Autism

Today, the American Academy of Pediatrics came out with a news release concerning autism. They are now recommending that ALL children are screened for autism at least twice before they turn two; once at 18 months and once at 24 months. YEAH! On the news release page, it lists "Red Flags" any parent will want to know if concerned about autism:

“Red Flags” that are absolute indications for immediate evaluation include: no babbling or pointing or other gesture by 12 months; no single words by 16 months; no two-word spontaneous phrases by 24 months; and loss of language or social skills at any age. Early intervention can make a huge difference in the child’s prognosis. “Autism doesn’t go away, but therapy can help the child cope in regular environments,” said Chris Plauche Johnson, MD, MEd, FAAP, and co-author of the reports. “It helps children want to learn and communicate.”

It's about time! Another great autism website, Autism Speaks, has a video glossary that parents can look at, that show developmental areas of a normal development and a child with autism. Every 20 minutes a child is diagnosed with autism AND 1 in 150 children will be diagnosed with autism. I have also read that in boys that it is 1 in 116, but I can't remember where that statistic came from.

Some other things to read: Family in utah that has six autistic kids; new autism; and "Being Autistic, Being Human."

Happy Family Home Evening

We are trying to meet our neighbors. We have only lived in this house for 3 1/2 years and know less than a handful of our neighbors. We decided to hand out hot dogs on Halloween and made invitations to send to our neighbors and to those whom we deliver the papers. We split up tonight, Bryan walked around a couple of blocks and I did those that were further away. The kids had a ball handing out the invitations. Here they are:

The missionaries are going to come over on Halloween and help pass out the hotdogs. Hopefully..., we'll get a good turn out. This is a big step for me and Bryan, going outside of our comfortable shells and meeting new people.

Happy Birthday Morgan!

Yeah, my baby is one year old! We had Morgan's cake tonight. He absolutely loved it. He dug right in, there was no stopping him. He loved the icing. I can't believe my baby is one year old. Last year, I was at the hospital wondering when I could go home. His birth was much easier than Carsons (after 20 hours of labor THEN having a c-section - no kidding), a scheduled c-section is much easier on your body. Until I had the hernia but that is a story for another day.

Here is Morgan eating his cake.

Loving every moment of it :)

Music

I added the music player. Let me know if it makes the page too difficult to view.

By myself!

Tonight I was able to run to Springfield, by myself, and run errands and without children and by myself. It was just exciting to be alone. It was such a great "me time" experience for me. I feel like I never get any adult alone time except for when I'm delivering the papers and that is at 3:30 a.m. so my brain isn't always working as fast as it should. Anyway, I went to five, yes, five different stores this evening - making exchanges, returning stuff, buying stuff, picking up pictures from a one hour photo that have been there for at least five weeks! It was like a breath of fresh air. I've come to the realization that with Carson and Morgan I can run about two errands at a time, no matter how long or short and they are done. They don't like getting in and out of the car, they get tired and cranky with all the driving we have to do, Carson either doesn't want to walk or doesn't want to be in the cart and so she throws a complete fit and so two stores/errands/etc is my limit.

I just can't believe how much I was able to accomplish tonight. Hobby Lobby was having a sale on scrapbook paper - 50% off, yes, it was a great night for shopping. I had a 40% off coupon at Michael's - bought some cards. Yes, it was a very productive night.

In total, I was gone for about 3 hours. About half way through, I received a voice mail from Cameron and Carson telling me they missed me and asking me when I was coming home. Carson thought I was "at the office" because that is where Daddy goes everyday, so if mom is gone, she must be there too. I called her back and she just talked and talked on the phone and kept telling me "I need to tell you something, Mommy," over and over. Ahhh, I feel like I can be a mom again.

Another Carson & Scooby Doo moment...

Carson was explaining who the characters were on Scooby-Doo.

My response: What is Daphne? (expecting her usual response of Daphne is a girl and Freddy is a boy)

Carson: Daphne is the mommy. Freddy is the daddy.

Me: Oh, what is Velma?

Carson: Velma is the Merritt (*side note* Merritt is my brother who incidentally looks nothing like Velma)

Me: So Velma is a Merritt?

Carson: Yes, Velma is a Merritt, Daphne is the mommy and Freddy is the daddy.

PS: What is a Merritt?

Target

Pronounced, Tarrr jjayh for those of you who really don't know. A secret to shopping there I learned this week. If you use a debit or credit card for all of your purchases, if you are to take back an item, they can use the aforementioned debit or credit card to find your original receipt. Which is a wonderful thing for me since I tend to lose things. As hard as I try, I still lose receipts and usually mostly important things that I'm supposed to hold onto. Anyway, I had to return two pair of pants I had bought about 2 weeks ago and lucky me, I had purchased them using my debit card so they gave me a FULL refund in cash since it was on my debit card. Now, I'm not sure how it would work if the item had gone on sale since you bought it, haven't ran into that scenario yet, however, I'm glad to always use my debit card whenever I shop at Target. Just in case I need to make a quick return.

I feel invisible...

Alright. I know that someone out there is reading my blog. At least, I hope so. I have posted questions/comments that begged responses on two of my most favorite Yahoo groups in the past month and received no response on either one! So maybe I am invisible. Maybe it is true, that mom's just become invisible over time.

Oh well, just in case there is one person out there reading this I found another cool website and story about a young man named McKay Hatch. He has started the "No Cussing Club". It sounds awesome. Also, try this link to ABC News and see the story.

PS - Doesn't anyone have a favorite love song?

Help

I am compiling a CD of love songs for a friend. If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment. I am looking through all of our cd's but I'm sure there are many great ones out there that I will forget. THANKS!

Just stuff

Well, tomorrow is the beginning of a new week. The older kids come to our house after school. Cameron went to the doctor on Saturday and he has bronchitis, which isn't surprising because he was coughing up a spell at our house the week before. Hopefully he will get better now that he is on medicine.

Today we enjoyed a nice quiet day. For once, I had dinner all prepared and in the crock pot before we went to church. It was so nice because when we came home, I just had to make some rice and we were ready for dinner. We watched the movie, "The Home Teachers" which is my life. The first time I watched that show it was just painful. Today it was pretty funny.

In the past, I have tried to keep this blog full of fun anecdotes, fun experiences and fun stories about our family. I have thought long and hard about speaking about NONE of our experiences as a blended family but that's just not us. But on the other hand, I don't want this to turn into a gr-itching contest, either. I just want to say, life is not all fun and games, probably not for anyone, especially not for us. There are so many frustrations that I deal with almost on a daily basis. I don't want to go into too many details but I guess my one piece of advice for tonight is divorce sucks! When two people get married, have children and then decide to divorce, it affects so many more people than just them. It has a rippling effect on so many people, especially new spouses, children from 2nd union, the first kids, the parents of the couple, the brothers and sisters of the couple, their spouses, grandparents, cousins, nieces and nephews, must I go on? Now, I'm not saying there aren't some valid reasons to get divorced, but I'm firmly convinced after living this life for the past four years, that that list is very short. I can only think of about three things that really SHOULD be on that list. Now, that's also not to say, that I don't love my husband, because I really do. I'm greatful to be married to him, for our friendship and our love, and for our determination to make it just one more day in this crazy world plus I would NOT trade anything in this world for my children. They are the best of me and I love them dearly. I will end with a quote (modified a bit) from one of my favorites - Julia Roberts as to what she said about her husband on Friday, "And the widening of my life, and my hips, is really just the true gift of my husband Bryan, who I would be so lonely without him."

Potty Training Nightmare

Yes, Carson is over three and yes, she is still wearing diapers and pull-ups. I am going to go crazy. Every week, I have good intentions of starting the potty training and it just never works. Getting Cameron to go on the toilet and NOT have accidents was a nightmare for about three years and I was so not looking forward to that again. I give up!

I tried rewarding her when she sat on the potty with an M & M. Didn't work, since she wants MORE than one! I tried stickers, she doesn't care. I thought, "Oh, I'll just put her in underwear and when she feels the wetness, she won't like it and will go in the toilet." Not really, she doesn't MIND the WET underwear as witnessed the other day when she wet on the floor, yes carpet, three different times and didn't even care. The only reason she was changed because I was checking on her and found her wet. She did not even care. And by the way, it's a total all out fight to get her to just SIT on the toilet. Oh, I can tell this is going to be a fun one. So, for now, she stays in pull-ups for my own sanity. She may be the only sunbeam not potty-trained in January; however, as my sister Michelle tells me, she won't go to kindergarten in a diaper. I hope she is right :)

A fast funny...

I was sitting reading my e-mail on the computer while Carson was eating breakfast. She had several times told me she was done and I needed to go get her down. The next thing I hear is...

"Mommy, do you understand?" "Mommy, come get me down!" Mommy, do you understand?"

I guess I say that a lot to her. I went in and gave her a big hug and told her that I loved her and laughed at how funny she was. She then says...

"Mommy, I like your laugh."

I think I have the sweetest, loveablest, cutest and most thoughtful daughter in the world - at least for today!

It's Friday :)

I'm so glad it's finally Friday. The kids got out of school early today - noon release. Not sure why, but thankful for it anyway. I am going to get Morgan down for an afternoon nap, Carson is already napping, put it a movie for the big kids and take myself a nap.

We had music class this morning. My friend, Trisha Headman, such a sweetheart, calls me at 10 am and volunteers to teach it for me today when she found out that Carson and Morgan had completely destroyed my music class stuff. They went through my bag and emptied out each plastic baggie that was full of colored, laminated props for each of our songs. We are talking 30-40 bags of stuff. They did this at the first of the week, TWICE. I had it all picked up, not sorted, but picked up and put away and they found my bag AGAIN and emptied it. It was so nice of her. I was a little stressed, thinking that I could teach the class without my props, but she did a fabulous job.

Carson and Morgan were on one this morning. While I was in the shower, they found the markers and decided to do some art work on their bodies. Morgan has pink arms and blue feet. Carson has blue hands and wrists and a little bit under her chin - kind of like a goatee. Yeah, no picture. I should have, but I was in a hurry. So I get them all cleaned up and ready to go with shoes and socks on, leave for 25 seconds while I fill up bottle and sippy cup with milk and to my surprise, Carson has only her shirt on when I enter the room. She just loves to make my day, let me tell you. Morgan had another marker in his mouth but not open, thank goodness. I guess my lesson to learn for myself is that I need to put the markers up higher. It's not like we have that many high places though, to hide things.

So, my question is, why do they get into more trouble when they are together? I think it's like when Merritt and Michelle (my brother and sister) used to get together - their brains would meld into one and things that they probably wouldn't do normally by themselves became rather amusing when they were together. Oh, the trouble those two are going to cause from now until forever. It is going to be so much fun!

Christmas

is coming on way too fast for me! I almost had a panic attack last Friday because I realized that it was October in a couple of days and that means that the holiday season will be whirling by us. I always have BIG plans on what I am going to do, lets see if I get any of it done. I am going to have Carson and Morgan's pictures taken tmw, so that is one thing I can get crossed off my list. I still have to get Jordan, Rylee and Cameron's pics too. Last year we started a new tradition where we take the kids to Target instead of getting school pictures. It works wonderfully well, I get so many more pictures and I only spend about $20-$25 per kid which is so much cheaper than school. I try to get them in the fall so we have ones to send for Christmas. Last year I was really bad, I didn't even send Christmas cards. I think Heavenly Father will forgive me since I just had had a baby. Anyway, I did send Fall cards out with the kids pictures, so I didn't feel so bad - that was before Morgan was born and I did have a few minutes of time for myself. Now, that he is almost a year old - in 2 1/2 weeks - we are on a good schedule and I am going to now make time to do the fun stuff I want, especially my scrapbooking. I sooooo miss being able to be creative. I have been able to do it just a few times since Morgan was born, but now, I've just got to try really hard because now I'm further behind. I have all these pictures I have to do something with! I am also going to teach myself how to do digital scrapbooking. That would help me get caught up much quicker.

We have the older kids for Christmas this year. I have been thinking that we really need to institute our own holiday traditions we look forward to every year. We have tried things from my family and made up things we thought would be fun but never really stuck with anything. This is going to be the year. I am going to find a breakfast recipe we only use on Christmas day. We will have rice alamonde this year even if the older kids don't like it, Carson and Morgan will have it every year like we did! Here is a recipe for Danish Rice Pudding, although this isn't how my mom makes it. I'll have to get her recipe and post it on our recipe blog. When Bryan's parents were here, I asked his mom if they had any family Christmas traditions. She said the one that stuck out in her mind was they would read the Christmas story from the Bible and the Book of Mormon, so we are going to incorporate that one this year also.

I have so much to do today! Let's hope I get it all done. Until the next time.