Is Anyone Still Out There?

My deepest apologies to all my loyal blog readers for not keeping you all updated on the Fillmore family's latest adventures. I am a terrible blogger. I have no excuses.

Perhaps I shall regale you with the highlights from the last week, or month.

Brock has a heart murmur and had an echocardiogram last week to check it out. We got the report on Saturday that it is a "normal" murmur and he will have it all his life. I was so stressed out about this. Thank goodness it is fine. What a relief.

Sydney is taking ballet again this semester and we are actually going this time. She is really enjoying it and doing quite well. We have a recital sometime in June that we have to purchase a costume for this week. I didn't realize this was how things were done. I am new to all of this. I don't think we (her best friend is in the same class) are among the teacher's pets, but we have a good time.

Braden microwaved my iphone in November. Yes. Microwaved it. Just in case you ever wondered, iphones are not microwave safe. It was in there less than two seconds, but it was totally fried. There is no coming back from the microwave. Insurance does not cover microwaving. Now I have no record of any of my appointments, none of my contacts, no email, no weather, no iphone. My plan doesn't renew until Dec. 24 at the earliest (really Jan. 24) and I am not paying full price for an iphone. Tony says someday I will be able to laugh at this story, but I just can't see the humor quite yet.

Be Careful Little Ears What You...

Things at the Fillmore house have been crazy busy this last month.

We made a long over due trip to Dallas to visit Nanny and Papa. Had a great time. We got to see our big cousin, Alex, win his all star baseball tournament. Way to go, Alex! Got a cool new coupe to keep at our nanny's house and some new little people toys for when we spend a week there later this month. We even got to visit some friends that we don't get to see very often since they moved a couple years ago. It was a pretty great trip. We are super excited to go again for Camp Nanny and Papa when it starts on June 23. We will go to Six Flags (Sydney only) on the 24th for the very first time with our big cousins and we even bought some "magic shoes" to help give her the extra boost she needs to make it to 42" in order to ride on the one or two rides she might not make. She is beyond excited.

Camp Nanny and Papa will be extra special for mom and dad this year because we will be in sunny (read rainy) COSTA RICA! For a fabulous extended child free vaca. My parents have happily and graciously volunteered to keep the kiddos for eight fun filled days, and nights :), so we can have some much needed alone time. Thanks again you two! We love ya!

And boy do we need it after the month we have had. Braden and Brock have both had back to back ear infections and Braden had a ruptured eardrum, too. Not to mention the strep and scarlet fever and countless shots and oral antibiotics, ear drops, etc.

I took them back to the doctor on Tuesday because Braden was up all night screaming. Sure enough, another ear infection. Another shot. I just didn't feel comfortable with the course of treatment laid out by the pediatrician. SO I got a second opinion from an ENT on Wednesday. He took one look at Braden's ears and said, "this boy needs tubes." but in a lot more doctor talk than that. Complete with charts and stuff. He asked me how many ear infections he had had and I told him seven or eight that we know of, but that his brother had had way more and he said let's look at brother. After examining Brock, he said, "Brock is worse than Braden."

SO...Sydney had sleepover at her best friend Caroline's house last night and the boys' and I showed up for surgery this morning bright and early. Tony surprised us and rescheduled some things and was able to go with us. Which was super great. We got the VIP treatment from the moment we walked in the door. Tony even got to walk them back into the OR and hold them when the anesthesiologist put them under. Braden cried three times and he was out.

Brock did the cutest thing. He and Braden both like to zurburt when you come near them with a medicine they don't want in their mouths. He did this to the anesthesiologist when he came near him with the mask! Everyone in the OR just started laughing (not the anesthesiologist.)

I was able to be in the recovery room when they each woke up which was great. And when that stuff wears off, they wake up fast! Braden woke up great. Took his bottle right away (they weren't allowed to eat so they were starving by this time) and was his usual smiley self.

Brock, well, Brock didn't wake as well as Braden. He totally freaked out. You could tell his ears were really bothering him and he didn't understand. He wouldn't even accept his bottle or his beloved night night for about 10 minutes until he finally calmed down. Boy was I glad Tony was there at this point. They are both total Daddy boys.

We got home and Braden ate breakfast and watched Handy Manny. And then he took a nice long nap.

Brock just screamed. And screamed. And screamed. He was having none of nothing. Finally I just laid him in his bed and he settled down in about two minutes. And I had to wake him up 2 and 1/2 hours later when we had to go pick up Sydney from Science Camp where she had been from 9-12 this week (she loves it!)

Sydney has also been to the swimming pool every day this week and she just started lessons yesterday. She is already jumping off the diving board into the 10' deep end and swimming with her instructor to the side. She is loving every minute of it and asks to go every day.

She also has two soccer games each weekend and she is getting more and more aggressive in her playing. Which is good because there was no aggression when she started. Her team is called the African Killer Bees and they are yellow and black. She has pink shin guards and pink cleats. She wanted everyone to know that. And she just got a pink water bottle, too. We have not yet taken a camera to the games, but I will try to remember to bring one tomorrow.

Last Man Standing

Brock Stood First

Braden Wasn't Far Behind

They may be standing, but they sure aren't walking. Oh how I wish they were. I am so tired of watching them crawl. Everywhere. Their grubby little paws touching everything little dirty thing on God's green earth and the not so green parts, too.

And they just keep getting sick! Not really, really sick. Just sick enough where we can't leave the house for a few days and be around people. Or go to school, so I miss those very precious wonderful joyous days called MDO. And the kids like them, too. Honest.

I am so tired of them picking up the yucky germs from the ground when they are crawling. ARRGHHH! I clean their hands just as quickly as I can, but there are two of them, they're SO fast, AND they suck their thumbs. Let's be realistic, the odds are really against me. I think if they would just start walking, we would pick up a few less germs from the ground and maybe be in a little better shape. Maybe I'm just kidding myself- just wishful thinking. Sigh.

They do have a little interest in walking. Brock will take about four steps and then lunge for his nearest target, usually me. Braden normally just plops back down onto his seat if he thinks the goal is more than one or two steps away. They truly are just content to crawl. No one crawls to kindergarten, do they?

Who Stole the Cookie From the Cookie Jar?

Braden Stole the Cookie From the Cookie Jar!

This is a daily occurrence at our house. When the boys wake from their afternoon nap, they let themselves into the pantry and pull up to the animal crackers. They pound on the container shouting, "Cra-cka, cracka!" until one of us lets them into the tub and then its a free for all. On this particular day, Sydney was in charge and things got a little carried away.

The Great Pre-K Search

After visiting nine schools and researching pre kindergarten curriculums for over a month, I have finally found the very best place for Miss Sydney to receive her pre kindergarten education next year. It has been an arduous journey; one I do not wish to repeat. Ever. Thankfully, the information I uncovered during my research should hold true when B and B are in Pre K in a few years and I won't have to.

The school Sydney has been atttending for the last three years has been terrific. I have no complaints about their teachers, curriculum, facilities. Nothing at all. It has been, and continues to be, a fantastic school.

But. It is only two days a week and for Pre K, I simply wanted more days. At first I wasn't sure if I wanted a five day program or a three day program. Then I tried coming up with a hybrid four day program where she could stay at this school for two days and I would "homeschool" her for two days.

But I know me. And I know Sydney. And I know, THAT probably wouldn't work. It might...but I just don't know. We get distracted too easily. With some little people named Brock and Braden. Or cooking. Or shopping. Or cleaning. Or organizing. Or playing. Or whatever.

We applied to our school district's magnet program Pre K that is filled using a lottery system. We didn't get "picked." Which was probably a good thing because I kept doing research and looking for the best place to send her and I probably wouldn't have if she had gotten in. The magnet school was five days a week from 8-3 and I wasn't sure I was ready for that.

Now I'm sure I'm not and I'm sure she's not. And she doesn't need it. I have gotten to talk with several Kindergarten and Pre Kindergarten teachers at these various schools and they have all given me wonderful tidbits of advice.

Don't start her too soon-she'll be in school all day soon enough. Let her have one more year of a couple days while you can.

Keep her in a Pre K program where she can be a leader in her class instead of placing her in a private Kindergarten a year early where she will always feel frustrated that she is behind the other children. That will undermine her self-confidence unnecessarily.

Developmentally they are not ready to sit and "learn" yet. They still need to learn through play much more.

We want to foster her love for learning- not squash it with too much too soon.

I have been so worried about her being behind when she gets to first grade (more about that in a later post), I have been missing the here and now. Thank goodness I have someOne who knows just what I need and how to give it to me just when I need it most to save me (and my kids) from myself.

"The clock is running. Make the most of today. Time waits for no man. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift.

That's why it is called the present."

Thank You, Father.

The Problem

About six weeks ago, I had a medical problem arise (details omitted out of embarrassment) that would not fix itself and I could not do what was necessary to give it time to heal because I was sick from my intestines all the time. And I mean ALL the time. I could not eat ANYTHING. It got to the point that I was afraid to eat. PERIOD. My BFF and I devised a plan that omitted gluten from my diet and decided to implement it immediately.

And it worked. Right away.

I went from being sick 8-10 times a day to 0. After almost three weeks of this new "diet," I went to the gi doc and he ran some tests. He told me he was pretty sure I had celiac sprue, but also thought the test would come back negative for it since I had not eaten gluten in three weeks.

He was right; it did. So he put me back on a gluten diet. Uhhhhh. That has been just miserable. Living G-free for a month and then being told you have to go back on it? No, thanks. It just seems stupid to purposely make yourself sick just to have a test come back positive. He repeated the blood tests today to see if maybe I have eaten enough for it to come back positive, so we'll see.

I get to have a super-duper fun EGD and colonoscopy next Tuesday to make sure there's not something else that we're missing. Can't wait for that one!

Lessons In Life

We took a trip to Santa Fe the second week of February for a family ski trip- and Miss Sydney LOVED it! She thought it was the best thing ever! She kept asking if we could go back again tomorrow. She skied two days in the ski school with a private instructor and just got better and better. If I ever figure out how to post video on here, I will upload some of the video of her first time skiing. She is just about the cutest thing ever.

The boys went to the childcare on the mountain called Chipmunk Corner and had a marvelous time. They had some of their favorite toys and they could watch Sydney through the window whenever they wanted. Tony and I got to ski while they were well taken care of on the mountain. I took a lesson which went quite well, until I got really tired and stopped being able to turn my legs. I am really out of shape. I think this was the start of a beautiful family tradition of yearly family ski trips. I just am not sure mommy has to participate in the ski part of the trip. There are a number of lovely day spas and shopping around all of these ski towns...

The day after we got back I had my tummy tuck. It went quite well and I am now on week four of restrictive duty regarding any lifting and I am about to go crazy. I cannot pick up the boys. Period. If I do, I risk a hernia and another surgery to repair said hernia and I go back to square one on the six weeks of restrictive duty. I am about to go out of my mind. I feel completely handcuffed. Tony has been traveling a lot lately and I have been relying heavily on my BFF, Jen, and the nannies, to help me out. And she totally has. I could not have made it through this without her. My mom flew out this weekend to help me which was great, but she flew back thinking Tony was flying the opposite way, but his plane is still in Dallas as I write this (maintenance, way to go AA!) and he will not be home until at least seven hours after he was supposed to be home. No big deal, right? but this is his sixth trip in the last month and we still have one more next weekend. I am so ready for him to be home. I do not know how people do it when one spouse travels for their job. I am so thankful mine does not. I will be so glad when his last trip is over in April. And my restrictive duty should be lifted by then as well. I am glad I had my surgery, but in hindsight, the timing probably could have been coordinated a little better with Tony's travel schedule right now. Oh well.

Oh. And I got diagnosed with Celiac disease during this time, as well. So add to all of this a brand new gluten free diet. More about all of that in my next post.