The Interviews

They went pretty well.
The boys were supposed to go with us, but Aidan didn't want to go. He stayed with Kirsten and Helyn at home.

Aidan's teacher, Mrs. White said that Aidan is progressing well. His reading has improved by leaps and bounds and he is pretty good in every subject.
Her only concern is that he does not like to answer class questions without prompting. He knows the answer but its like he doesn't want to make a spectical of himself. She calls on him and he gives the answer, but he won't put up his hand to answer questions. When she calls for group activities, he won't find a friend, he will stand back and wait until someone calls for him to join or the teacher has to find him a place.
Her concern is that in the next couple of years he will be lost amongst the numbers of the class and not stand out. She would like him to make an effort every now and then to take initiative.
He is characteristically shy and has low self esteem... so how am I going to get him out of his shell?? We constantly praise him, show him lots of love and get him to try new things all the time... but its not Aidan. I see her point... but I don't want him to be lost in the shuffle.

Liam's interview went well. She has no concerns except his day dreaming. He tends to just drift in and out when working on indepenant work. He is going to work on it this term.

Helyn is on 4 days between bm's. I gave her a laxative this morning and another dose tonight. Hoping she will go tomorrow on her own. She is wearing a diaper today and you can tell she has the urge, she just isnt doing it. Make me anxious girl!

Glen and our friend Mark went to the Leaf's Sens game last night. It was a very exciting game as it went into overtime and a shoot out. The boys both enjoyed it.

Tomorrow is Glen's staff party. We are going to a Murder Mystery place to have dinner and a show. It should be fun. We went last year too so at least we know what to expect. I will take pics.

Bad mommy award.

Today was Aidan's last day of swimming with his class and I forgot to pack his bathing suit!!!
His school called while we were at a friend's house to see if I could run it to the school, but I was not home!!!
We will see what kind of mood he is in when he comes home from school. I hope he can let it go the way I did when he threw out his spoon the other day at school. LOL... he was surprised i wasn't angry and I told him it was an accident... no worries buddy. I guess I am hoping he learned by example.

Sigh.

Glen is going to the Maple Leafs/Sens game tonight with a friend and I have a friend coming over to watch the munchkins while I attend the parent/teacher interviews for the boys at the school.

That is it for now.. will write more later.

Report Card time.

The boys came home with their report cards yesterday.

Aidan is doing amazing. He has come a long way from the beginning of the school year. We were so worried about him and he is improving all the time. He does have areas he still needs improvement but one step at a time. We have his reading going strong now... we will keep that up and work on the other areas.

This is what was written by his teacher in the summery.

Aidan has made a good adjustment to the routines of grade one. he listens to instructions and usually completes tasks with a good effort. the next step will be to complete assignments in the time allotted and to ask for assistance when he doesn't understand. Aidan has established good relationships with his peers and generally works cooperatively with all members of the class. During second term Aidan will be encouraged to voluntarily participate in group discussions rather than just when called upon.

Liam is doing well too. He has went down in a few areas this year, but grade 3 is a pretty challenging grade with lots of tests and homework. Its a big adjustment for him I think.

This is what was written in his summery.


Liam is a polite and cooperative student who generally follows the rules and routines established. He uses his agenda daily and completes assigned weekly homework on time. Liam's work is always neatly done and shows attention to detail. In term 2, Liam will be encouraged to begin work promptly and stay focused on the task at hand so that he can complete assigned work in the time given.

I meet with both of their teachers tomorrow so we will be able to come up with a plan to get them to succeed this year.

The crisis is over..... for now.

Helyn did her business last night around 10. Poor baby. I gave her a diaper and she did what she needed to do after the suppository and tylonol.

Poor thing.

But she had one and I have to try and keep her regular again.

That was a waste

The Dr sent us home with suppositories and told us to put her on a anti bung you up diet ( which she is already on!!).

That is all I can bring myself to talk about right now.. just not happy.

Glen has her at the hospital.

I checked her belly when she was sleeping and you could feel the hard poo in there.
I asked Glen to bring her to the ER. She needs to get some relief.
My poor baby.

9 days!!

And nothing. She still hasn't pooed.
You can tell she has to and her belly is so hard. I put her in the bath after lunch to relax her, I even put a diaper on her in case she felt more comfortable with it on in case of an accident.
She was up for 3 hours last night... not complaining, just up. She is like me and won't let on if its bothering her.
I gave her stool softener this morning and she is drinking non stop with lots of pee breaks, but no poo yet.

She is sleeping on the couch right now... I think we will be bringing her to the hospital tonight if she hasn't went. This is too long.

Elf Yourself

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Its the most wonderful time... of the week!!

Yes my friends.

ITS FRIDAY!

Oh I am so exhausted from this week. It just seemed like it would never end. Not that its is any different from any other week but man... AHHHHH. I have been doing some big clean ups in the basement and in the bedrooms on top of trying to keep up with laundry ( impossible!!!)

Tomorrow I am watching our friend's little girls for them for a day out. We gave them our hockey tickets for tomorrow afternoon because we didn't realize it was an afternoon game and Glen didn't ask for the time off well in advance. They are good friends so that gives them some time together and out.

Tonight me and Crash are heading out shopping. We are going to do our grocery shopping on Friday nights together so the guys and the kids don't have to go. It was her suggestion and I am looking forward to getting out for the night. I feel caged up lately and need an out.

Next weekend is Glen's staff party at a Murder Mystery Theater place that we went to last year. Crash and Mark are keeping our kids over night so we can have a night off too. Will be much needed after next Friday's P.D. day. I have to start making plans for what to do with the kids on that day... there will be 8 here. Maybe more... who knows.

The boys are getting their report cards next week. I am interested to know how well they did. On Thursday we have their parent/teacher interviews so I can get some answers. Hee Hee.

Its been 6 days since Helyn's last poo. She is starting to have problems with her bladder now seeing as she is so full of it. We have an appointment on Tuesday the 2nd at 10 am. The flax seed oil and metamucil aren't working as well now I suppose. Sigh... someday.

Thursday... not too bad.

Its snowing outside, not a lot, just little flurries. Nice and peaceful.
The kids are resting and I am having a coffee.. just killing time.
I have been cleaning crazily all week and I just need a moment to collect myself and take a day off.

I ordered some clothes off of Gymboree a couple weeks ago and they came in yesterday. Their jammies, they won't get until Christmas Eve, but the boys have new shirts to wear for their Christmas Concert for school and Helyn has a beautiful dress for pictures and just looking adorable. It looks so pretty on her. I am going to wait a little longer to share her in it until I take some photos of the kids.
She loves it. Last night she had it on and she was twirling saying "its my Christmas Dress?? Isn't it pretty?" I got her a matching headband with it and some white pom pom pony tail holders ( depending on her mood), and some tights.

Its going to be a fun Christmas for her I think. Last year she kind of got the jist of it, and this year she keeps saying "remember Christmas??" and she goes though the tree, the music, the decorations, cookies and etc.

its fun.

Ok.. time to tidy up after lunch... we had a few friends over this morning so the house is in a bit of disarray... but nothing too hard to tidy, yet it has to be done.

Helyn is on day 5 post poo... hasn't went yet today.. hoping sometime today. Time for her metamucil now.. and I am going to call and reshedule her appointment in the morning.

Oh wow.. what a good book.

I just finished reading Twilight this afternoon.
It was a really really good read.
Definately leaves you wanting more.
There are 4 books in the saga so far.

There is Twilight, then New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn.

If you like Vampire books, Definately look it up.



http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilightseries.html

Some funnies from Aidan and Helyn

We went out for dinner on Sunday as a family.
The kids got gummy worms and the adults got mints with the check.
Aidan asked Glen why we got mints and they didn't.
Glen says, well our breath smells.

Aidan walks up to the server and just blurts out...

WELL MY BREATH SMELLS TOO.

LOL

Then the other day, we are walking the kids to school with our friend Lena.

Helyn is walking really slow and we call her slow poke all the time... Lena says come on slow poke.

Helyn says, I'm no slow poke Lena, I Helyn.

Have to reschedule.

I got a confirmation call for our appointment with the nurse tomorrow and we realized that the appointment is out of town!!

So we have to reschedule it for another time.

I have been keeping up with our push of fluids, metamucil and flax seed oil and she doesn't seem as bunged up or anxious about pooing. Hoping this might help her relax more. We are on day 3 since her last one, hoping she will go today or tomorrow. I will be happy if she goes every 3-4 days, i would even be happy with 5 days as long as it doesn't hurt.

Yea for Poo!

I guess I have already had this subject title as it automatically came up. LOL

Helyn went this morning in her night time diaper.

For the first time in a long time, it wasn't rock hard and piecey, it was a regular one. I was so happy... sad.. that I am so happy about bowel movements.

I have been giving her a dose of flax seed oil every morning and she gets Metamucil with lunch and dinner with a whole lot of water and juice. I took her off of dairy for now, and will start her on soy tomorrow. We see the nurse on Wednesday, so maybe she can give me more ideas or a referral to make sure nothing is medically wrong to make this happen.

I brought the kids to church this morning by myself. The kids went to the Sunday school and nursery classes during the main part of the mass. Aidan's teacher came upstairs about 15 minutes later and told me he wasn't feeling well. I think he was just really shy seeing as it was a new place and he didn't know many kids there. Helyn and Liam had a blast though. Liam wants to take part in the Christmas Pageant, its too late for him to take a main part but he ( and the other 2) are invited to be Sheppard's or Angels. I think I might get Helyn in, but Aidan is not interested at the moment.

So there we go, that is our weekend... we are going to go out for dinner tonight and go grocery shopping afterwards. Fun Fun.

Talk later....

Next Wednesday

Helyn sees our Nurse practioner at 1040.
I hope she can help guide us through this.
You could tell yesterday after her bath she had to go, she looked like a dog chasing her tail the way she was running around trying not to go.
And again this morning.
I just left the diaper on her in hopes she would go.
It has to be so painful.

Thanks for all the words of advice and encouragement. I just wish this would all go away and she would be fine.

Happy Birthday Nana.

Hope you had a wonderful Birthday. The kids loved spending time with you this weekend.

Lots of Love.

Yea for Poo!

She went tonight.
Oh it was about time.
Glen finally got to see first hand how bad it is when she hasn't went in over a week. The poor baby. Glen was giving her a bath after dinner and she had to go, She must have hemorrhoids as there was blood when he wiped.

I went and got some Metamucil tonight to add to her orange juice in hopes to bulk her up some more. She gets so much fiber per meal, but what is a little more I suppose. I also picked up some Flax seed oil as suggested by a friend.

Let's see if it works. If she goes every 3-4 days, I will be happy as she won't be so bunged up at the end of 9 days like she was today. I feel its all a psychological thing, but its turning out to be a physical thing. I am still going to make an appointment with her NP and see about getting an appointment with a specialist. We are both due for a check up so we will go in together.

Yea.. my baby has relief!

Aidan and I did some reading together tonight. He is reading at a benchmark 14 now!!! He was at a level 6 at the beginning of September so he is doing well. I am really proud of him. He gets really good if not perfect marks in spelling and has a good handle on his school work.

Liam is starting to show some difficulties with his work and her temperament. I swear its pre puberty stuff. He is all flustered and has a hard time concentrating in class and at home. The social Liam is starting to come out and in his mind its more important than the academic Liam. Tonight he was late coming home from a friend's house again. I had to call for him to come home and I warned him ahead of time that this was not acceptable. He had to spend the remainder of the evening in his room as punishment.

Glen isn't feeling well. He was home all day today and just not well. I think the extra rest and hydration helped a lot. Hopefully he will feel better tomorrow.

And boring ole me, I am catching up on laundry, writing my blog and trying to tidy up before tomorrow. Its going to be a cold and rainy day tomorrow in Carleton Place. Not looking forward to it that is fer sure. I have 4 kids tomorrow so I am going to have to get creative with ideas to keep them busy. I took out the lego, the trains and we made some new play dough today. Let's see if that keeps them happy. Pray for me.

Poop watch

It has been 9 days today.
She has to go, she has been acting weird all day and she has to go.
She has barely eaten anything today, but has had lots of water and juice to drink.

My nurse hasn't called back yet. I need to make an appointment for her.

We have been having 5-10 minute potty breaks all day. I read that if you can get them to sit for 10 minutes after a meal, the body naturally wants to eliminate after eating. It was hard, but I did get her to sit for 8 minutes after lunch and 5 minutes after our shower/bath.

I also gave her a stool softener today and stopped giving her the mineral oil as that doesn't seem to be helping and its been 5 days on the oil.

This isn't healthy and its becoming a physical problem now. I turned off the TV and put up her favorite toys so she has to sit on the toilet before we get Emily.

Sigh... that is my day... full of poop issues.

Updates.

Its been a busy few days.
Nana and Papa had the kids this weekend. They came to get them around 9 in the morning and the kids were so excited. Its great that Helyn doesn't get upset about leaving us like Liam did. I think it helps to have her older brothers. They had a little birthday party for Nana on Saturday night with cake and presents.

Glen and I went to visit our friends Chris and Sandra that night. Glen helped Chris set up their home theatre and we had some drinks. It was nice to be out, but as per usualy, I over did it. LOL. I think I am starting to feel normal again today.

Helyn is still having constipation issues. We are now 8 days since her last movement. You can see her running around pinching herself to stop the poo from coming out at about 2 or 3 days after her last one. I gave her mineral oil every day last week to keep them softer or easier to come out and nothing. I gave her a laxative starting yesterday and some more today. You can tell that she has to go but she is trying really hard not to. I can't seem to get it through her head that she needs to go.

Liam is starting to go through the pre puberty tantrums now. He gets so worked up and breaks down so easily now. He wants his freedom to do as he chooses, but he is only 8 years old. I know things were different for us as kids and we did more than he does at his age, but yea... He is still a loving wonderful little man. We seem to fight almost every night for him to do his homework, his mind isn't there for remembering things, and he only wants to spend time with his friends.

Aidan has been doing well with his reading and school. He seems to understand that he needs to get his stuff done so he can spend more time with his friends or get rewarded with some computer time. He is taking swimming lessons with his class for the next 3 weeks. It would be nice if he could pass his current level. He is doing really well with Skating and is enjoying it.

The basement is almost complete! Glen layed down the flooring yesterday, and the painting is done. He has to do the stairs now, then the trim, the doors and then we should be ready to go!.
It looks so good. He and his friends have been doing such a great job. I am very thankful to everyone who has helped. Thanks sweetie.

I will post pics when its all done.

So that is it for now, Helyn and I are going to finish watching our movie and then go get the kids at school. ttfn.

Thursday

Helyn has been under the weather the last couple of days, I imagine she has what I had. I gave her a decongestant last night as she was hacking a lot and her sweet little voice sounded so horse and this is how I found her.



Then Aidan wanted a photo shoot too. So here are some cute pics of him.

Had to share

I have the costumes still out for a while.

Helyn decided today to wear this one.



It has seen better days.

Like these.

Wednesday morning rambling.

Well Glen and Mark got a whole lot done on the weekend.
The basement is all painted, Glen was screwing down the floor last night until I had to go out. Its coming along so nicely.

I went out last night with Christine for a bit for some shopping and stress relief, but I think that will be it until the basement is done. Glen is really focused and wants to get it done. There is some light at the end of the tunnel.

This cold is kicking my butt!! It keeps changing from moment to moment. The last 5 days, my day would start out with the worst headache ever. I have been taking Tylonol to keep the pain low and tried to stay away from cold meds so everything could come out. I did take them a couple days but mostly at night so I could sleep. This morning, I feel like coughing more and my nose is stuffed up. I hope this means I am getting better. I also woke up with more energy which was nice as I haven't felt like there was enough sleep in the world which would satisfy me.

Helyn is getting the cold now too. She is all congested and miserable. The other night she didn't go to sleep until 11 and she was up at 5. I don't have to tell you how chipper she was. * rolleyes here*.

Aidan and Liam are better this week. I swear I was going to lose it on them last week. Liam was forgetting his homework at school, he didn't tell us about his tests, he was late returning home from places. Aidan was whining, miserable and just not focused. Now looking back, I am certain that Halloween played big in our problems last week. Things are better now.

Anyhoo... hope everything is well with everyone. There seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel. The weather is also supposed to be gorgeous all week so there will be some spent outside. Woo Hoo. Sunshine does so good for my attitude.