Fall Time

I love this time of the year. Sunny days with cool evenings. Although this California weather is still too warm, I'd be happier if it cooled down just a tad bit more.

Our trip to the pumpkin patch turned out to be a hot one. It was a very sunny and warm day. The kids still enjoyed picking out their pumpkins with the whole family.

Halloween seems to have flown right by this year. We Trick or Treated with Auntie Sasa who made a crafty owl costume, Auntie Aimee, Riley and little Adam this year. Marcelina was Hannah Montana, Alex was a cowboy and Angelina was Supergirl. The kids were happy with their loot, but Mommy was definitely tired from the hilly neighborhood we walked through! At least the kids came home happy and tired =)

We managed to get over having the flu, all of us got sick, but we survived. Little Alex was the sickest with a fever and the works, but he is such a trooper. He is always more concerned about not getting others sick, than about how he feels. Angelina actually did quite well, it seemed to have hardly phased her.

Hope you are all staying healthy!

What a way to end the day!

Heart Gala Photo Shoot

Not too bad for not being very cooperative!

A little bit of our summer...

Some videos down below on our Monthly Post ;)

Our Monthly Post ;)

We are doing good! Trying to keep cool in this warm weather, and trying to keep all the monkeys entertained. We've been hanging out with friends and family. We celebrated Alex's 5th birthday, stayed @ one of the resorts from our timeshare, went to Las Vegas and stayed @ a resort there too. Angelina participated (although not very cooperatively) in a photo shoot for Loma Linda's Heart Gala.

Angelina has stayed strong and healthy. Always trying to keep up with her sister, brother and cousins.

Next week we will have our first meeting for our new support group, Hopeful Hearts @ Loma Linda's Childrens Hospital. Along with 2 other heart Mommies, we hope we can be there for other heart families.

Here's a few videos of Angelina talking and having fun at the park!

Hope you all have a good weekend!

Happy Father's Day!

We love you Dad, you are the best! Happy Fathers Day to all the wonderful Daddies out there!

The Worst Blogger!

I know, I know! I win the award for worst blogger right? I'm sorry! Although I have to admit when you threaten to send a search party out- I thought it might be fun to have a little pow wow!
But seriously we are all doing well. Little bumps in the road, that I guess are to be expected. Why haven't I blogged? Well, first my laptop died :( and my hubby definitely believes he can resuscitate it :) except he's been working 6 days a week. Now obviously more work is a good thing, but not always easy. One day to rest is not much, so I'm not really going to ask him to stare at my laptop on his one day off. Second, we had issues with our phone land line at this house, we have 4 bedrooms and only 2 jacks- one in the kitchen and 1 in one of the kids rooms (weird). The jack in the kitchen doesn't always work either! Which is not a huge deal because most of the time we just use our cells. But we've had some probs with the Internet because of it. So Alex says he has to go buy a new router and I say ok because I really don't understand any of that. Just fix it and I'll be happy ;) So I'm waiting.....
I have new cell phone, a Blackberry Storm, its neat but a bit complicated. I manage to check all my email through it, but I don't find it amusing to blog on it- too time consuming!
On top of all this I'm reading a few books because I need to educate myself on a few topics. 1st there's the issue that it appears Angelina may have Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) also known as Sensory Integration Dysfunction. Its a bit complicated, so I'm reading up on it to try to understand it and help Angelina with it. I'll explain more later.
I'm also reading up on taking care and training a puppy. I'm realizing I kind of jumped into it without truly knowing how much it would entail. At this point I feel like I'm failing Kobe at times because I don't know how to respond to some of his behaviors. And I feel like some of the things he does is because of lack of attention from me/ us. He loves digging, he has dug up a few plants in our backyard, and even made a pipe leak! When I take him out in the morning he LOVES to bark at the whole world and make it known that he is up. I'm sure my neighbors love that, since he gets the other dogs going too! Alex's favorite: he pees when he gets excited- a lot. And I mean he pees a lot not he gets excited a lot. The worst part is he does it mostly with Alex. Needless to say, my hubby is not amused! I've been told its called submissive urination...great- now I just have to get him to stop! Yes I watch the Dog Whisperer a lot!
Then there's our front yard and back yard that are so sad looking. Sad because it consisted mostly of dry grass, weeds and old faded mulch! Luckily my handy dandy brother works at Home Depot, so I bug him a lot. He has kindly gotten our sprinklers working on a timer. it still gets a little out of wack- the other day I'm pretty sure they were on for 2 hrs- not good! I've weeded and cleared out the old ugly mulch. Then I decided and I'd plant some pretty flowers. So of course I had to do research on that- didn't want them to die on me instantaneously. Well there's a lot to learn. Great! Any of you out there got green thumbs? This is all new to me! So far so good. Its not beautiful yet, but nothing has died on me yet (big achievement for me!) I thought my petunias were goners after the first day, but they have actually made it through. Better Homes & Gardens is my friend right now. And I'm actually going to take a free class at Home Depot. Yes I know I'm crazy- but I've only actually messed with the front yard right now ;)
Marcelina is good. Looking forward to summer as am I. She will be entering the GATE program next year, which I'm really proud of her for. She still wants to be a rock star. Eventually I will get her in some guitar lessons. She's a smart cookie, but at the same time little Ms Attitude. She's great with Angelina, but a firm believer that Girls Rock, Boys Stink. Unfortunately her brother is no exception. So often times she doesn't want to be bothered with him and is not the kindest to him. Sadly he'd probably do anything for her.
Alex will be entering Kinder in the fall. I'm really excited for him, I can't wait to see how much he excels. This little monkey can read and do math. He's caught on to it from listening to Marcelina. He is quick too! I actually a little worried about him, to the point that it makes me sad. Alex is a perfectionist. Everything he does must be neat, perfect, should not be messed with and he will take his time to finish it. If he is cutting and its not just right he wants nothing to do with it. If he builds a robot with Legos, he takes his time and then doesn't want it broken down for it to be put away. If he happens to color outside the lines, the paper is trash, and let me tell you he is very neat about his coloring. Recently his preschool teacher called me and I had to go pick him up from class. This is the first time this has ever happened. Alex is the type of boy that all the teachers love. He is sweet, loving and follows directions, especially in class. You just see that smile of his and know he is a sweetheart. Well lately this perfectionism of his is getting in the way. Two weeks ago his teacher mentioned he had gotten upset after a painting project they did, did not turn out the colors he had wanted it to be. Apparently they were learning about mixing colors. Anyhow, once it was messed up, he wanted nothing to do with it and wouldn't talk to the teachers. It took him a while to come out of his funk, and his teacher was surprised at how mad he had gotten. They never have to ask him twice to do something and this time it took quite a bit of coaxing to get him to move on. Last Friday, when i was called it was worse. Not only did he get mad about his project, he kicked and stomped at the floor, refused to talk to the teachers and then secluded himself from the class. He basically put himself in a time out and refused to participate in anything. His teacher called me to see if me talking on the phone to him would change anything- nope, silence on the other end. He finally said he was too tired. So I picked him up and brought him home. Since then, he has had a couple episodes of this anger. I mean he can be happy enjoying himself and in a split second he is furious to the point that he shuts down and won't talk. Today at least he used sign language with me. Its weird, he gets mad, either he crumples up what he is working on or throws it, then he like hollers out of frustration and then won't talk. And Alex by no means is a boy of no words. He can talk for hours non stop, and not nonsense either. It doesn't always happen, and so far he's been fine at school. His teacher has expressed being worried as she had never seen him act like this before. Don't get me wrong, Alex has had temper tantrums before, never at school, but they were "normal" in sense of being over not getting to do something. This behavior is because what he is doing isn't perfect. I'm worried that it might be either something medical or something I did or didn't do. I worry that I've jipped him out of time because of my worries for Angelina. My plan is to spend more one on one time with him and see if I can help him cope without the anger. Depending on how I see him, I'll make an appointment with our pediatrician. And then I wonder maybe I should just make appointment anyway? He is still being sweet and loving otherwise. He is caring and gentle with Angelina, and always trying to please Marcelina.
And finally Ms. Angelina. She is active and all over the place. Sometimes a bit hyper. Her walking is still not smooth (but that does not stop her) and she walks with a wide stance. She is a talker, except like I've mentioned before, its really hard to understand her. We are continuing with Speech Therapy, we still use sign language, and have actually started using PECS. With OT we have started using a pressure vest, to help calm her down a bit. Since she was sick with stomach issues last week, we haven't used it much, so I can't tell you if it helps.
Since this is already an extremely long post, I'll tell you more about SPD, PECs, her pressure vest and Angelina next time.
Sorry I didn't post in so long. Thank you for still checking up on us. I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day! AND PLEASE, IF YOU HAVE TIPS ON ANYTHING I POSTED TODAY....I WANT TO HEAR THEM! I promise to keep it current!

Angelina is 2 years old!

Ok more like 2 years and 17 days. I can't believe how the time has flown! I am amazed at how well she is doing. Its still bittersweet to think of how difficult those first few months (1st year!) were and how well she is progressing.

What is Angelina up to these days?

She walks all over the place- even stops to jump or dance if the spirit moves her!

She eats well by mouth, even fights us for our food sometimes. Her favorites are pasta, beans, fruit, cheese and she LOOOVES her milk. Oh yes, she recently discovered pickles- yuck!

She sings- its so cute! I'll have to catch her on video one of these times.

She competes for attention with Marcelina and Alex (mainly Alex). To the point that she tries to babble louder than they talk (pleasant experience). Or if everyone is telling a story, she has one to tell too!

She doesn't say too many words clearly. The sad thing is that more and more she is trying to communicate verbally, but it is difficult to understand. But at least she is trying! She use to be extremely quiet-- not anymore! She can actually be pretty demanding-- wonder where she gets that from? She does try to say "I love you" it is so sweet to hear her!

She puckers up big for kisses. And leans into you for hugs.

She can't get enough of Kobe-- especially when the poor guy is trying to rest in his crate. Funny thing is that when I move her away so that he can have some peace-- he whimpers for her.

And her Daddy's favorite: she runs to the door to greet him with hugs and kisses when he gets home from work.

Angelina is so spunky and full of happy energy. We keep a busy schedule too. She still goes to physical therapy twice a week, speech therapy twice a week, occupational therapy once a week, and her early start teacher comes once a week. I'm contemplating putting her in a group class like My Gym, but I'm a bit nervous about exposing her so much to other kids. I recently put Alex in a class there and he LOVES it! I thought he deserved it because he comes with me and Angelina to therapy wishing he had therapy. I'm sure to him it just seems like playtime for her. Anyhow, when I take him to the My Gym class, some of the mom's have other little ones and Ms Angelina is so antisocial with them! She's better with the adults. If one of the other little girls tries to approach her, she either tries swatting them away or is practically growling at them. So maybe we need to work on her social skills a little.

As far as meds we are slowly decreasing how many she is on. Recently her Infectious Disease doctor took her off Septra. (prophylactic antibiotic) I thought about hyperventilating ;) He actually said if I wasn't comfortable with it we could wait to take her off. The thing is she's been on this med since she 1st came home (3 months old) from the hospital. Because of her DiGeorge syndrome she is likely to have a compromised immune system. Kids with DiGeorge can either have no thymus or a partial thymus which will affect how they fight infections. A way of measuring this is by measuring their Tcells. Angelina's have always been on the low side, but the low normal side. If you are on an antibiotic too long, it can actually stop working for you. So for now, we will discontinue using it. Hopefully she does well without it and we won't have to go back on it.

She is still on post-op meds, Lasix and Aldactone. They are suppose to be temporary, so that's a relief. I'm hoping to stop her Reglan soon, since she hasn't had reflux symptoms in a long time. That just leaves her calcium glubionate. Once she's off the Lasix, we can recheck her calcium levels and decide whether she needs to be on it anymore or whether it needs to be adjusted. That one makes me a little nervous too. Angelina had seizures when she was 2 days old because her calcium level was so low (again because of the DiGeorge).

We did see her pediatrician last week, and she is very happy with how Angelina is doing. Our little monkey is measuring 31 inches and weighs 23.6 pounds! I'm pretty sure she was due for poopy diaper though! So maybe she's right at 23 pounds ;0)

Angelina has taken her first big tumble! She thought it would be good idea to run down our driveway. She got a black eye from jumping on the bed!We love getting churros (and being goofy) at Disneyland!Angelina truly enjoyed her cake. She actually dug a hole on the other side of it!Are you sure I'm suppose to hit it mom?Kobe- hoping he gets a go at the pinata!Trying to get 10 kids in a picture is NOT easy!Playing with some of her new toys!

Talking and walking!

That would be I LOVE YOU!

Thanks for checking on us!

Hope everyone is doing well!

A new addition to the family

We have a new addition to our family......

...his name is Kobe We found him at the shelter, looking a little sad,

Marcelina is the first to hold him at the shelter before we bring him home.

Much better....holding a clean Kobe! Kobe & his leopard, we got it in hopes he'd cuddle with it & not miss his brothers and sisters too much :(

He also likes toys that don't belong to him!

Angelina can't get enough of him.....

Poor guy, sometimes I have to rescue him from her!

Except for all the pink, I'm pretty sure he is feeling right at home!

The Mom Song. [Lyrics on Screen+Download]

This is hilarious!

Boogery weekend!

So it figures that as soon as I go back to work Angelina comes down with the sniffles and cough. That was last Friday. Luckily daddy did a good job with the Tylenol and humdifier. She kept her sats up, and she mostly coughed at night. Now its just the occasional stuffy nose. Marcelina had had a bad cough but thats pretty much gone away. Lil Alex you can tell doesn't feel super good, but he doesn't complain. He does though get more cuddly. What i don't get is how the stuffiness doesn't keep him from talking??? How can a little boy talk so much? I don't get it. My hubby came down with it too, but he doesn't complain much (anymore), his head cold also seems to be resolving.

This Friday I finally came down with a fever and was not feeling well at all. I ended up not working my 2 usual days, and staying home with all the sick monkies ;)

Some pictures and videos from the last few weeks:

I don't get it- how & why does so much food end up on the floor???

Look Mommy, what a cute little girl...

She kind of looks like me...

It is me!This is Angelina's "Frankenstein" walk!After her cardiology appointment we always go say hi to the fishies

Angelina was so excited to see them!

Listen to her get all excited:

Is my flower too small? ;)Before I went back to work Alex wanted us to go out and eat...the kids are usually well behaved at restaurants but its a bit tiring for me because for some reason they seem to say "Mom, Mommy" a whole lot more! Anyhow I was tired and not too crazy about going. I'm glad we did, we had a good time and kids cracked me up!

My Cute, silly boys:

Crazy Girls:

Ok so maybe I had a little too much fun with this!

***************

Watch Angelina get all crazy on th trampoline- she loves it!

Oh and for you mommies working on getting the kids to stand and weight bare, check these out:

http://www.chinadirectstore.com/squeaky_shoes.htm They don't have much support because they are little cheapy canvas shoes, but they sure make her want to stomp around!

By the way, check out my monsters @http://www.visitmommyscorner.blogspot.com/ , maybe some of you can give me some tips on my converstation with my daughter...