Playdates

Now that the weather is nicer, we have been able to get out and enjoy some playdates with friends.  This week, our friend, Connor, spent the afternoon with us and the kids had a great time.  The boys followed Connor all over the place and showed them all of their toys.  Ben just kept saying, "Hi Connor!  Hi, Connor!'  Very exciting to have a big boy around to play with!  The kids spent some time out in the yard enjoying the swingset and the nice weather.  Connor is obsessed with t-ball so he and Jack broke out the bats for a bit.  Mairead spent some time watering the flowers and giving this butterfly a drink.

After dinner, it was time to sit back and relax with the kids new favorite show, Team UmiZoomi.  It's actually a pretty good show.  It teaches math concepts and logic, and all of the kids get really into it.  Jack loves to answer when the characters ask questions.

They love Daddy's ipad.  Mairead is getting pretty good at manipulating it herself, which is great... unless Dave wants to actually use his ipad.

Last week, we traveled to Nashua to check out a new playground on Shattuck Street with our friends, Maddie and Audrey, and their mom.  It was pretty hot so we spent some of the time in the shade enjoying juice and rice cakes, but the kids had fun running around together.  If you do go here, it's a nice little park that is completely fenced in (always important).  But, it has very little shade so it's probably best to go on a not so sunny day.

The kids are constantly coming up with  new ways to impress me and to be cute.  They are, however, all at a stage in which they are constantly testing limits and asserting their independence.  This is not so cute.  For the  most part, though, they are very sweet to one another.  Today, Ben was yelling, "I stuck, I stuck!" so Jack dropped his notebook (gasp) and headed to the rescue yelling, "Help Ben, Mommy!  I help Ben!"  The boys also love to give Molly (the cat) their blankets, and even give her a book once in a while.  They are very sweet to her and she is very patient with them, luckily.

Mairead is continuing to make progress.  We saw her neurologist this past week and he is really happy with how she is doing.  Unfortunately, we are all sort of out of ideas for how to help her to progress any faster.  Now, we just have to give her time and see how she does both in school and at home.  Our first appointment at the stroke clinic was July 1 of last year, so when I think about how far she has come in that year, I realize that she has made amazing progress.  I can't help but to want her to make even more progress, though, because I hate to see her frustrated and I hate to see the increasingly obvious differences between her and her peers.  We will all just keep doing our best- that's all we can do.

Every time I go to Children's, I thank God and my lucky stars and anyone else who will listen that Mairead and the boys are as healthy as they are. I have my struggles with Mairead and there are some days when life is really, really hard. But I know it could be much worse. When we go to neurology, we go to Fegan 11 (one of the towers at the hospital). From the waiting room window, we can see the windows of another tower (I think it's Hunnewell). When I took Mairead last July 1, we could see the room of a little girl named Ella Grace. Her name is colored on the windows, she has pictures, stickers, etc, all over the place. It was clear she was a pretty established resident.

Well, we have been to neurology 5 times since last July, and I always look to see if her name is still there, or if maybe she has gone home. Today, Ella is STILL there. She has been in the hospital, in the same room, for over a year. Now, I am afraid that next time we go, I won't see her name and I will fear that she didn't make it. I have obviously never met this little girl, but I think about her often (is that weird?) and I pray for her and her family. Can you even IMAGINE your child being in a hospital room for over a year?

Anyway, I am definitely not a 'life with a child with special needs is all puppy dogs and rainbows' person, but man, what some of these families are dealing with is just heartbreaking to the nth degree.

So if you can, send a little prayer to Ella Grace in Boston

I apologize for the decrease in blog posts lately.  I have been having a lot of pain in my wrists-- enough so that I actually went to the doctor for myself instead of for the  kids.  The NP suspects (as I did) carpal tunnnel syndrome.  I have to have an electromyogram at the end of June as well as consult with an orthopaedist to see what should be done, with options including cortisone injections and surgery.  I am pretty anxious about all of it seeing as I have three little ones to take care of, but I also have to be sure I don't do permanent damage to any nerves.  Wish me good luck!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Spring has Sprung

It has been a lo-o-o-o-ng May since it rained nearly every day, and it was cold! The heat kicked on last wee. If you survive a winter of being housebound due to record snowfall, hearing the heat come on in mid-May and STILL being stuck in the house is enough to drive a person, specficially, a stay-at-home-mom of three, crazy. We have had a few nice days, today being one of them, and we hope to see many more!

We do find ways to pass the time. Painting pictures (and selves, in Ben's case) is a favorite.

Mairead is getting to be quite a little artist! She paints all kinds of people and animals, and even paints her name. She is really getting interested in words and how to spell them, and it's fun to help her learn how to write new words.

I guess you know it has rained a lot when the kids feel like they need to use an umbrella even INside the house.

Jack has been getting ready for nice weather by practicing his golf swing, his jump shot, and now, his windup. I need to get him on video- he winds up like a real pitcher. He must have picked it up just from watching the Red Sox or from seeing Dave do it a few times, because no one taught it to him. His new obsession is his real glove. Jim and Jess gave the boys these gorgeous personalized gloves when they were babies, and they are finally big enough to use them. The boys literally could have fit inside the gloves when they got them! These are definitely not going to be 'outside' gloves, though. They are too nice to ruin!

Jack even insists on sleeping with his. I thought that kind of thing didn't happen until they were older? It looks like he will be a great athlete someday- he is so serious and committed. And, he is pretty good!

About two weeks ago, we made a trip to Penguin Park, one of our favorite playgrounds, to enjoy a nice afternoon once we picked Mairead up from school. It was nice to be back there- it was such a long winter! It's also nice that the kids are so much more independent. When we went in the fall, someone was always just about to fall off the top of the slide, get crashed into by a swing, etc. Now, they can enjoy most of the equipment safely, which makes things easier for me!

My mom has been working so hard to get the yard ready for the summer. She will be out there for 8 hours at a time some days. It is paying off, though; the yard looks beautiful already! She is lucky enough to have some very enthusiastic helpers. Ben loved using the hose to water the grass.

Note that he did not, however, part with his toast in order to do so.

Mairead loves being out in the yard and loves gardening with Nana. She has no qualms about getting her hands dirty, although now she does have some fabulous Wonder Pets gardening gloves to help with that.

We truly hope the nice weather is here to stay. I actually am just hoping it is here to stay TODAY, as we have a playground playdate in a few hours and I see that it is clouding over even as I type this. Rain, rain, stay away!

Big Girl Bed and a Birthday Party

We all took a big step on Saturday when we moved out Mairead's crib in favor of a big girl bed. We held off longer than most parents probably do because we were concerned about her being and feeling safe. She never tried to get out of the crib so we just let it be. But we finally make the leap and put her in a twin. Dave took her to Target to choose some sheets (she chose a pink polka dot set and a set with pink birdhouses) and we got her room all set up. I still need to find a comforter, dust ruffle, etc, but this is a start!


She was really excited about it and jumped right in when Dave brought her upstairs to show her.

She literally ran over to it.

Of course, Frick and Frack wanted to jump into the big bed, too. Ben kept saying, "a big bed, too, Mama? A big bed, too?" Not yet, kiddo. You two will be in your crib cages, I mean tents, until you're 12.

Ready for bed on her first night!

She did really well. She was happy to get into bed and we read her some stories. When we left, though, I think she got a little confused and started to cry. Eventually, Dave lay with her until she fell asleep and she slept through the entire night. The next night, she went up on her own with no problem and has done great since!

On Sunday, we were lucky enough to go to a birthday party for two little girls we know. The party was at Bobo's Indoor Playground in Nashua and it was the perfect place for kids turning 2 and 4. They had climbing structures, bounce houses, an inflatable slide, cars to ride on, and more. The kids were great and we stayed for the entire two hours, which is a personal best for us. Mairead didn't want to leave!

Good news- the boys found a basketball hoop within one minute of arriving. Jack was shooting baskets and one of the dads said, "This guy is lights out! I've never seen anything like it!" I told him that Jack gets a LOT of practice!

With ten thousand things to do at this place, Ben still had to do some writing in his notebook. These things are seriously permanently attached to their hands.

Mairead loved going down the big slide. I did it with her twice and it went really fast!

Unfortunately, she doesn't have the strength or coordination to get up the ladder herself, so Dave or I (mostly Dave) had to carry her while climbing the thing. It was really hard!

Mairead loves birthdays and had a great time. When it was time for cake, she plopped herself right down in the middle of the other kids and danced in her seat while everyone sang to the birthday girls. She loved eating the frosting off her cake, too!

This, apparently, is Bobo. She is a giant frog.

This is Jack's reaction to Bobo. Better than his reaction to Santa, but still... not great!

The kids LOVED the bounce house and stayed in there for much of the time.

And, there was a basketball hoop IN the bounce house. Does life get any better?

We really had a great time- thanks, Maddie and Audrey, for a fun afternoon!

Good thing we had fun while we could-- we had been home half an hour when there was a knock at the door. When Dave answered, it was the police- Nana had pressed her Life Call button because she was having shortness of breath. I took the ambulance with her to the ER where my mom was working. It turns out that she had pulmonary edema caused by Congestive Heart Failure (CHF). She is feeling much better now but is still at the hospital. Obviously, the CHF is serious because her heart is just not able to pump hard/fast enough to keep her lungs and other organs healthy, so we are hopeful that her doctors can come up with ways to keep her feeling ok. We'll keep you posted!