It is both Quentin's and my favorite technology, well, and Ryan's too. Quentin doesn't have his own, but he sure knows his way around mine!

Unfortunately I do not have the pleasure of recuperating this weekend with fewer demands on me yet, just different. I need to work to catch up on a few things, so I guess by even posting this I am just stalling. I don't work at home much anymore at all, let alone on the weekends, but this time it is a must.

Amazingly Quentin, Ryan and I have hardly been sick at all this whole year. Perhaps it is the vitamins and supplements, the nasal washing, the quality food, or all of the above, but I hope it holds out for the rest of this horrible flu season. So far only Ryan has gotten the regular flu shot, but statistically, February is the month with the highest number of new flu cases, so we have a long way to go to get through it this year.

I hope everyone is also trying to stay healthy and had a great October! Sorry for those of you buried in several feet of snow right now...even though I love our weather more and more here in Texas, I am looking forward to a visit to Colorado (Quentin too) and Kansas (with Ryan) around Thanksgiving! That was not originally in our holiday plans but now we are really looking forward to it.

October Madness

2009-10-01T20:20:00.000-07:00

I am not a fan of Halloween, but Quentin has too many events to go to in costume, so I think I may have it decided (and purchased). It's weird that he is old enough to have an opinion though, he changes his mind every 1/2 a day....I do NOT like this holiday enough to shop for a costume anymore...I think we will try it on for Ryan to get approval (he was actually the one who vetoed the first costume) and put it away until it is needed, so hopefully he will forget and not be reminded that there is still time to change his mind. I will take pictures and post them of course! Although I have been so behind in photo posting, I need to spend a whole day getting caught up.

I do like fall though, so I think if I weren't so busy doing fall planting, I may have decorated for fall a little bit - you know, hay bales and scarecrows or something. I don't mind pumpkins and fall colors, leaves and the berry/twig thing.

Work is getting a bit busy and I need to kick it into gear pretty soon and keep up. I worked from home a bit today but I usually go into the office. I am glad tomorrow is Friday because I have had a long week. I think the absence of a weekend at home to get caught up is catching up to me...but I wouldn't trade in the trip to Colorado for anything. My sister Jamie just got cast in a significant role in another play at the end of November....so I am hoping I can go to Denver again to see that play too.

October is filling up with activities and events....I just hope I can keep up with everything.

One Month and going!

2009-09-24T16:59:00.000-07:00

Very quick update - I have been on my yeast cleansing diet (yeast free eating to reduce/eliminate yeast overgrowth in the digestive tract) for a month now. I have been very good with very few exceptions made (and I've noticed them in a bad way when I did) - the hardest part is sauces and dressings (most use the wrong kinds of oils, have sugar in them, or use vinegar). I feel great and I do not have any sugar or grain or dairy cravings. I am so sure this is going to improve my health in the long term, so I am going to do this for another month, at least that is the plan. It is recommended to do it for at least a month, 1-2 months is better, but 3-4 months have been needed for severe cases. I don't know if I am severe, but I have lost 10 lbs. as a side perk so far, and I think I am finally ready to give up all soda, diet and non-diet, not that it was a big indulgence before.

I think my focus in month 2 will be to eat a more balanced diet instead of just a compliant diet. The right proportions of protiens, vegetables, good oils and fruit is not something I have been watching very carefully. I'll try to do better between now and October 24 - Wish me luck!

My Second Career

2009-09-18T13:25:00.000-07:00

My formal education is in Petroleum Engineering (a bachelor's degree I've had for 10 years now, and there is no doubt that makes me feel a little old), and I use it, or at least my background in it, 4-5 days a week. I consult for an energy software company and have put my degree to use in the fullest I can and still be a mom to a 3 year old with special needs. I have had almost no interruption to my contribution to the professional world - 6 weeks or so when I had Quentin, then I resumed work from home. I took of about 1-2 months when Quentin was first diagnosed with Leukemia, and then I worked from the hospital. I currently work 13-19 hours a week while Quentin is in preschool.

Now granted, I haven't worked "full time" in a long time, not consistently anyway, but I am sure I could stay right where I am for a while. That is the plan.

However, I always have it in the back of my mind that I could do something different when time and opportunity permit. I haven't quite decided what it would actually be, I just know I have pondered many of the possibilities.

I always thought I could teach, and that would be convenient in terms of having the same days off as my child(ren). That seems less likely now than it used to be, simple because my one child has needed special education and now I am not sure what is in his future in terms of schools. Still, this was my first idea of a second career, the oldest of the possibilities, and who knows?

I love photography, and I would completely enjoy taking pictures for a living, but I do not think I would enjoy running my own business. I think to do it right (legally, insured, etc.) it would take all the fun out of doing something I just love to do without getting paid.

I love cooking, but I hate cleanup. This one is out pretty quick.

I am a bit crafty, but not really artistic. I like to sew but I would rather just do a project here and there as needed, but I have thought of clothing design since I get frustrated with women's fashions....not just modesty and price, but also the fact that they make literally DOZENS of bra sizes to accommodate differently proportioned upper bodies, but we are generally supposed to buy tops in one of 4 sizes, S, M, L or XL.....does that make sense at all? I always thought I would enjoy making a clothing line that was designed to "fit" like a bra does for tops, and more like the way they size men's pants for bottoms, where you select the size for waist and then your length. Anyway, not going to happen, I just think like that.

When Quentin was sick and in the hospital, we had a pediatric oncology nurse assigned to us 24/7. Those were the most amazing women (sorry, never really had a man). There will always be a special place in my heart for people who can serve at the side of children who may be dying, or even die on their shift. They also help survivors, and I am sure that is why they can go to work every day. For 6 months they were the faces I saw, the adults I talked to, and the only outlet I had to keep afloat mentally. I think my hospital experience changed my tolerance of vomit, stool, blood and procedures with needles, feeding tubes, etc. I am fascinated with the body, and I think I would've enjoyed something medical like nursing (but only for kids), but I don't see obtaining the education necessary to do nursing in my future either.

I am also finding that therapists, particular speech and language pathologists, play a particularly important role in the lives of children who might have an extra hurdle (or two) to jump before they can really start their education in mainstream schools. Catching these issues and starting intervention young is critical to the long term learning success of these children. I would love a master's degree in speech and language pathology so that I can help children learn to communicate, which is so key to their social and learning skills for life. It is not just about pronunciation. Quentin's school is a wonderful institution I can't say enough good things about, and every teacher there (for speech) is required to have a master's degree and certification from the American Speech Language and Hearing Association. They take proper training and identification of the issues causing barriers to normal development very seriously, and so do I.

I have also had a health and nutrition awakening, and I think I would love to be a dietitian/nutritionist as well. It is amazing how easy it is to find out information about what is best for our health, bodies and children but how difficult it is to implement any of it thanks to our food industry, culture and stubbornness. I would say self-control is an individual issue, but actually there are physiological explanations why we crave certain foods and also solutions to address the underlying problem that causes us to want to eat all the things that are bad for us. If I never end up with a second career in this field, at least I know my family is "covered" in terms of awareness and doing the best we can to take care of our bodies. After all, two of my lifetime goals is to stay healthy and die of "old age" peacefully and without pain, and to have all of my own teeth in my mouth (hence my overdue dentist appointment I finally got on my schedule this week!).

I also love music, but I am far too intimidated by the talents of those who study music and have more of an secondary education in it than me to pursue it professionally. I think I could do simple piano lessons, or flute lessons, and I would love to write down some of my own music and arrangements always going through my head, but this will probably always remain a hobby, not a career.

I was very active in New Jersey advocating for childhood cancer awareness, blood donation, and I would consider working in the non-profit sector to pursue further involvement with organizations who support children with cancer and their families. I am afraid though that the more time that passes since the peak of our crisis, the less it is on my mind, much like the events of September 11th. Those kind of events change our hearts and our minds then, but eventually we revert back to what we were doing before that "life altering"event, and then it really doesn't meet the criteria of being life altering for everyone, does it? Still, as soon as I hear stories like ours, like the one I was invited to share at many events (about Quentin's ~40 blood product transfusions over a 6 month period of time), I will remember that I can help inspire people to give so that the lives of those in need can literally be saved, like Quentin's was.

I may want to write a book one day, but I am actually the opposite of an English major, so I kind of think I would be laughed out of any publisher's office. Still, I think the stories and the ideas that I could put into a book are there, and I may attempt this in the quieter years of my life.

For being the busiest person I know, I am really surprised I would even think about this right now. I guess the suppression of dealing with a child who has been sick since he was 11.5 months old must be lifting, and maybe if it isn't too late, my life can resume to a path that may at least on the surface appear to be something along the lines of what it might've been had it not all happened to Quentin. But one thing I'll always know (and now you will too), the experiences and the knowledge I have gained as a result of Quentin having Leukemia and a pervasive developmental disorder has certainly altered the course of my life, making me see the possibilities I have of using my knowledge and experience in helping the lives of other people and children who are burdened with medical and neurological issues.

I guess it will be a while before I can really surface from the day-to-day of what I do to be able to realistically consider what life COULD be like if I did something different. I guess I just wanted to make a list for myself as reference and a reminder for the future to always consider the possibilities of what I can do besides my own status quo.

I guess I'll keep going

2009-09-05T20:34:00.000-07:00

So I always seem to have a lot on my mind, and tonight I am in a daze between going to bed (which I should do because we have early church and I have been complaining about being tired for the last few days) and getting a second wind (which would be great, but I'd regret it tomorrow). I don't get nearly enough of those second winds.

I have had a fatigue problem for a long, long time. Probably 1995 to be exact, but it was "diagnosed" in 1996. It has been treated several times with what I call band-aids, and I am still working on it. I have good days and bad days, but the good days exist because we found out what the real problem is, at least part of it. I have adrenal fatigue, which is when stress wipes out your adrenal glands from producing cortisol, the stress hormone. I am a textbook case, and I have taken the actual medical tests and had the results prove it.

I am getting treatment, but it is a long and slow process. It is not life threatening unless you stop producing cortisol altogether, which is called Addison's Disease. JFK actually had that....

I can't explain all the ways this affects my life without confessing many things which may make me appear to be lazy, unmotivated and procrastinating at the same time. Sometimes I can only just sit and the computer happens to be a low-demand activity, physically. On the other hand, I was running a few miles a day last week without problems like I had only been a little out of practice since my track and cross country days of high school and college. Confused? Me too.

I tried to go running yesterday and I literally could not do it. I could walk, but that was it. I did not have nearly the energy/momentum needed to run the 20 minutes or so I had before I had to pick up Quentin from his speech therapy at the local elementary school. I thought it would be a good way to use those 30 minutes, and avoid the 3pm after-school traffic as well. It was embarrassing.....especially when I could not explain what was going on even to myself.

I hope to get this kind of thing under control. I am not sick often in the sense that I have a cold, allergies, sinus problems, sore throats, coughs, stomach bugs, etc. In fact, despite Quentin's recovering immune system, our family is quite a bit healthier than most of the people I know. If anyone wants to peek in my pantry and vitamin cabinet to see how this is achieved, do let me know. Quentin is not the only member of our family who is making a concerted effort to live and eat healthy.

A quick follow up to my last blog, I went to a local cemetery to take photos for my camera club's monthly competition - the theme for the assignment category was tombstones and cemeteries. I took many pictures, but this one was my favorite. It was such a beautiful cemetery, it was not creepy or depressing at all. I think it was a beautiful tribute to the lives of those buried there.

I "won" the creative category for the month for digital photos with my interpretation of a creatively altered version of downtown Houston. I was just being silly, it was the obvious deviation from reality that put it in the creative category, got the attention of the judges, and therefore scored well. I don't know if I have it in me to always be this flashy, but it was fun.

I have lost 7 pounds over the first almost 2 weeks of my yeast cleanse diet. This is a diet targeted to cleanse the digestive tract of a yeast overgrowth situation, which I only suspect based on likely causes and symptoms rather than an actual test. It doesn't hurt to eat healthy and restrict certain foods while replacing them with foods much better for you anyway, right? Weight loss is a perk, but the real purpose is to get yeast under control. It is not the same as a "yeast infection" if anyone is thinking "eww!", think of it as the reason people eat yogurt.

It isn't hard to Google "yeast overgrowth" and "yeast cleanse diets" or something like that if you want more information, but I really feel good when I am on it, and so far I have the self control to stick with it. No bread or grains, no dairy, no refined sugars, no starches, no bad oils, no vinegar, etc. I can eat most vegetables, quality meats, eggs, nuts, and drink lots of water. I can have fruit starting on Monday too....but whatever, it is nice to eat tasty dishes with the "allowed" ingredients. I am taking a probiotic blend and some yeast cleanse products that help to kill yeast. At first when yeast starts to die off because you are killing it or just not feeding it anymore with all the sugar, you can get residual toxicity symptoms, and I did have a few like a headache and itching. It wasn't too severe and didn't last long, but overall I can tell a positive difference already, not to mention the weight loss. I am looking forward to staying on this plan for a month or two.

I took my sister's senior pictures this year, and had so much fun! She called me earlier this week to get the one for the yearbook ready to turn in. This is the one she selected...it is in front of a tree on our property (the house she and I both grew up in, different generations of course) so it will always have meaning to her. She is in the play Jane Eyre the Musical in a few weeks and I am going to Colorado to see her in it...twice. I am so proud of her, and she is having such a blast as a senior in high school, I am so glad, because it was not that way for her older sisters, me included (because I didn't have a senior year! I graduated early...).

I have other siblings too that aren't mentioned as much, I know, but this was "recent" news. Sorry to my other siblings if you see it this way, you are always in my heart and on my mind too! I bet she is the only one who reads this blog anyway....;)

As football season gets underway (ugh) and the school year starts settling into a routine, I hope I will level out eventually. It seems so busy all the time right now and I just can't sustain myself at this pace or I will have to get a nanny....I'm serious! I know I only have one child, but anyone who really knows what we have gone through knows that it is not normal or ideal, but I love him and I am working hard to give him the best possible outcome despite his physical challenges. I have not reached a place where I can just hang out and "coast from here", so it is something I have to keep up with. I have several new things going on with him right now (details would not be effective right here) so I have been on the phone with doctors, nurses, pharmacies, on the internet, etc. researching and learning everything I can...in my spare time (ha, ha).

I am enjoying the blogs of my friends and the Facebook entries of my friends and family! I glance through as much as I can when I can....like I said, computer is a physically low demand activity. Sometimes I need that. However, sometimes I am out running and enjoying the short term boost of energy or at least normal levels of energy that are becoming more frequent. I think I better get to bed so tomorrow may be one of those days!

Speaking of...

2009-08-25T20:31:00.001-07:00

I was actually reading my Google Reader tonight, which I have neglected for a long, long time, realized that not only was I almost 300 posts behind on the blogs I care enough about to subscribe to in Google Reader, I did not have one new post of my own in that time. I don't read every word or even look at every picture of each blog post, but I love scanning through my friend's family blogs and seeing pictures of their families and reading great stories about their families, usually humorous stories about their children.

I thought I would try something new....I would blog about myself, and not Quentin. Don't let me mention him...I'm serious. This is a test to see if I can do it.

I am working again now that school has started, but actually the only time this summer I wasn't working was when I was traveling out of state. I was in Ryan's sister's wedding in Kansas in June, and spent almost 3 weeks touring the grandparents houses in Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas in July. During a full week of school and work (no doctor's appointments or school functions), I can get in almost 20 hours of work in a week. And, since I am going into the office 5 days a week now, I justified a couple new additions to my Houston appropriate wardrobe and they gave me a permanent desk at the office. It has been a long time since I needed to be dressed in business casual every day before 8:15am when I leave the house. I haven't had an office since I worked in Austin, and I left in the summer of 2003. This train of thought is just going to start making me feel old, so I am going to change the subject.

Confession: I just started a sentence with "Qu.." and I had to stop myself. It is a disease!

About 6 months ago I started treatment for a variety of conditions for myself, likely caused by the stress of my life over the past few years. I had multiple hormone imbalances and deficiencies, and I have been undergoing a replacement regimen. I won't bore you with all the details, but my condition is now manageable (mostly fatigue) and I have seen some positive improvements to my health. With all the health and nutrition exposure I've had anyway, I am now practically obsessed with health, nutrition, diet and exercise. I am not fabulously in shape - yet - but I am working on getting much closer than I have been since high school. It is necessary to have the right balance before moving on with any ideas we have about family planning, if you know what I mean. Not only does my head and heart get in the way of imagining how I could survive with another child as I scrape myself out of bed each day as it is, as it turns out I don't think my body was ready for it either. Better safe and healthy than sorry and affecting the health of another innocent life.

I am finding myself overflowing with ideas and thoughts about nutrition and diet, but I can't seem to shut myself up around other people. Not everyone wants to hear that I wouldn't dream of eating half the food they eat or feed their children on a regular basis anymore, even if I used to do it too. I am not paranoid, I have real knowledge in the area at this point, but I am working on NOT making it something I have to share with everyone. Sorry to all of you who have suffered along with me, just know I am working on being better. Most of you can eat and drink whatever you want and will probably be fine, I need to remember that.

I am thinking of running a 5K in October - it doesn't require much training for me, but I am slow at this point. I think I can do it and I think it will feel good to do it. I guess since I haven't officially registered, I am still having commitment issues, which has been common in my life for....quite a while. Can't imagine why!

Ryan has been talking about going on a trip next spring with me, just me, to Europe. We had planned on doing this a long while ago, and I think it is just hanging over our heads because we were going to go and then couldn't. Now I don't know if it will happen anyway. Not because of time or money really (we have been saving up frequent flyer miles since our trip to Italy, so we were not going to be paying for airfare anyway), just Ryan's lack of confidence that we can choose the right itinerary, secure the childcare for Quentin for little over a week when we have no family in Texas, and not have booking regret because we have had issues planning too far into the future for some time. Oh, well. I doubt France, Italy and/or the UK are going anywhere since I was last there. We haven't vacationed for a long, long, long time. Family visits are great, but they aren't vacations. We are so in the mode that we just don't get them, that I think I could go a few more years and not notice.

The level of chaos and busy-ness doesn't really seem to be letting up, but I am slowly putting things in place to get myself caught up in a few things. For example, I am finalizing my home office organization, and once I get my filing set up and caught up, I hope to maintain my new "system" better. I have an excessive amount of paperwork that most people don't have to deal with. I have not had a proper way of handling the medical and therapy records since the whole thing started. Am I still NOT talking about Quentin?

I am doing a yeast cleanse diet for the next 1-2 months, so the limited food I can eat will help facilitate easier meal making decisions. Everyone in my house who does not or can not make their own food will just have to benefit from the temporary restrictions too or continue to make do with a sandwich or leftovers they make themselves.

I have a zillion projects I want to do, and being able to blog more frequently with all the hundreds of pictures I take is one of them. I also wanted to expand a blog I started just about nutrition, so that in case anyone I talk to really is interested, they can get the cliff notes version of what I've learned over the past year and a half.

I am in a photography club and I hope to more actively compete in the monthly photo competitions. I was just too busy, plain and simple, to compete more than a third of the opportunities I had last year. I hope to do a little better this year in turning in submissions. I didn't score too badly when I did compete, that isn't it, I just need time....time....time. It doesn't even take that much time....I just....I don't know.

My hair is getting long and it is not really bothering me, but I can't decide if I want to cut it.

I have been teaching music to the children at church for over a year now and our annual program is coming up in a few weeks. I am not sure how much work I have put off as of now, but since I don't feel the anticipation of having it done and overwith, it must not be stressing me out too bad.

I think there is more, but maybe I am more complex than one blog post to get everyone up to date on just me...so stay tuned. I may finish sometime soon.

Some things in life aren't optional, and somethings are. For example, right now I could be getting things ready for tomorrow to make my morning easier, cleaning up one of the many areas of my house that really needs it, watching a TV show or something with Ryan, or sleeping, but instead, tonight, I am writing in case anyone out there wanted to see if I could finish an entire blog post about me...instead of the usual not-so-inaccurate representation in my blog entries that nearly my whole life is about...you know who (wink!).

Jamie's Senior Pictures

2009-07-23T22:37:00.000-07:00

I got to take senior pictures for my sister going into her senior year this fall...I can't believe how time has flown! I was her age when she was born...wow. Anyway, she picked a few favorites and I snagged them off Facebook until I could get home, but these were 44 of her favorites out of about 500! The are low resolution and not edited, but they turned out okay! It was the most fun I've ever had taking pictures!

Enjoy....

Jamie Senior Pictures

Summer "Vacation": First Stop, Colorado!

2009-07-20T22:59:00.000-07:00

Quentin and I are back in Colorado! We have actually been here almost a week and we leave on Wednesday for Nebraska to see my Dad (and family). Trips to Colorado are always busy for us because I have pretty much all my family except my Dad in the state of Colorado. I have lots of brothers and sisters and extended family from both of my parents' sides of the family.

Quentin has been pretty good and typical for a 3 year old at the same time on this trip. I have seen all his colors brought out by the lack of routine, exciting activities, fun cousins to play with, and hopefully not regress completely in the potty training department. I am hoping this is all just a continuation of what is really good for Quentin socially overall. I know it is good for me to be around my family!

My sisters and I have been the theme of this trip. My one older brother is crazy busy with church and work (although I did get to see him on Sunday!) and my younger teenage brother has been in drum and band camp during the days, so I have seen less of them. However, I have taken about 350 pictures of my teenage sister for her senior pictures and that has been a blast! I love taking pictures and she is the perfect subject! It has gone really, really well and we are doing one more location/outfit before I leave.

My other sisters and sister in law have been around to help with the pictures (hair, positioning, sun blocking) and helping go through the typical drama of what to wear and getting a driver's license that goes along with any 16 year old girl.

I am trying to get in time with my mother and step dad and we have been catching late night conversations or first thing in the morning before we start going in and out of the house all day. We have always had to do this, but my mom has gotten a lot of time with Quentin (while I am on the town with my sisters) and that is great! He loves her and he loves playing with my 6 year old brother as well. We have been swimming a few times and he has put in some time on the trampoline as well. At least we can get him inside this trip once in a while! Last time we came he was pretty difficult to bring in from the great outdoors!

I have been able to see my both of my grandmother's on this trip, and my one aunt on my dad's side. I am struggling to have a trip to Denver where I am not constantly running around, thinking if I stayed longer it wouldn't be so rushed, yet it always is anyway. I am not sure if anything short of moving back would really solve the problem of there never being enough time!

I am looking forward to the next two parts of our summer trip: we go to Nebraska for a few days, then Quentin is going on (without me) to Kansas City to be with Ryan's parents for almost a week. He will have his cousin (who is 3 months older) to socialize with and go to church activities all week with Ryan's mother. I am going to stay behind in Nebraska to help my dad with a few projects without Quentin under foot. We don't go back to Texas until August 1st!

This whole time Ryan is home alone in Texas....but we are staying in touch. It isn't too hard in this day in age and thanks to blogs, texts, cell phones and emails to get a play by play!

Hope everyone is having a great summer!

The Potty Training Chronicles Part II

2009-06-24T05:39:00.000-07:00

On Monday we had our sprinklers repaired (from years of neglect from the prior owners) so we can water in this horribly dry season we've been having so far. It seems a bit unusual for Houston to be this dry so early in the warm season.

Anyway, I was outside with the sprinkler guy for a while and had neglected to encourage Quentin to use the bathroom so we didn't have any accidents. He ususally goes within an hour or two of getting home from school and I was trying to wrap up with the repairman. He is not really telling me often that he needs to go, I just take him frequently "enough" and we seem to do okay.

I was outside and Quentin comes running out chanting "I went, I went!!" with no pants on (and I mean NOTHING on except a t-shirt)! I run over to get him back inside and see his dry shorts and underpants on the floor outside the bathroom and the quiet trickle of water running in a recently flushed toilet.

Although I didn't see it with my own two eyes, this was all the evidence I needed. Woohoo Quentin! You took yourself potty for the first time without any help or encouragement!

Sorry no picture of the half naked declaration.

Wow, is it June Already?

2009-06-02T21:28:00.001-07:00

Clearly I am having trouble transitioning to this blog insteady of Quentin's blog that was created originally because of the Leukemia. I know because I didn't post HERE in the entire month of May. It isn't because of format, convience, or anything that makes one easier than the other, it's just that I guess Quentin is still a central part of our life and by my basic definition of which updates go to which blog, the other one gets used more. I guess that is representative of how busy the uniqueness of Quentin's situation is still a dominant and driving energy in our lives. Almost every day of the week for me revolves around his schedule. That is probably not that different from most families with children, but I guess I am using our unique situation as a reason why this HAS to be different from everyone else, right?

Except for the other kids at Quentin's school of course, I don't know anyone else who takes their child 17 miles one way to a private school they started at the age of 2 to get specialized therapy.....except for other parents of children with cancer or other serious medical issues, I don't know anyone else who can say they average 3 doctors or hospital visits a month.......I also don't know anyone else who in addition to all that ALSO has 10 nutritional supplements to give their child on a daily basis, if possible.....and then I don't know anyone else who does quite as much cooking-without-convenience as I do for a toddler, which simply means I think (although I could be wrong) that I do more from-scratch cooking for child than I even do for myself and very very few processed, instant, pre-packaged foods that could make meal time much eaiser, simpler, shorter, etc. No one I know has voluntarily taken all this on to make the quality of life better for for a child burdened with cancer at a very young age and everything else that followed. That's because I don't really know many other families with children who had cancer this young, who survived anyway. Oh well.....

It probably still sounds like I am complaining about something again and general busy-ness, but I think I need to remind myself daily about what the explanation is for why I hardly have time to shower, clean my house, or even put away clothes. Literally, this isn't an exaggeration. The 30 minutes to an hour I would need every day to keep up with just that short list doesn't regularly exist.

Let me put it another way by giving an example - Quentin started doing a lot of climbing in the house, a stage every child hits but on average I think a bit younger. He will drag chairs around and get into very high to reach areas of the kitchen, for example. It was stressful, dangerous, interruptive, and very frustrating. I resolved a big part of that issue by putting all the chairs and stools from the main floor into our bedroom. We didn't move the couch and a built in window seat in our kitchen, but that is it.

As it turns out, about a week went by and I hardly noticed I did this or saw it as an inconvenience - to not have a single chair to sit on for meals, to rest, to organize something, to read, to watch TV, even work from home lately, or anything like that. Why is this unusual? BECAUSE APPARENTLY I NEVER SIT DOWN!! I appear to have gone about my normal schedule without sitting down except on our couch to dress Quentin for a minute or two or something like that. I had 5 kitchen chairs (in the main living spaces), 2 barstools, and 3 step stools that I could completely live without and barely even noticed their absence because apparently when I am home I just run around, and sleep in my bed. That is it.

I do believe that all this elective special care, diet and therapy is part of what is an investment into Quentin's future. There is so much power in early intervention. I hear things all the time about how a child's dispostion and behavior patterns are largely determined by the age of 5 because of the rate of brain development in early childhood, or that the power of early intervention can literally change a child's developmental diagnosis or thier projected potential when it comes to life and future independence. I just hope that I am spending both my time, money and energy well on Quentin, and of course, I believe I am. I read an interesting article that supports my beliefs on early childhood care in terms of academics and behavior, but medically speaking, the physical development of the child's brain before kindergarten age is still extremely important to consider.

This quote that came from research compiled by www.nccp.org summed up the basic idea:

"The quality of life for a child and the contributions the child makes to society as an adult can be traced to the first few years of life, with 85 percent of a child’s brain being formed by the age of five. During the first six years of life a child undergoes tremendous growth and change. If this period of life includes support for language, motor skills, social skills and social-emotional functioning, the child is more likely to succeed in school and later contribute to society."

No pressure or anything, but I am just hoping and praying that all my hard work on Quentin will pay off in the end just like the quote said - so he can succeed in school and later contribute to society. I guess I can live with a few clothes on the floor, less than sparkling bathrooms and kitchen, and a slightly muskier smell (on myself) for a few years while I wait it out until life slows down a bit. It will slow down, won't it?

The Potty Training Chronicles

2009-04-25T10:53:00.000-07:00

I think someone should've convinced me that language skills, both speaking and listening, weren't required for potty training. They are, to some extent, but I wish I had tried sooner when I KNEW Quentin wasn't ready in terms of communication skills but wasn't as smart as he is today. I waited until I saw all the signs - and once I did, it was too late. He is too smart and knows EVERYTHING he needs to know and just simply WON'T do it.

We have never seen him go, even once, in the potty. He hasn't gone when we weren't looking either. He will hold it and go literally right after we have him sitting on the potty. However, he doesn't appear to be controlling the situation out of spite, I think he has some kind of fear or disinterest in it. The fear could come from the fact that many other things in his routine when it comes to his body are unpleasant, no matter how well he tolerates them. Taking medicine, shots, creams and sprays, squeezing water in his nose to clean it out from allergens, even cleaning his bottom area when his diapers are dirty, etc. He is probably afraid it will become some kind of "for-your-own-good" torture like everything else in his life. Poor kid.

Never the less, we are insisting that he puts his peepee in the potty. A bit ago he went in his training pants, took them off, and started "shaking" them above the toliet to see if the pee would just jump in itself, I guess. I thought it was rather creative, actually. I definitely never shook pee out of underpants into the toilet in front of him (or not in front of him, eww)! I guess he is trying to get closer to doing what we asked of him because he can see that we aren't going to let up - it will and has to happen eventually. The funny thing is, this kid LOVES to be right, and answer questions, and just KNOW things. If I knew how to challenge him to do this because NOT doing it implies that he is just not learning it correctly, that would drive him crazy because of his personality. He likes to be right, and make sure everyone knows it. I think he takes after his mom. I am sorry to all you who already knew that about me - I am just now coming out of that closet and admitting it.

Reasons my 3 year old is different than most 3 year olds

2009-04-22T10:57:00.000-07:00

As I sit here at the mall play area watching Quentin run around, I can't help but contemplate all the ways he is not your typical kid. This is not a complaint or a brag list, just a compilation of observations that may be interesting for some of our friends and family who are nor part of our day-to-day lives. No matter how well he appears to "blend in" at this all-American activity of playing on children's indoor play equipment in a public setting, his life is very different than many kids.

1. Quentin is a cancer survivor (at least he is surviving to date). Why this makes him rare is bit obvious. He completed almost 2 years of chemotherapy treatments before he was even 3 years old.
2. Quentin has developmental delays and differences, like speech and language, and age appropriate social interactions. He has undergone INTENSE speech therapy intervention to get him chattering away like he does today, but the words and phrases he uses did not evolve in a natural way and therefore his vocabulary consists of phrases and sentences most 3 year olds don't use.
3. Quentin does not eat wheat or dairy products, because eliminating them greatly improved his developmental progress. We voluntarily tried this special diet and it has worked out really, really well, even though wheat and dairy products are in SO MANY FOODS!! He also has very little sugar in his diet and eats virtually no candy, cake, ice cream, pudding, jello, pie, brownies, etc. even if they are wheat or dairy free. I let him eat a few special cookies, but he doesn't want them often.
4. Quentin only drinks water. Really. He'll have a few sips of juice once or twice A MONTH. He won't go near soda or lemonade, even if we are offering it to him.
5. Quentin is not allergic to nuts, but he actually eats nuts daily because they are nutritious and many children who have no allergies to nuts still don't eat them regularly.
6. Quentin eats pretty much all forms of protein - every kind of meat we've offered him. He can be convinced to eat any kind of vegetable, but loves potatoes and sweet potatoes we cook in healthy oils. He always has an appetite, but NOT for any of the typical toddler foods like mac and cheese, grilled cheese, spaghetti, hot dogs or corn dogs and pizza. He can be very picky about textures and feeding had been a long time struggle until relatively recently.
7. Quentin takes supplements every day like probiotics, calcium, magnesium, zinc, glutathione, fish oil, a multivitamin, and others for immune, liver and respiratory support.
8. Every day we wash Quentin's nose with a salt water solution to keep him from having a chronic runny nose from seasonal allergies.
9. Although he has had to take at some time or another every kind of medication under the moon that has ever been given to children because of the Leukemia, he is on NO prescription or over the counter drugs right now and our goal is to keep it that way.
10. Quentin has a phenomenal memory. He will learn entire songs after hearing them only once or twice, he'll ask to watch a television show or play with a toy he hasn't seen or heard mentioned in literally months, and learns everyone's name that he meets and can identify that person by name anytime later.
11. Quentin reads. He doesn't just read "cat", "go" and other very short and common words. He is reading at what I am guessing is a 1st or 2nd grade level at this point with very, very little help. We discovered he was reading just after his 2nd birthday. This is not something we've taught him, so I guess he must have a photographic memory or something. It's really amazing to watch him be so good at something we DIDN'T teach him, when he has had to be taught so many other developmental things in baby steps.
12. Quentin knows sign language, in fact he knows ALOT of sign language, and stores it right in that magic memory of his. Signing is how we first got Quentin to speak words, and later is how we found out he could read too. He has picked up random words in Japanese as well (no exaggeration).
13. Quentin has not slept in a crib for over a year, but still lays in bed until someone comes into his room to "get him up". He has no rails or restraints on his bed, he just lays there talking and waiting to get permission to get up for the day.
14. Quentin has always been a very good sleeper - always.
15. Quentin knows everything about what is expected of him to potty train, has all the skills and awareness, but refuses and knowingly won't do it.
16. He is a tall kid - he is proof that bones and the body can grow without milk. I think he's grown close to 2 inches and several pounds since the beginning of the year. He is 39 inches tall and over 40 pounds! That is a big 3 year old!
17. Quentin doesn't cry (for more than a second or so) during medical procedures that involve needles, and never has, not to say he never will.
18. Quentin started school at the age of 2. He is pretty much committed to going to school full time now because he needs the structure and routine. Granted, full time for him is only 4 days a week for 3 hours right now, but that will slowly increase. His school is a specialized pre-school program for kids with speech, language delays and kids with learning differences. His teachers has a masters in speech and language pathology.

I just thought I'd throw those out there. Each of these items is a gift, a blessing or a challenge, which is what our life has been with Quentin from day one.

Make-a-Wish!

2009-04-12T21:11:00.000-07:00

As a cancer patient, Quentin was eligible to get a "Make-a-Wish" wish granted. Even though they are technically not eligible until the age of 2.5 years, and Quentin was under 1 year old when he was diagnosed, some Make-a-Wish volunteers in New Jersey suggested that we apply on Quentin's behalf as soon as we could, while he was in treatment, and get him approved and then just wait until he got older to grant his wish. As Quentin has gotten older, more communicative, and now that he has teachers who get to know him in a way that gives them a chance to speak on his behalf as well as us, his parents, we all agreed that he would be granted an outdoor play structure from Kid Structures, Inc. We selected a day, cleaned up the back yard and made it as safe as possible for Quentin, and they came and installed the new deluxe swingset on Thursday! We had a small "reveal" for Quentin when he got home from school, and then we had a bunch of friends over later in the day after regular schools got out and kids were up from naps. The Make-a-Wish volunteer brought us gingerbread cookies (because Quentin loves ginger) and lemonade and we had kids literally everywhere! It was great!
Quentin will really, really, really love having this in our backyard. He and Ryan have put in quite a bit of time on it already. It is especially nice during these beautiful weather months in Houston. Thank you Make-a-Wish! See the pictures the Make-a-Wish volunteer and her husband took here at Smilebox.

It's Spring!

2009-04-02T19:44:00.000-07:00

I am so pathetically behind in blogging....I am not sure why, exactly. Oh, yes, I remember now: I have no (free) time. However, I do kind of keep up with Quentin's medical blog, so check out some new pictures and things there if you want to read more recent news on him.

I have spring fever - I seem to want to do yard work and I am finding anything that stands in my way of that is just becoming more and more annoying! I know I have you all confused because I said I didn't like yard work before, but I am kind of getting into it now that Quentin wants to spend all his time at home outside, and I can get some Vitamin D (I am very, very deficient as it turns out), a little color on my skin (I am very, very pasty white) and good cleansing sweat in the great Houston humidity while working out my aging muscles. It is win-win-win-win!

I think I was first partially inspired by flowers and shrubs I didn't know we had until they started blooming, or rather I didn't know what they were until they bloomed. I took these pictures a few weeks ago. Azaleas, Jasmine, and some Wedding/Bridal Veil plant, and some other unnamed ones (I am sure they are named, but I don't know the names!).

I was also inspired to get the fence that was blown over by the hurricane last September fixed, because it was really weighing down on flowers and our sprinklers in the back yard. I got a quote and arranged for new fences and lattice. It just got finished today (but I got home after dark, so I will take pictures later)! I also had our trees trimmed so the dead branches in the trees (also from the hurricane) wouldn't fall on anyone, and to let a little more sun shine through to our grass, which really needs sun to do better. Ryan repaired our wooden deck so it was more safe, and we got a truckload of leaves and branches hauled off. Finally, we decided that the Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Texas Gulf Coast Region could donate a swing set/play center for Quentin, so we needed to make everything ready for it since it will be installed a week from today.

All of this work is so we can let Quentin do what he really wants to do more than anything lately - play outside. I have been wanting to start a garden, if not just for a few vegetables and herbs, and all of this is making me a little obsessed with the outdoors. So much for my already poor housekeeping skills inside! I bet my wallpaper removal/painting project in the master bathroom won't get done for a while....Oh well, there is always the dead heat of August for indoor projects, right?

Just checking....

2009-02-27T17:46:00.000-08:00

We had used the "Who's in the Big 12?" question to entertain around the holidays, but it has been a while since we asked him. Sometimes he would "offer" to rattle them off, and we just let it die off....or so we thought. To get a second take, we asked him tonight and threw in a bonus question....take a peek!

Happy Birthday Serenade!

2009-02-25T16:19:00.001-08:00

Quentin has sung many rounds of Happy Birthday this year already, with many family birthdays early in 2009....this was one I caught on video this morning (he still has a morning "frog" in his throat)! Happy Birthday Mimi!

On Top of Spaghetti

2009-02-14T10:31:00.000-08:00

Quentin's latest "favorite" book is "On Top of Spaghetti", which you can hear him sing along to in the short video clips below. He has been known to spontaneously sing this and other songs remarkably in tune and on key!

Evidence that Potty Training Isn't Going Well

2009-02-14T10:14:00.001-08:00

"Whatever mom, I'll sit on the potty, as long as I can eat...."

"If you think this helps mom, I'm game....."

"I like the underpants better on my head. Don't you?"

Does it get better than this?

2009-01-15T13:04:00.000-08:00

Quentin's teacher sent this picture to us by email today, and it couldn't be more appropriate to use, especially with Quentin's fabulous pose for it! The Houston Chevron Marathon is this weekend and the parents of one of Quentin's classmates are running it and helped make it possible that the school will be one of the charities to benefit from the race.

I spent the day (and actually the day isn't over yet) at Quentin's school, The Parish School. Quentin's classroom has one way windows (looks like a mirror on one side) for observations by parents or therapists. In addition to observing our own children in their own classrooms, parents are encouraged to observe classes our children may be moving up to in the following year so we are prepared to ask questions and get the most out of our parent/teacher/other therapists conferences. We had conferences back in October, and now we are getting ready for February conferences where we talk about Quentin's progress, projected cirriculum achievement, and what class or school he should go to next year or this summer.

Also, throughout the year, we are required to go to a certain number of parent education opportunities like morning coffee chats, evening parent seminars, attend other school functions, or chair a committee of some kind. The education at these meetings is absolutely priceless to me in understanding Quentin, his education, and his future. I attended a coffee chat this morning about center based classrooms (which is the model at the Parish School preschool) and this evening is a parent seminar Ryan and I will attend about explaining your child's learning differences to family and friends (maybe I should've waited to post this blog until after that meeting!).

The other discussions/seminars I have attended have been SOO helpful, and while observing several other classrooms other than Quentin's today, I can see the magic of getting children the appropriate education for "special" children at work and I was nearly in tears about how grateful I am that we have this school for Quentin. Everytime I go there I learn more about what I can do with Quentin at home, and I get more involved with what kind of education he has now, will need in the future, and I would want for him in general. It is exciting and scary that if we hadn't moved to Texas this wouldn't have come about. I am so grateful to Quentin's school, the teachers, and the scholarship committee for helping offset the direct cost of the tuition to our family. Even if this is the only year Quentin goes to the Parish School, what I've learned will be utilized to make every developmental and academic decision for Quentin for the rest of his dependent life. Yes, the knowledge really is that powerful

On another subject, the school's biggest fundraiser is this month, a huge Gala at the Houston Galleria J.W. Marriott Hotel on Saturday January 24th. Late last week they sent home ten $5 raffle tickets to win a $1000 ,$500 or $250 VISA gift cards, and today I got four $50 raffle tickets that would win Quentin his summer camp tuition paid (a value that could exceed $2,000). If anyone is interested in buying these raffle tickets to win the gift cards (you do NOT have to be present to win) or want to donate $50 for a ticket to possibly win tuition for Quentin's summer camp, please let me know in the next week or so and I will buy the tickets on your behalf and we can work out the details later, especially if the tickets win (like getting you the winning gift card or sending you some kind of enormous long-distance hug)!

I will just reiterate that this school fabulous, and any time of year or for any event, donations can be made here. I really don't like soliciting money or donations, but we have been recipients for the last several years of the monetary kindness of others, some from people we knew and some from people we do not even know, but we are so sincerely and eternally grateful. If you are so inclined, please find a great cause like this one and become a person who really makes a difference in the lives of others, especially children. You won't be sorry.

Who's in the Big 12?

2009-01-08T14:34:00.001-08:00

Go Sooners!

The Holiday Parties

2008-12-22T07:22:00.000-08:00

We had several Christmas Parties this year.....Ryan and I went to a formal Holiday party hosted by his company, our church had a family Christmas party, Quentin had a Holiday party at school, and then Ryan's company also had a holiday party for families. I did not take pictures at the formal party or the church Christmas party, mostly because Quentin wasn't at either one of them. I did take a few pictures of Quentin at his school party and our family at Ryan's company party. In general they were nice parties, and should've been more fun, but parties with a three year old are not really that great. I think another year or two and we'll all enjoy them more!

First, his teacher explained a gingerbread man craft they would do at their tables.

Then the kids did their craft, dressing and decorating their gingerbread man cutouts.

Then, everyone went back to circle and sang songs - "Jingle Bells" (Quentin proudly demonstrates) and a family and classroom favorite, "Must Be Santa". Quentin's got the "Santa" card for "Must Be Santa" because of his timing, rhythm and enthusiasm for the song!

Then the children had lunch and cookies with frosting to dip in, and as usual, Quentin was so slow he didn't have time to eat everything!

Finally, they ended with circle again and said goodbye to each of their friends. First they pick their name off the board....
And then they put their name in the bucket and sing the good-bye song!

The family party for Ryan's company was at George Ranch Historical Park, a beautiful ranch still in operation who hosts parties and weddings on the weekends.

There was a dance hall for the meal and entertainment (a magician/cowboy),

gifts for the children,

a buffet dinner with barbeque ribs and brisket, and hot cobbler ala mode!

We roasted marshmellows for smore's, one of Quentin's favorites,

and watched a pack of armadillos. Quentin was very entertained by them!

We also branded a piece of wood with the name of Ryan's company, which he wanted to take home and put on the mantle in our study. The most surprising though, was that Ryan finally put on the cowboy hats they were issuing...and I have proof!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!

2008-12-10T21:53:00.000-08:00

So, apparently it doesn't snow in Houston often...a couple times every decade at the most. Well, it was a week or so ago I observed that I was having a hard time getting into the holiday season, probably because with 70-80 degree weather, it wasn't feeling very Christmas-y. I have lived in either Colorado or New Jersey almost my entire life, and it got cold and snowed every winter.

Today was freezing cold, and I was chilled to my core. It was in the mid-30's, and it wasn't getting warmer as the day went on. It didn't help that when I went to the mall to work as I often do during Quentin's school, the WiFi area is right next to the ice rink.

There was some cold rain this morning, but this afternoon between 4 and 5 it started snowing!! I had planned to go do a little Christmas shopping, so I was driving around Houston with snowflakes actively falling, having to REMIND myself that this weather is not typical around here. It didn't just snow for a couple minutes, but throughout the evening as I drove around central and west/southwest Houston.

Being bundled up in a hat, scarf, coat and gloves is EXACTLY how I am used to Christmas shopping. It is more comfortable when you are prepared as I knew how to be - I am wearing 3 layers, a coat on top of that, etc. I just thought I would share the rarity with all of you, many of you living in parts of the country with very cold temperatures as well this past week as well - lower than the 30's. It really feels like the holiday season now!

By the way, Ryan and I love the overall climate in Houston and we are happy that it isn't like this often. We have really enjoyed living here, but we'll see what happens when April comes back around and we've been here for a full calendar year and the bugs are coming back....

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-29T07:32:00.001-08:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving week with 10 people under our roof for the holiday! Ryan's entire family came - his parents, his brother with his family from Topeka (that includes his wife and two kids), his sister who is engaged but without her fiancee, and then us! We had a really, really great visit. Our house was able to accommodate everyone comfortably. Unfortunately, our little 6 month old nephew (Quentin's cousin Keaton) didn't sleep quite as well as ultimately desired (but I think it was his parents that took the brunt of that, it didn't seem to bother anyone else tremendously), but it wasn't going to be perfect, right? I just feel bad for the little guy...I wonder if I had made his bed a little more comfortable if that would've made a difference.....

Anyway, we had BBQ/ribs on Wednesday night, Thanksgiving was a little non-traditional with pork tenderloin and stuffing instead of a turkey (and no mashed potatoes!), and we even made it out to a restaurant last night for cheeseburgers, and snacked on croissants with eggs and cheese (complimented with a real Honey Baked Ham) and breakfast tacos in the mornings. I was pleased that we had enough food that seemed to be good tasting and easy enough, we kept each other's company well, the kids got along great, and most of the adults got to go to a movie Thursday night. It was so busy for me leading up to their arrival, and now I am just relaxing into the rest of the weekend because I won't have to cook for a week! We have leftovers for 10 and only 2 of us to eat them!

I have to say, leftovers is a relief to me in many ways. I have had a really hard time adjusting to the kitchen after Quentin's 6 months in the hospital and our restricted life over the past year and a half. I know it sounds like plenty of time to get readjusted, but I went 6 months without planning meals, doing dishes and grocery shopping of any significance. Then, when we were back from the hospital, I would limit the trips out of the house with Quentin for months following as he was still compromised, and then our schedule just got crazy with therapy and clinic visits. I just have never gotten my rhythm back, not that I was ever that good at it.

So, when people come to visit me and ask what they can do, and the dishes are silently piling up, they just do them and I just thank them fervently because that is all I really want: someone to do my dishes. My company was stellar at this, and I say, anyone else who wants to come stay at my home, just do my dishes and you can stay as long as you want! I need to clarify that Ryan has been excellent at filling in where I am lacking in this area. He has been pretty understanding of my shortcomings in the kitchen, and it is literally a blessing that his current job provides them a good meal in the office daily, so I don't feel as bad about not being up to par in meal planning.

Quentin eats as well as he is willing to, and he did remarkably well with our company this weekend. He slept in our room and gave his room to his cousin, which worked out fantastic for everyone. He ate his food and even expanded his tolerance slightly after observing his same-age cousin eating a better variety of foods. Don't get me wrong, all 3 year olds will protest the ideal diet, but it could've been worse.

After several trips to the playground and park, walks with grandma and grandpa, reading books, lots of playing in Quentin's game room, and the overall mental stimulation of having playmates, Quentin took a very long recovery nap this afternoon. The house is kind of quiet, and Quentin went back to some old habits that had temporarily been put aside during the excitement of our company, that is, eating everything in sight. I am rolling my eyes remembering this pattern of his, hoping that with a little creativity, I can expand these eating binges to include more of the newer foods I'd like to introduce to Quentin instead of his same old, same old selection. However, I have carefully limited the foods he eats anyway, so he isn't exactly filling up on junk. It is just the same things and he really needs to broaden his acquired tastes. Of course this requires preparation and organization on my part, so here I am, working my tail off in the kitchen again. Sigh.

We will have a less chaotic December - I hope. I guess we will get into it and see what happens. My guess is 2008 will still end with a bang, not with a gentle breeze. Stay tuned to find out.....

Mahalo, Waikiki!

2008-11-10T11:14:00.000-08:00

Hawaii is a beautiful place, full of a variety of people from all over the world. I admit, there were mostly couples, which made me pretty sad to be there without Ryan, but we have many other places on our list to visit before we will go to Hawaii together sometime in the future.

The competition was great and I was thoroughly entertained by the women singing up on that stage. Skyline, the Denver chapter of Sweet Adelines, made it into the top 10 and therefore competed in the finals on Saturday. They placed 4th and let me tell you, it was very tough competition. I was so proud of them and their entertaining and energetic performance.

There is a quartet competition that alternates days with the chorus competition, so on Friday during the quartet finals, I spent the day with a friend we knew from our church when we lived in Austin, TX. Her husband was in Hawaii for work related to the election, so he is wrapping up and they are heading back to Texas next month. I thought I would visit her while I was there if I could, so we had a great time on Friday.

So, my friend picked me up and we drove up the coast to the North Shore and Laie, where Brigham Young University - Hawaii campus is, the Hawaii temple, and the Polynesian Cultural Center. These are all church run sites, but they are at least an hour's drive away from Waikiki so I am especially grateful that she took me up there.

The beaches and scenery along the north shore were breathtaking and truly the most beautiful places on the island. We took a highway back through the center of the island and stopped at the Dole Plantation. That is where I had the most yummy dessert, Dole Whip. It is a pineapple flavored soft serve treat that is very delicious. Before I got here I was already completely addicted to pineapple, fresh or "Just Pineapple" (dried without perservatives, not like standard dried pineapple). Yum-mee!

We went back to her neighborhood and picked up lunch from Teddy's Bigger Burgers. I love cheeseburgers and this was a great local treat! We ate it at her place, a condo they have been renting, and she has 4 kids, two were with us all day (1yr and 3yrs) and two were at school (5yrs and 7yrs) and when they all got home, we went to the beach (Baby Makapuu). Because of the season, the waves are much too strong for young kids, so we hung out in tidepools and they had a great time. I took lots of pictures of her kids, it was so much fun!

After the beach, the chill on her youngest made the hot tub sound like a good idea, so we had her husband meet us there with Chinese food and we used up the rest of the daylight and into the evening in the hot tub at her complex. She took me back to the hotel in Waikiki and it was a fabulous day.

Sunday, after the finals, we got up and took the city bus to Pearl Harbor and saw the U.S. Arizona Memorial. It was a wonderful memorial and educational experience, not to mention a great view of another part of this amazing island. We took the bus back to Ala Moana, a HUGE shoppping center/mall. We found the most interesting little store called the Crack Seed Center that sells all kinds of dried and seasoned fruits, and we picked up a few things and found out I can order more later from the internet. It was bulk food style, so sold by the pound, or in pre-filled sample bags. It was really unique and a great treat!

We took the bus one more time back to our hotel, and I put my suit on and jumped in the ocean. The water is a little cold at first, but certainly tolerable and it was nice. I swam all the way until the sun went down. We changed clothes and I took my roomates back to Teddy's Bigger Burgers and had another cheeseburger. I actually split one with my grandmother and had garlic fries.

We turned in for our last night in Hawaii and got up the last morning to pack. We splurged on one buffet meal for lunch and picked up the last of our souvineirs and macadamia nuts! I found out early that morning that my grandfather passed away and I felt helpless and far away, not just because I was in Hawaii, but because when I get home, I am still hundreds of miles away from my family who is grieving. I am planning on going to Denver shortly after I get back. Ryan and I both lost a grandfather in the past month. I think with this past week of extra time to contemplate my life and the people I love and miss, it reminds me of how fragile and valueable our lives are and the chance we have to be on this wonderful planet to live.

After we had our big buffet, we slowly walked around and enjoyed Waikiki in "slow motion", to really take it all in. We went to the Pacific Beach Hotel and saw the giant aquarium, took picture of surfers and waterfalls along Waikiki and Kuhio Beach , enjoyed some Macadamia Nut/Pineapple Coconut Ice Cream from Haagen Dazs, waved hello to Ryan from a live webcam at the Duke Kahanamoku Statue,and watched a fairly well known Hawaiian Band and dancer (hula?) from the deck on the back patio of our hotel, saw my grandmother get up and dance with the hula dancer and a small group "on stage", and watched the sunset for the last time before we left.

So, Mahalo (thank you) Waikiki! It was a great visit!

Aloha!!

2008-11-05T09:48:00.000-08:00

I am in Hawaii with my grandmother, and it really is a beautiful state. I won't even get close to seeing half of it, let alone all it has to offer, but I am getting a tiny glimpse of why it is such a popular vacation and honeymoon destination. My grandmother is in Sweet Adelines and their 2008 International Competition is in Honolulu this year. My grandmother has Macular Degeneration in her eyes, so I am here to help her "see" her way around.

I left the house early Monday morning and cried my way to the airport, in disbelief that I will be away from Quentin and Ryan for over a week. I used to travel all the time, when it was just Ryan, and between my work and out-of-state internships, we had gotten used to distance and learned to adjust to it. It has been years since I traveled by myself. He dropped me off and immediately I kept feeling my pockets, checking my bag, and trying desperately to figure out what I forgot. I knew in my heart that feeling of forgetting something was because I was so used to having strollers, diaper bags, and a very young child to look after while trying to communicate and coordinate with my husband every time I left the house. I was literally at a loss.

So, I met up with my grandmother in Los Angeles and we had a nice lunch with a group of women from her chorus. I was actually getting a little excited at this point. I wasn't exceptionally tired but really should've been. Between daylight savings time, Quentin getting sick overnight several times over the weekend, and staying up late packing and getting up early for the airport, I was massively sleep deprived. I slept on and off on the planes, but for the most part I just zombie'd around and hoped that I wasn't talking crazy and delirious.

We landed in Honolulu, 4 time zones different from where I woke up that morning, and it was only 7pm. We caught our shuttle to the airport and found our rooms. My grandmother, being the exceptionally active and energetic 81 year old that she is, was revving and ready to go! She was in Hawaii and didn't want to spend any more time in a hotel room than necessary. So.....out we went, to grab a bite to eat and see a little of Waikiki.

We had a drink and an appetizer at a place next door to our hotel, and walked along the beach to get back to our hotel. We are staying at the Moana Surfrider Westin Resort Hotel. You could make a Motel 6 look like a resort in this city.

We headed for bed and I know my head hit to pillow gratefully. Due to the extreme time change, our roomates were up at 5am, and therefore my grandmother and I were up shortly after that. Ugh.

We walked around trying to find an affordable breakfast (the $45 breakfast buffet was vetoed) and we settled for splitting an $8 breakfast panini.

We ventured out to take a trolley tour of the Waikiki and the nearby area (Diamond Head, Kahala, Hanauma, Koko Head, and Makapuu). It was a beautiful day, a little overcast, but that made it great for pictures and kept the sun out of our eyes. It was breezy on the trolley, but it was a perfect way to see the city, where some celebrities live or have homes, and a few of the scenic areas including places where certain scenes in movies were shot.

We had a sandwich at the same place near our hotel - we split a plate of baha fish tacos made with Mahi Mahi and a huge plate of waffle fries. We couldn't even eat them all! While my grandmother was in rehearsal, I went for a quick dip in the ocean. I have to admit, although the blueness of the water and the smoothness of the sand was paradisical, I was chilled that it was not warm water and ended up in the swimming pool just near the beach after a few minutes realizing I wasn't very relaxed. I hope it warms up on a day when the sun shines on the water a bit more.

We watched the sunset from the lanai from our room. It is marvelous! There was a Showcase last night I didn't go to, but ALL my roommates did, and I found myself going to bed way before 9pm. I slept until the phone rang just after 11pm and my roommates weren't back yet. They arrived shortly after and I tried to stay up like I had been awake that whole time, but I don't think I fooled anyone. I was back asleep in no time and slept soundly until after 7am this morning.

Today we got up, found a $2.99 breakfast special, and headed to the Convention Center to watch some of the semi-final performances. We stayed there throughout the mid-day and made it back to the hotel so my grandmother could go to her Skyline chorus rehearsal and so I could come up to the hotel room and post a few of these pictures, which I would've done last night if I hadn't been so tired!!

So we'll see if I can keep up with my 81 year old grandmother tonight to go out in the evening for some night life. I don't know how she does it, but she is practically leaving me in the dust!

Wrapping Up Halloween

2008-11-01T06:03:00.000-07:00

Well, Halloween wasn't as bad as I remember it. Parents were invited to go to a Quentin's classroom and stay for a few minutes when dropping off the kids in costume. Apparently kids in public schools don't really get to dress up at school anymore, so I didn't appreciate how rare this was until we were at the local public elementary school on Halloween day and no kids were in costumes. It was weird.

Anyway, I went to Quentin's school and spent 15 minutes or so with him and took pictures of the kids with all their costumes. I will post them later (on Quentin's school blog), here's a few of Quentin.

We were invited to a block party by a new family who moved in a couple weeks before the hurricane. They are really nice people, who spend a lot of time reaching out to sick children since one of her teenage sons has cerebral palsy. She already has a very special concern for Quentin and wants to know everything about anything she can do for us.

The problem was, a couple hours before this party, Quentin starting getting sick. He had food from his stomach that was from dinner the night before. He hadn't eaten well before his nap, then he woke up from it sick and crying. He proceeded to get sick on just water several more times, even though he kept begging for the water and even food.

So, I spent a good hour keeping him distracted from his hunger and thirst and Ryan finished up the night before putting him to bed. He did fine without getting sick or waking up over the night, so he seems to be okay so far today. So, we weren't able to take him out trick-or-treating, even to friend's houses, but we did walk him down to the neighbor's house to get some fresh air. Since the party was outside on the driveway and they knew he wasn't feeling well, an accident wouldn't have been so embarrassing, but we didn't have any accidents thank goodness. He was a hit at the party, of course, just walking around in his train and cap costume.

We had numerous trick-or-treaters. It is strange for me to live in a house that gets trick-or-treaters because I haven't lived in a neighborhood with that kind of activity since I was in second grade. My home growing up (after that first house) was in the country with dirt roads, no sidewalks, and the houses far apart. Since I went to college and got married, we have lived in apartments, townhomes or condos. I actually enjoyed knowing we lived in a neighborhood where we had trick or treaters in terms of it being a family-friendly and safe area. Not because I LOVE Halloween or anything....

Halloween...The Holiday that Will Never End

2008-10-28T14:09:00.000-07:00

Quentin is dressing up as Thomas the Tank Engine this year for Halloween. We have been invited to 4 events to wear his costume to, and we have attended 2 already and will do one more before Friday (which is the actual Halloween holiday). I suppose there is still time for more activities to come up, we just may not have time to go to anymore since I am leaving Monday for a week!

Above is Quentin's costume...and below is a pathetic attempt at reconciling my "10 Reasons I Don't Like Halloween" on a more positive note. If you are confused, see my earlier post.

10 Reasons I am Tolerating Halloween

1. I am recognizing the efforts of many organizations to offer alternatives to candy-candy-candy. Thankfully my son doesn't really know what candy is and doesn't recognize sugar until it is in his mouth (at least for now). You should see him with a lollipop - he has no idea what to do with it.

2. I kind of like quality face painting - particularly on girls - scrolly flowers, butterflies, and hearts and glitter.

3. I still don't like masks, but at least they aren't allowed at most of the places I would take my son to for holiday parties.

4. For now I am seeing a lot fewer of the gory/violent/evil character costumes. Maybe it's the younger age group I am around, or maybe it's because I am choosing to look the other way....

5. I should complete the history lesson - "All Saints Day" follows Halloween or "Day of the Dead" on November 1st, and my positive on that is that we don't obviously have the word "dead" in the term "Halloween" or implied in its purpose. Unfortuneately the holiday isn't completely redeemed by making it a day off from school and work like the Italians do. Now that would really bring me around to liking Halloween.

6. On the other hand, I did dress up as other things for Halloween over the years of my childhood. For example, I was a Genie for 3 or 4 years in a row, complete with sheer pants, bikini top and vest with bling-bling trim and accessories.

7. I am glad that most haunted houses now charge for admission which means I don't have to struggle to suggest better things to do with my money (or time).

8. I like general carnival games like cakewalks, bobbing for apples or doughnuts, bean bag tosses, train rides and animal petting or pony rides. These are some of the activities at the parties we have gone to.

9. I am pretty much vetoing events where we get food or candy from anyone we don't know, so I'll let someone else take candy from a stranger and stick with church, school or events sponsored by charities.

10. I like certain shades of peach, rust and brown. That's the best I can do.

10 Reasons Why I Don't Like Halloween

2008-10-11T20:00:00.000-07:00

1. I don't eat a lot of candy, even as a kid, especially not a lot of chocolate, and I never got enough starbursts and skittles to make up for it.

2. I hate face makeup - white vampire skin, fake blood, and especially substances that are supposed to represent brain material.

3. I don't like masks or clowns for similar reasons (except my friend Mary, she rocks!).

4. I don't like the violence behind many of the "classic" costumes or characters. It's like teaching kids it's okay if your hero is a violent life-taker.

5. Indirectly, Halloween practically ruined my trip to Florence, Italy. "All Saints Day" is the day after Halloween (I think it is a Catholic holiday?). It was a 3 day holiday weekend for Europeans so we couldn't get in to the Uffizi to see the Renaissance art, where at that time of year you typically would not need a reservation to get in so we didn't have one and didn't need one for ANYTHING ELSE our whole trip.

6. My mother made me a scarecrow one year, which is very not-feminine, and she used a pen to draw a seam and stiches around my face and I was pretty young so it scared me to have black lines on my face.

7. I had my ankles grabbed in a haunted house where I was assured they were not supposed to touch me. It turns out it was a person I knew working there, so she didn't mean to permanently ruin me on haunted houses and the holiday altogether, but she contributed to it for sure.

8. I don't like games that make you feel wet spaghetti and peeled grapes representing intentstines and eye balls when you are blindfolded.

9. I don't like the idea of eating candy from strangers - what are we teaching kids when say don't take candy from strangers except on this one night a year?

10. I hate orange.

The Aftermath of Ike

2008-09-18T08:35:00.000-07:00

We have survived, and our recent post on Quentin's webpage was pretty descriptive about our joy in having our power back on. Here is that post:

"WE HAVE POWER!! Our power came on about noon today and although we had several afternoon plans (going to a friend's house to watch a season premiere we missed, a therapy appointment for Quentin, and picking up our car we took in for minor non-storm related maintenance), I am just getting around the verifying that we have our internet too! Yippee! I am at my kitchen table enjoying the beautiful temperatures that don't even require the air conditioning we now have if we wanted it, and listening to the beautiful hum of our refridgerator and freezer dropping ice into our ice maker bucket. I love technology!!

I ran our dishwasher first (I really hate doing dishes) and Quentin is happily eating fresh chicken and potatoes like he had been starved of protien for more than a few days (which he wasn't literally), but everything tastes better when you don't worry about how long it had been thawed out. We actually got this food from Chick-fil-a at the mall, and it is open and busy like any other weekend day would be as if we didn't just experience a hurricane in our area. It is interesting how driven we are to move on with our lives.

I have some dear friends in Houston and only was able to get an update from one of them (Maren, from your blog), so Sharon, Jeff, Charlie, Ellen, Bret and Doug/Laurie, we'd love to get an email or guestbook entry from you so we know that you are okay. You are all in our prayers as is the near half of the greater Houston area still without power and those whose homes and lives are devasated beyond simple repair. Waiting a few days for electricity (we always had uncontaminated water, hot water, and no damage to our home, only minor fence damage) is nothing and we know it. We don't take anything for granted.

Quentin's school is closed for the week now, so we will hang out some more tomorrow. I imagine my housework is no longer going to accept excuses, so the house better be shining from top to bottom by Monday morning. Actually, I never thought I'd say this, but with the beautiful weather we are having, the yardwork (non-essential, the storm debris is picked up already) is calling to me more than the vacuuming is."

We put Quentin down in his own bedroom last night, re-adjusted the thermostat for our indoor climate control, and started re-populating our refridgerator and freezer with perishable foods that were barely salvaged by taking it over to a friend's house who had power several days before we did.

Our house is a mess inside (the outside was cleaned up days ago), and I am trying to get cleaned up and organized again. We dismantled our home to prepare various rooms for the event of a broken window followed by hours of high winds and rain, and now we are assembling our home again. All the nonperishable food from our 72 hour kit and a trip to the store before our power came back on is all over the kitchen, and many areas of the house did not get picked up in the evening after Quentin went to bed because the house was pitch black and I have a hard enough time motivating myself when I don't have to clean by flashlight.

I like an organized home, so I don't feel like a slob who is content to live in filth, but I have a hard time keeping up with it having a two year old and a life that gets transported to and from our car to our home (things we have to take to church, school, hospital and clinic, trips to the store, outings, strollers, extra car seats, etc.). This week we packed up food, entertainment, and things that needed charged as we spent time with our friends several days in a row, and with each trip, our living space got more and more cluttered.

So I am posting pictures of the outside of our home after the storm. I had to snap these quick because there was so much activity on the street to start the cleanup process we had neighbors moving large branches before I could even get a picture of them! We have approximately 20 trees on our property!! I can't believe they all survived (meaning none of them snapped in half or fell into our home or garage)!!

The metal square thing in the middle of our deck was the chimney cap that Ryan put back on a few days ago, and two of these angles show the fences that tipped over, that mostly have been pulled upright and temporarily secured now.

Hurricane Preparations

2008-09-12T14:20:00.000-07:00

Hurricane Ike is heading our way, and we are only hours or less away from starting to get wind and rain from it. We are not evacuating, but we were not asked or expected to. We are supposed to "shelter-in-place", which means secure ourselves in our home. The same term is used to shelter yourself from chemical or a biohazard leak that could threaten your life which is important to know how to prepare for as well. We don't live near a chemical plant or highway with truck traffic carrying fuel and chemicals, but we would like to be prepared for this scenario anyway especially for storms.

We haven't lived in our home long enough to have installed storm shutters, or to have purchased plywood to cover our windows, but we can only do so much in our first 4 months in our first single family home, right?

Some of the things we've prepared in advance of the storm arriving tonight are:
- prepared a 72 hr. kit with food, water, supplies and critical items for survival
- stocked extra water, bedding, supplies and food in our home to live without electricity or potable water for an extended period of time
- removed loose items outdoors so they will not be dangerous debris if picked up by strong winds
- put our cars in our garage (we usually park them outside under our carport
- removed items from rooms with windows that could get broken, water damaged (and they were unreplaceable), or be an airborne threat if a window were to break
- charged all chargeable items
- made central contacts outside of the storms path to communicate with if possible to help reduce phone line overload (we plan to text message instead)
- prepared sleeping accomodations in a room in our home without windows and put the emergency supplies and irreplaceables in that room with us
- checked in with friends and neighbors as to our plan to stay or leave, and check on eachother's basic preparedness
- obtained emergency anti-biotics for Quentin in case he has an infection or fever and is unable to see a doctor (he still has a central line/foreign object in his body that puts him at risk)
- prepared lighting in shelter room and for long term without power (lamps, candles, etc.)
- stocked shelter room with toys, books, battery operated electronics, radio, and things to pass time

We certainly are praying for minimal damages and impact relative to the strength of the storm and hope that virtually all lives are spared due to the massive efforts and preparations made for this storm. God bless everyone who is praying for our safety and we thank you all for your concern!

Online sources specific to our location:
http://www.sugarlandtx.gov/ (see news releases/alerts on righthand side under Weather Alert)
http://www.khou.com/ (website of a local news station)

Hurricane Activity Log:
Thursday, September 11

schools close early
places of work close early
people rush to stores to purchase food and supplies
cars line up to fill gas tanks
many people evacuate north and west of the Houston/Galveston area
many people do not evacuate and start preparing homes for storm

Friday, September 12

most schools and places of business close
preparations for storm continues
morning weather in Sugar Land (as of 11:30 am): overcast and breezy
afternoon weather in Sugar Land (as of 4:30pm): still overcast, a little breezier but not windy yet, humid and still no rain
evening weather in Sugar Land: **update** as of 8:30pm, it is "windy" but no rain, a tornado warning is in effect, but the storm is due within hours.
night weather in Sugar Land: **update** wind picked up and power went out around midnight. By mid-morning Saturday the storm had passed and the debris and damages could be inspected.
morning after weather in Sugar Land: cool and random sprays of rain came down on and off all day as everyone on our street emerged and started the branch and debris clean up.

Our Second Date

2008-09-05T21:50:00.000-07:00

I know that title could be misleading. This post is not about our second date ever, just our second date since we moved to Texas. Our first date (again, since we moved) was at Kemah Boardwalk where Ryan and I enjoyed a great seafood dinner outside on the patio overlooking the water and the boardwalk and rides. We went on 3 of the rides and just had a great time doing something we hadn't done in a really long time - date eachother. It reminded me of all things we did together BEFORE we were married. It was great - until we found out Quentin was throwing up at home of course, but still - the perfect date bubble ALMOST didn't pop!

Tonight we had our second date (since we moved), and it again brought back memories of dating eachother. We went to a Counting Crows concert at the Woodlands Pavillion. We first saw them together at Red Rocks Ampitheater in Colorado when we were going to college in Golden. If we have a "song", it is one of theirs and they played it tonight at the concert. That song had meaning to me before Quentin got sick, but now I couldn't help but think of him and all we've been through when I heard it. Believe me, I was embarrassed getting choked up (but I didn't cry) when I heard it.

I knew all but a couple of the songs they played tonight and the newer songs were great too! It felt really good to be sitting out in the open sky, to look up and see the stars (I hadn't realized how long it had been since I had done that simple act) and it was more than a perfect evening to enjoy outside. There was energy from the crowd, the vibrating of the floor under our feet, and the "scene" we have not "seen" for such a long time. It wasn't crazy wild, but I hadn't been around the smell of beer in a very long time. I hope less than 6 or 7 years goes by before we go to another concert and have a good experience like this was.

Home, Sweet Home

2008-09-01T20:52:00.000-07:00

I know this summer's theme for us has been all about change, a new home, and the chaos that comes from moving your whole life across the country. I think I have come across as overwhelmed and frustrated at times with boxes, bugs and busy-ness. I just want to resolve my overall feelings before my life gets really crazy again that I love our home, I love the move we made to the Houston area, and I love the postive changes that have happened to our family since we made this move in many areas of life.

I admit that having a bigger home is going to push my limits on cleaning and maintaining it since it is at least than twice the space we've ever had before, but the comfort I have of knowing that we don't have to move again is worth the challenge. I may get some help keeping up with the housecleaning if I truly can't with our schedule, but I am pleased with our choice of home and it really feels like it is home now. As I came upstairs to write this post tonight, I felt a familiarity with this home, and amazement that we've lived here about 3 1/2 months already.

It is hard to describe, but for me being settled in this way is a new feeling I haven't had in my adult life, and one that I know not everyone I know has right now (yet), but most people will have eventually. For now, my advice (to anyone it applies to) is, live within your means now and set goals to progress in the future (even if it is slowly), don't rush to have more space or things than you actually need, can handle, or have time to enjoy, and wait patiently for the right home, job and/or person to come along to enjoy life with. For us, we are still working on some of these things, but overall the wait has been worth it.

Quentin's Summer Camp

2008-08-19T19:34:00.000-07:00

Back in April when we first arrived in Texas, I started a search for places to get Quentin the developmental help he needed. I made a million phone calls, visited websites, visited schools and centers for therapy, got brochures and packets of information in the mail, and I sifted through it all and found a perfect match: The Parish School. This is a private school that is designed to educate those with speech delays or according to their mission statement: "identify, educate and empower children who have language and learning differences." They gear their admission towards children who have average to above average learning potential, and as many of you know, Quentin is gifted in some unique ways so he fits this definition well.

The campus is just beautiful and it is so wonderful to have a place like this to get Quentin the help he needs. There are 7 buildings/cabins - four of them for classrooms, one for administration, one is the library and music rooms, and one is the therapy center where individual therapies and additional services are available. The speech pathologists are employed through that therapy center, and there are also educators for the K-5th grade classes.

The admissions process is brutal, only because once you find the school and you know your child is a good fit, you don't want anything else for your child which means you would be settling for anything less and you practically insist on getting admitted. However, the quality and reputation come with a "not-for-profit" but still very high price tag. Quentin's expensive tuition is already subsidized by private grants and fundraisers and the average student is only paying 68% of the operating expense to be teaching that child. This kind of money means a real committment to the lump or monthly payments as well as parental participation and volunteer work that helps make up the other 32%. If it weren't worth it, we wouldn't have committed.

At Quentin's age/class level (the school takes children as young as 18 months) the teacher is a speech pathologist and he is under the care of her and 2 other paraprofessionals and 7 other children.

(above) Quentin's Summer Camp Teachers

We were lucky enough to get admission offered for a 4-week summer camp they offer as a "preview" for the month of June. It was fantastic - Quentin loved it, they observed him and confirmed our offer for admission this fall, and we knew he would get the speech help he needed. They issued 2 t-shirts and let the kids wear whatever shorts they wanted with them, and that was the "uniform" for summer camp. Quentin was always happy to be going to school.

It is fun to have your child bring home crafts and art they did, and it is wonderful to read the praises and positive observations that they make about Quentin on a daily basis and share in his "Good News" book. This is a folder/binder that the teacher writes a comment about what Quentin said or did that day, and we do the same about what happens at home, and it helps start conversation between the children and the teacher at school. They also send home newsletters, annoucements, pictures they took during the day, and Quentin's school arts and craft projects though this folder. Below are some of the photo collages they sent home, as well as his artwork.

They start the morning with circle time and welcome each child with greetings and songs. They have a picture of themselves on their chair and on a laminated card with velcro on the back they use in circle time. Over the summer they had an "under the sea" type of theme that was incorporated in their activities, books, crafts, etc.

Quentin loved many aspects of the summer camp. I think he loved the playground and going outside. They wrote about how much he loved the slide many times in his "Good News" book. I went to the school one day to observe him for an hour or so and took some photos of him on the playground (he didn't know I was there). I am not surprised he loves the outdoors so much since he was shut in for so much of his life.

Overall, I cannot say how grateful I am that we were guided to this school and that the research really paid off in finding a place to help us with Quentin's developmental challenges. He is a very bright child that all his teachers seem to fall in love with (big surprise!). Now I just sound like a braggy mom - go Quentin!

Fun at the Children's Museum

2008-08-16T21:27:00.000-07:00

Back in May, we met a friend of mine from New Jersey who move here to Houston last year. She has a son a little younger than Quentin and we met at the Children's Museum, roughly halfway between our homes in this gigantic city.

It was my first time going to a Children's Museum (that I remember) and I wasn't sure what to expect. I was really impressed at how the some of the displays were able to appeal to a wide age range. Things that you can pick up, touch, spin, etc. is great for Quentin's age. Older kids can start grasping the concept that is being displayed and still play with the trinkets, and even older kids can read the posted signs and really learn something. If Quentin wasn't going to be in school 4 days a week, I am sure we would get a membership since it is 10 minutes from Ryan's work. We would make a regular thing of going to have lunch with him and the museum. Maybe next summer.

Speaking of summer, last year the Children's Museum started a traveling exhibit called the Discovery Center and it was in Sugar Land (our city) for a month and a half again this summer. It was very popular so it came back for a limited time. Quentin and I made it there too, and it was also very well done. Quentin in particular liked the display of musical instruments. I took many pictures from both places, but I am embarrassed that Quentin is the only one in ANY of them (no proof that my friend, her son, or I were even there!). Enjoy the slideshow (it can be a little slow)!! If you can't see it through an RSS reader, click here, on the title of this post, or copy and paste http://martinofamilyblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/fun-at-childrens-museum.html and go directly to this post on the blog page.

Our House- Finally, our Home

2008-08-03T07:38:00.000-07:00

We have moved into our home in Sugar Land, even finally got unpacked, and it feels good to be settled. I am still working out some organization issues in some areas, but for the most part everything has its place and I pretty much know right where that is for the first time in years.

Below are a few photos I took last week on a rare day I had several parts of the house cleaned up (at the same time). There is plenty of shade on the property, it is a beautiful brick home, but a single family home is a lot of work that we had intentionally post poned for a long time. Well, it was time, hard work and all, and I'm glad that time is finally here.

Please come and visit!! We have a guest room....;)

Weird Things About Texas

2008-07-07T18:50:00.000-07:00

So our experience in Texas is going pretty well, overall. We have had some little annoyances, like the bugs. It turns out our big frustration with the insects had mostly to do with the rash on Quentin and our flea problem. The truth is, the fleas were never that bad, but Quentin's rash was so bad, we thought that they were more of a problem than they really were. Don't get me wrong, we saw other creepy, crawly things too, but we don't feel like we have an unusual level of problems with them now. His rash might have just been viral and it was a coincidence, it could've been that many bites, but it seems unlikely. The most likely explanation is probably viral or a reaction to the flea bites, where each little red bump wasn't necessarily a bite itself.

Anyway, another Texas annoyance is the driver's license issue. In Texas, you have to have your vehicle registration done before you get your new driver's license, and in order to get registration and plates, you need to have the vehicle inspection done, and they charge you an extra $90 for each vehicle that has never been registered in the state. Our older car (my '98 Cavalier was actually registered years ago when we lived in Austin) saved us $90, but the whole process ends up costing hundreds of dollars, hours of time, and you end up with a temporary piece of paper saying you have a driver's license that is not a photo ID until you get your permanent ID/license in the mail. It turns out, the Houston Public Library won't issue even a library card without the photo part of the ID. Our county library did recognize the temporary license, so we did get a library card from them, but it is such a strange policy, I guess address verification is the only real explanation for it (you have to live and get access to mail at the address you give them to get your card). I guess if we had to travel, we'd have to use our passports for photo ID? Ryan is still waiting for his ID to arrive in the mail, but I finally got mine last week.

Another interesting thing about the Houston area is that in north Houston (like the Spring or Woodlands) is thickly wooded with PINE trees,

Yet here in south Houston we have a good number of PALM trees. Pine trees and palm trees in the same city??

**
Of course Texas like the rest of the country makes you pump your own gas, which we had gotten quite used to having it done for us in New Jersey. I don't think anyone would ever buy into it here - they would assume the extra labor is built into the price and somehow they were paying more for gas. That was never the case in New Jersey - they had among the lowest average prices at the pump in the country.

The interstate highways (and some that aren't interstates) have numbers, like most highways. I-10, I-45, Highway 59, etc., and then there's the 610 loop. In Houston, they have names for the highway based on what part of the city it's in and sometimes don't even use the number. For example, if a traffic report references "The Gulf Freeway", it is I-45 south of downtown. If the report uses "Katy Freeway", it is I-10 west of downtown. We live on the Southwest Freeway, which is highway 59 south of downtown (which doesn't have numbered exits because it is not an interstate), and there are others. Then the "north loop", "west loop", etc. represents different zones on the 610 loop. If you didn't live here, some of the traffic reports might not be very helpful at all.
**

Everyone knows a road that changes names several times as you follow it for a while, right? Well in Houston, there are roads that kind of go forever, which means they may have exits on a number of highways. It is sort of nice for knowing the general idea of a location, but the problem is they don't all go through, there could be a hundred lights on it between two points depending on where you are going and starting from, and the biggest problem is probably the numbering and addresses in general. You could think - oh, I live just off Eldridge, so any address on Eldridge will be pretty close - and it could be 15 miles away because the same road can go on, and on, and on. Some roads just appear on all sides of the city....there is this one road called "Post Oak" and it is EVERYWHERE!! The most well known part of the road is this very short stretch by the Houston Galleria mall, but it has exits and signs on all the roads even if it is no where near the Galleria.

Then there are the infamous feeder roads and u-turns. You constantly see what you want on the other side of the road, have to drive past it, find a u-turn, and come back. Sometimes you have to u-turn twice to get where you are going. The feeder roads are particularly tempting to use as an alternate to really bad traffic on a highway, but inevitably you move just as slow if not slower because of all the lights - you can get stuck in one or two light cycles per highway exit. It teaches a person to just have patience and stay on the highway.
**
The flyovers are a big highway design thing too. With so many interchanges between major roads, there are big fly over highways that have this whole city under construction all the time. Ok, that is a little exaggerated, but anything that is a left exit seems to be slowly getting converted to a right exit with a flyover. The odd thing is, Houston is pretty flat geographically, but with the fly overs and the over passes for each cross road the highway goes over, a standard drive actually has a series of rolling hills, up and down, which are subtle but they are there. I noticed this as I tried applying some hypermiling techniques to my driving back and forth between our home and Quentin's school.

**

As soon as I get a chance, I am planning on taking my camera out and getting some photos of Sugar Land and our new home for everyone. We realize many of our friends and family are faithfully keeping track of our family with Quentin's condition, and since virtually all of you are far away, I have been hoping that some of these visuals not only gives you a chance to glimpse at our life and surroundings, but learn a little about parts of the country you may have never been. Okay, I admit it....I am on a quest to get the cowboy image out of your minds!!! Texas has a lot more to it than cowboys and tumbleweeds - trust me.

**I did not take all of the pictures in this post (marked with **), but I thought they would make the blabbering more interesting

Our Trip to Galveston

2008-07-07T13:06:00.000-07:00

The weekend before we closed on our new home and moved, we went to an outing in Galveston, TX sponsored by Ryan's employer. They provided tickets for the family for all day passes to the Moody Gardens exhibits, which include 3 pyramids (a rain forest, an aquarium, and a discovery pyramid) as well as tickets to an IMAX show and the Titanic exhibit. We didn't make it to the Titanic exhibit, but we did see the rainforest and aquarium, and Ryan and I traded off going to see IMAX shows. It was a great afternoon, just a few hours, and Quentin really enjoyed identifying the wildlife and getting out and about. It was a beautiful day, great weather, and a fun time. We plan to go back and spend more time at the beach, or go to Schlitterbahn (an incredible water park) before the summer is over. See the slideshow below for more (you won't be able to see the pictures from Google Reader or from within the email update unless you click on the title of this post and go to the actual page).

Things I love (and don't love) about our new home and community...

2008-06-14T18:23:00.000-07:00

10 Things I love about our new house and community:

1. We finally have a house with enough room to completely unpack the things we have for the kitchen....with room for more! I have unpacked things I forgot we owned - many things from our original wedding registry. However, I have not had time to organize and figure out where I would ideally and permanently want everything, but that will come in time.

2. We don't have to pull every blind and shade in the house to still have privacy, day or night. There are a lot of windows, but rarely any direct sun through them. Some rooms are kind of dark all day because of that, but just light enough that we don't need to use lights/electricity during the day.

3. We have a driveway and can park a short distance from our back door for unloading the never ending armfuls of things I haul back and forth. We have a two car garage but for some reason there are no remote controls for it, so for now it is the home to our cardboard box graveyard. We have both cars under a car port so no rain on our heads in and out of the house.

4. We live close to a mall, all the usual retail near a mall (office supply stores, clothing outlets, Payless, Super Targets, Super Wal-marts), every type of grocery store (including Whole Foods), and rarely have to leave the zip code to do any shopping. There is one of my favorite all time grocery store chains (HEB, orginally from San Antonio but spread to Austin ((we used to live there)) and is now making a prescence in Houston - and they have a Central Market here too!) and an IKEA (although the Central Market and IKEA are a little ways north). There is also a great store called Garden Ridge and Hobby Lobby (they didn't have them in New Jersey). There are also an abundance of good restaurants, not that we eat out that much anymore now that we are moved in. I love the variety of good Mexican food....yeah Tex-Mex!! We have one of the two Houston area Costco's not too far away from Sugar Land, but a very easy trip for me to make during Quentin's school time. There is a lot of great shopping I can do while he is at school in Central Houston as well as nearby our home.

5. We are finally less than a 5 minute drive from our church building. Yeah!

6. Our front and back yard have lots of large trees that provide shade keeping the house cooler and the sun off Quentin. Although we don't have an outdoor grill yet, we have an indoor grill on our cooktop stove (plus 4 gas burners). It has already made grilled hamburgers, steak and chicken for us so far! It can also convert to a griddle (we made pancakes this morning), or I have a couple of wooden cutting boards that fit in that slot. It's pretty cool, actually. We have a convection oven as well I have yet to use as a convection oven since there are conventional oven settings, but everything I have put in there has come out perfect.

7. Many things about the house are a good fit for our style and decor: colors, layout, etc. I guess that is why we chose it to buy over the others we looked at, but when we started pulling things out of boxes and they look natural in the rooms like they were orginally planned that way, it reassures us that this was meant to be our home. As soon as the insects move out, we can really relax here.

8. We have had 3 of our neighbors introduce themselves already and one of them told us they were bringing us dinner one night, the other invited us to a "cocktail" party later this summer to welcome us and a few other newer families. We know there are kids of all ages on the street, but it is a little quiet and mature around here overall. I think that suits us.

9. We live in a community called Sugar Mill. There are 2 different playgrounds in walking distance to our house, and one of the tennis courts. This has already come in very handy....if it wasn't quite so hot and if we didn't have quite so much to do, you would find us there even more. The elementary school is also close enough to walk to if you wanted to push it a little, and it has 3 or 4 playgrounds. The pool isn't really walking distance, but there is a nice community pool by a lake with a 1 ft. baby pool in the shade a short drive away.

10. I can finally unpack things I know (at least I hope) I won't have to pack again for a long, long time. I really am getting rid of the cardboard boxes this time!!

10 Things I don't love as much about our new house and community:

1. Bugs - it is temporary and mostly under control already, but I am not liking the adjustment to living with the great outdoors in our indoors. GO AWAY FLEAS!!!

2. Housekeeping - I am not used to housekeeping very well in the first place, but having more to keep up with is going to be a bit overwhelming, especially before I have put everything in its own place.

3. Yardwork - we have never been fans of doing yardwork, and until bugs stop crawling on us, we don't even want to be out there anyway. I see a lot of birds and squirrels throughout the day, I hope that someday we can really enjoy the scenery without chasing pests away forever.

4. Home Improvement - we love that our home is older, mature and has character (and let's face it, they just don't build 'em now like they used to) so we love the thick crown moldings, high doors and ceilings, but hate that some parts of the house that haven't recently been updated are becoming our weekend projects. I don't think Ryan is in a big hurry, but some things can't wait, like motion detector lights in our driveway, or a broken sprinkler head (that was injured by the home team - watch where you're walking Ryan! ;)

5. Bugs - this may not be the last time it makes it on this list. Did I mention I hate bugs? I hate that Quentin even got some bites. His body was covered practically overnight, and that breaks my heart. I hate battling a bug I can't even see. Thank goodness these bites don't really itch, but they must've been in his bed and feasted on him all night. Poor guy, and I feel like a helpless protector.

6. Traffic - let's face it, any big city has traffic, and Houston is the 4th largest in the country. The traffic doesn't affect me much, but when it does, it is frustrating when I don't always know good alternates, I can't estimate how late it will make us, etc. However, we did move into a slower, more peaceful neighborhood when it comes to traffic. There are other parts of Sugar Land nearer to the mall and other shopping that I am glad we don't have to drive through every day just to get home or leave home. We are actually well located for alternative routes, but they can be slow with a lot of lights.

7. Signs - Houston has this awesome system of giving you signs BEFORE you approach an intersection so you know if it is the street you want to turn at, etc. However, when it comes to other signed communication....there is this trendy thing that upscale neighborhoods have started doing that makes shopping and finding out what stores are around very difficult. As if the huge trees weren't enough of a barrier to block strip malls so that you can't see what's there, they have these generic signs in all neutral colors. You know the traditional orange signs of Home Depot? Or the classic blue/yellow and black Best Buy signs? Monotones instead....there is no color. McDonald's doesn't even have a golden arch. In addition to the signs and buildings being colorless, the street side signs are very low, so you can't look ahead and see if the Bed Bath and Beyond is on the right or left, or there at all! I have driven by the same sections of road and completely missed things like The Outback, Babies R' Us, and Marble Slab Creamery because there is no trademark coloring on signs around here. Kind of weird and snooty.

8. Tolls - Although tolls were a part of life in the northeast, they didn't affect our daily commuting and we just accepted it as part of the cost of living in New Jersey. However, Quentin's school is conveniently off a highway easily accessible to our house, but it is one of the only toll roads in Houston, so we pay a round trip toll every day to take him to and from school. It isn't much, but it does add up.

9. Pumping our own gas again - this is not fun after having it done for us over the last 5 years. It is hot, smelly and expensive, so I don't like doing it. Period. On a side note, we did have to replace a gas cap in order for our car to pass state vehicle inspection because the gas attendants in New Jersey would crank it on too tight and broke it.

10. Bugs - I really dislike how out of control I feel in my own home with the bug situation. We had a full indoor and outdoor treatment a week ago, but fleas are so stubborn and they have been desperate and have to have a host: us. We have no pets, not that if we did we would be okay with them getting eaten, so I just hate, hate, hate bugs!!! I am probably making it sound like we live in the Amazon, and the truth is since we had the house treated I have only seen one bug alive, a few small harmless sugar ants that are declining sharply in numbers, but the fleas....they are the killer, because you can't catch them, squash them, they lay eggs and you have new generations hatching, and we've heard they are bad this year and require dilligence and ALOT of vacuuming to get rid of. I hate vacuuming. I hate carpet....but at least we don't have it everywhere.