Showing posts with label Tabitha. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tabitha. Show all posts
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
The Art of Sleep
So, the kids have had sleeping issues.. that's old news. Tabitha is our best sleeper, but she tosses and turns so much I thinks she wakes herself up. It could also be Jacob waking her up, since he's normally in his room goofing off instead of sleeping.
Actually, I have to admit, this is an improvement. Not too long ago he was stealing cell phones, Ipods, and food in the middle of the night. At least now he seems to be containing his night play to his bedroom.
I bought a motion activated alarm system at Radio Shack. Matthew put it up yesterday, pointing at their doors, high enough where the cats don't set it off. It works great.
The Johnson & Johnson baby lotion that is specifically for bedtime is also nice. I put on both kiddos after showers last night and we had no problems. I stayed in the bed with Jacob until he fell asleep, then moved to Tabby's room to do the same just to get them back on track with sleep expectations. I'm happy with the results, although I didn't go to bed any earlier I enjoyed watching the kids fall asleep.. and the smell of the lotion.
Another new thing in our house is independent showering. I set Matthew in charge of overseeing this because if I were to go check on a kiddo and they needed help getting soap off their heads I would just do it for them instead of simply instructing them. He is perfect for those type of things. And it has been a few weeks since we began this and (correct me if I'm wrong, Matthew) they seem to be progressing with minimal instructions from us.
Soon we will be able to just tell them it's shower time and they will handle it... I'm so proud of them. :-)
Actually, I have to admit, this is an improvement. Not too long ago he was stealing cell phones, Ipods, and food in the middle of the night. At least now he seems to be containing his night play to his bedroom.
I bought a motion activated alarm system at Radio Shack. Matthew put it up yesterday, pointing at their doors, high enough where the cats don't set it off. It works great.
The Johnson & Johnson baby lotion that is specifically for bedtime is also nice. I put on both kiddos after showers last night and we had no problems. I stayed in the bed with Jacob until he fell asleep, then moved to Tabby's room to do the same just to get them back on track with sleep expectations. I'm happy with the results, although I didn't go to bed any earlier I enjoyed watching the kids fall asleep.. and the smell of the lotion.
Another new thing in our house is independent showering. I set Matthew in charge of overseeing this because if I were to go check on a kiddo and they needed help getting soap off their heads I would just do it for them instead of simply instructing them. He is perfect for those type of things. And it has been a few weeks since we began this and (correct me if I'm wrong, Matthew) they seem to be progressing with minimal instructions from us.
Soon we will be able to just tell them it's shower time and they will handle it... I'm so proud of them. :-)
Monday, February 7, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
The Power of Britney
This weekend flew by so fast it was just unfair.
The kiddos went to their Mamaw's and Papaw's house Saturday afternoon and spent the night. Matthew and I were able to have a bonafide date night. We went to Smokey Bones, shopped around a little, then came home to sleep in a house where no little feet would be running around.
I didn't even need any sleeping pills! I was so out I never even heard my sister come in the house. Perfect!
Sunday we got up and out and had a good day of shopping. We had full intentions of going to buy one of those cheap little $30 printers from Wal-Mart. Unfortunately we decided to shop around and went to Staples, where I saw the best desktop tower on CLEARANCE (My favorite word!).
We went to Best Buy and they had one that wasn't as good for almost $100 more, so we went back and bought the one at Staples. Then they said since it was the floor model they would have to keep it and do a system restore, but it would possibly be ready by the end of the day.
So, we went and picked up the kiddos from my parent's house and visited a little. We went to get some groceries and the phone rang. The computer was ready and I had 5 minutes to get there! I left Matthew and the kids with a buggy full of food and ran out to the car and tried to get to Staples. Not far to drive, but the traffic was terrible. I turned on the radio and lo and behold.. Britney's new song. I cranked it up and knew if Britney came on the radio, I was going to make it! Haha. I love her new song.
So, I made it, narrowly, and now I have an awesome computer. We went to Subway to celebrate and the kids were in a fun mood. Dancing machines! :-)
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Camo Tabby
Lots of fun this weekend. The kids had some pretty good days of expressing themselves. We watched movies, we danced, we sang, we argued, we bossed, we hugged and kissed.
We visited both sets of grandparents.
Matthew has devised a wonderful laundry schedule for us all, with the kids in charge of their own hampers and putting their clean clothes away when given back.
Today we discovered Tabby was not putting away her clothes, but piling the dirty clothes on top of them in the hamper. So, not knowing which was which we had to launder most of her wardrobe. As a consequence, she had to wear her brother's clothes out today. She told me before we left, "I am supposed to be cute!"
In the bathroom at Moe's I told her before washing her hands to "roll up your sleeves", and she immediately protested, "they're not MY sleeves! I'll roll up Jacob's sleeves!" Oh, it was a funny day. I think she will keep her clothes more organized now. :-)
Friday, January 28, 2011
Dancin'.... yeahhhh
There seems to be a lot of dancing going around in the house lately. The kiddos are in a way better mood overall than last week. Their favorite movie is Despicable Me, and they know the dance moves and songs, and darn near most of the words. They amaze me!
Jacob was ASP kid of the month! Tabby got it last year so she couldn't complain too much. He was given a bag full of goodies and treats and we let him take it to his room and eat all the snacks at his discretion. He was very generous and shared with Tabby. They are exceptionally good at including one another in things like that.
Poor Jacob though, with his oh-so literal mind was given a pack of starburst candy with a prize promotion on the packaging. He read it "find the golden starburst, win up to 10,000 dollars" and his mind fixated on it.
He came into the living room all wide-eyed and told us about it, claiming Tabby had won because she found it! Except she just had a regular old yellow lemon one. Once we explained that he would not win, that he had not gotten the winning starburst, he went back into his room. He came out another time saying the same thing, holding the package asking if the 'gold on the package' would match 'the gold on the starburst'. He was worrying about it WAY too much. I told him to throw the package wrapper away, and he was so dismayed. He really wanted to hold onto the wrapper and read it. That's just the way his mind operates. If he finds it interesting he wants to keep it forever. Tags from clothes, toy packaging, etc.
In keeping with the dancing theme this week we were sitting in line to drop them off at school today, in the 6:50 a.m. dark, with one other car infront of us and had the interior lights on and the kids were standing up dancing and rocking the van. They make me laugh, and they made the car infront of us laugh too!
Jacob was ASP kid of the month! Tabby got it last year so she couldn't complain too much. He was given a bag full of goodies and treats and we let him take it to his room and eat all the snacks at his discretion. He was very generous and shared with Tabby. They are exceptionally good at including one another in things like that.
Poor Jacob though, with his oh-so literal mind was given a pack of starburst candy with a prize promotion on the packaging. He read it "find the golden starburst, win up to 10,000 dollars" and his mind fixated on it.
He came into the living room all wide-eyed and told us about it, claiming Tabby had won because she found it! Except she just had a regular old yellow lemon one. Once we explained that he would not win, that he had not gotten the winning starburst, he went back into his room. He came out another time saying the same thing, holding the package asking if the 'gold on the package' would match 'the gold on the starburst'. He was worrying about it WAY too much. I told him to throw the package wrapper away, and he was so dismayed. He really wanted to hold onto the wrapper and read it. That's just the way his mind operates. If he finds it interesting he wants to keep it forever. Tags from clothes, toy packaging, etc.
In keeping with the dancing theme this week we were sitting in line to drop them off at school today, in the 6:50 a.m. dark, with one other car infront of us and had the interior lights on and the kids were standing up dancing and rocking the van. They make me laugh, and they made the car infront of us laugh too!
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
MLK Day.. at work
Ah, the sweet smell of overtime.
Sunday I caught up on much needed rest. Matthew took us out to lunch to Texas Roadhouse, then to a little shopping for sunglasses.
Although I love getting out with my family, I was happy to be back home. I was just exhausted.
My parents and nephew came up and spent some really good quality time with the kiddos and I watched the Golden Globes.
We let Jacob sleep on Tabitha's bunk bed thinking my nephew and sister would be staying overnight, but they ended up going home for the night.
Everyone seemed to like my butter-pecan-applesauce-molasses cake. I'm grateful, because most things I try do pretty badly.
Saturday night when I was playing in Jacob's room we found a juicebox hidden under his bed. Last night I found an apple.
It is times like this I have to remind myself that he has only had one real session with the new Dr. and I can't expect overnight (pun intended) results. It is just beyond my comprehension that as smart as he is, he doesn't change the behaviors that he gets into trouble from.
Which is why I am still picking up the book and getting reassurances that it: 1.) Could be A LOT worse, and 2.) Isn't the end of the world.
I also had thought the 'nighttime' pills were going to keep him asleep, only to find out the second night he took them he woke my sister up numerous times asking for food. My guess is he had attempted to steal food from the kitchen but thought twice to wake her up since she was on the couch sleeping near the kitchen doorway.
Then when I asked him Saturday how he had slept, he said he slept the entire night. Ugh.
It used to be the 'no response and no remorse' attitude from him that made me angry, now I sort of get that.. but now I'm having a hard time with the 'I know you'll find out but still do it' mentality.
We feel like we are having to deal with the same rules getting broken each day.
And then there's Tabitha, the charmer. She see's his negative attention and immediately turns on her 'baby talk' and 'I love you's and 'didn't I do good's. So, while her behavior is obviously manipulative of the situation and completely irritating.. the only real thing we can correct is the baby-talking. If she is talking and I say, 'stop the baby talk' then she will go back to sounding like a 6 year old. It is really wild.
So, with both kids on the bunkbed, I put the baby gate up right outside the closed door, hoping to stop Jacob getting up and roaming the house for food and electronics to play around with. He did have to ask one time around 2 a.m. to go to the bathroom, and I lifted him over the gate and back over afterwards. Silly, right? But I am confident that he was so surprised by the gate being there that he didn't venture climbing over it to go on his midnight scavenger hunt.
So, today is MLK day, my sister has my kiddos, and I have a 3:00 with my own psychiatriast. Having first visit nervousness, but I feel like I need help with my own things going on, in addition to being able to be a better parent to RAD kids.
Sunday I caught up on much needed rest. Matthew took us out to lunch to Texas Roadhouse, then to a little shopping for sunglasses.
Although I love getting out with my family, I was happy to be back home. I was just exhausted.
My parents and nephew came up and spent some really good quality time with the kiddos and I watched the Golden Globes.
We let Jacob sleep on Tabitha's bunk bed thinking my nephew and sister would be staying overnight, but they ended up going home for the night.
Everyone seemed to like my butter-pecan-applesauce-molasses cake. I'm grateful, because most things I try do pretty badly.
Saturday night when I was playing in Jacob's room we found a juicebox hidden under his bed. Last night I found an apple.
It is times like this I have to remind myself that he has only had one real session with the new Dr. and I can't expect overnight (pun intended) results. It is just beyond my comprehension that as smart as he is, he doesn't change the behaviors that he gets into trouble from.
Which is why I am still picking up the book and getting reassurances that it: 1.) Could be A LOT worse, and 2.) Isn't the end of the world.
I also had thought the 'nighttime' pills were going to keep him asleep, only to find out the second night he took them he woke my sister up numerous times asking for food. My guess is he had attempted to steal food from the kitchen but thought twice to wake her up since she was on the couch sleeping near the kitchen doorway.
Then when I asked him Saturday how he had slept, he said he slept the entire night. Ugh.
It used to be the 'no response and no remorse' attitude from him that made me angry, now I sort of get that.. but now I'm having a hard time with the 'I know you'll find out but still do it' mentality.
We feel like we are having to deal with the same rules getting broken each day.
And then there's Tabitha, the charmer. She see's his negative attention and immediately turns on her 'baby talk' and 'I love you's and 'didn't I do good's. So, while her behavior is obviously manipulative of the situation and completely irritating.. the only real thing we can correct is the baby-talking. If she is talking and I say, 'stop the baby talk' then she will go back to sounding like a 6 year old. It is really wild.
So, with both kids on the bunkbed, I put the baby gate up right outside the closed door, hoping to stop Jacob getting up and roaming the house for food and electronics to play around with. He did have to ask one time around 2 a.m. to go to the bathroom, and I lifted him over the gate and back over afterwards. Silly, right? But I am confident that he was so surprised by the gate being there that he didn't venture climbing over it to go on his midnight scavenger hunt.
So, today is MLK day, my sister has my kiddos, and I have a 3:00 with my own psychiatriast. Having first visit nervousness, but I feel like I need help with my own things going on, in addition to being able to be a better parent to RAD kids.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Saturday at WORK?!
Thank goodness for some things; answered prayers, and overtime offered when you've missed the entire regular workweek!
So, I gladly got myself up and ready and for once in the week got to leave the house by myself! I met my coworker (the one who was cussed out by my next door neighbors) at Waffle House, and we got caught up on the drama of my fence-saga.
Work was good, I had time to clean out my desk and purge files and get rid of things in order to start 2011 off right.
I brought tacos home for dinner tonight and the kids were thrilled. They had a great time with their Dad today, getting to go outside and make a mini snowman and throw snowballs.
I was happy today when I was cleaning out my desk and found the post-it my coworker had left on my computer monitor last March. It was the message to call the person at DFCS who then told me we were 'go' for adoption. I kept it because I had jotted down a few things on it while I was talking to her.. and I loved finding it today. It was a good day to remember something so huge that happened to our family.
So, I gladly got myself up and ready and for once in the week got to leave the house by myself! I met my coworker (the one who was cussed out by my next door neighbors) at Waffle House, and we got caught up on the drama of my fence-saga.
Work was good, I had time to clean out my desk and purge files and get rid of things in order to start 2011 off right.
I brought tacos home for dinner tonight and the kids were thrilled. They had a great time with their Dad today, getting to go outside and make a mini snowman and throw snowballs.
I was happy today when I was cleaning out my desk and found the post-it my coworker had left on my computer monitor last March. It was the message to call the person at DFCS who then told me we were 'go' for adoption. I kept it because I had jotted down a few things on it while I was talking to her.. and I loved finding it today. It was a good day to remember something so huge that happened to our family.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Friday
Day 5 of our workweek / schoolweek spent inside. In each other's company we are trying our best to not get on each other's nerves. The rules are still there, but we are in a lighter mood. :-P
For lunch I made peanut butter, grape jelly, and honeynut cheerios sandwiches. What a hit!
We watched Despicable Me and now they are both doing separate things. Tabby is enjoying Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Jacob is in his room 'practicing' Sorry Sliders.
We all four sat on the living room floor and played Sorry Sliders last night. It is a really fun game, and Jacob is the family cheater. Haha. Each family needs one super competitive, out-for-blood type of gamer.. and he is ours.
Today he began his new dosage of his ADHD medicine as well as the antidepressant. He took two pills at once and exclaimed at how awesome he was! Pretty impressive I must say, since he is kind of tiny. Poor Matthew is 31 and can't manage a tylenol. :-}
what I'm really ready to see about is the sleepy-time medicine. When they moved in with us he was on this prescription, one a night. Now the Dr. is asking we give him 1/2 at 'after school' time, then 1 & 1/2 30 minutes before bedtime. If I can get him well rested his nighttime misbehavior will go away. Cross your fingers!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Thursday
Made lunch, gave the kids bubble baths which was a BIG DEAL for them..and just getting ready to tackle the floors :+]
.. and day 4
Thursday and Friday were called yesterday afternoon, so day 4 home again. At this rate it will definitely be Tuesday before I see my coworkers. At this point, it's almost depressing.
Don't get me wrong, all the quality time with the kids is awesome, but there is just a melancholy that comes from the same old routine. Last night the kids actually went to bed at separate bedtimes, which was fun. Jacob got tired out around 10 and then Tabby and I stayed up watching Storage Wars. I held her in my arms and combed her hair with my fingers and just stared down at the most precious girl I know. I love those tender moments. Unfortunately I have more of those tender moments when I only have one child with me, since they are so competitive with attention and affection.
This afternoon we have Jacob's appointments with his new psychiatrist and his new M.D. I am so ready to get going on a therapy treatment plan. I feel like we've been through the ringer. :-]
I'm hoping since the courthouse is finally open today that the surveyors will get what they need to get done and be able to finalize their lines. The legal letter that needs to be sent is really important. I just don't want to have anymore verbal communications with them.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
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