Vacation must have been WAY too fun.

Our kids are having a hard time getting back into the school routine. It was rough going, but we made it through the day. (I think, we still have 2.5 more hours of the day)

Highlights of the day.

Sam going to school. lol.

I am slowly getting more organized. All the piles in the kitchen are gone. An organized system of piles in bins. My trip to Ikea proved successful in the getting more organized front. I love that place!

Sam saying, "I don't say the S or L words." (Sexy or Love) I had just told Kailyn not to sing the song "I'm Sexy and I Know It". He tries to one up her when I correct her behavior by saying he does not do it. The song is on the TV all the time and I guess the kids at her school sing it. Sam heard it on the TV this am (the Today Show was on in the background while we were getting ready for school and the beginning of the song was played) He sang, "I'm the S word and I know it". LOL  I told him he can say love, but for some reason he thinks that he can't. He also does not think he can look at people kissing. He hates when people tease him about liking a girl even though he chases them at recess on the playground.

Keira stinking her tongue out at me. When you ask her where her mouth is she goes, "aah" and sticks out her tongue with a smile. She has an infectious giggle when you tickle her afterwards.

Kailyn asking me not to transport her after she falls asleep. I let her go to bed in ours so that she would fall asleep early. I could not understand what she meant? Did she not want me to press a Star Trek like button and transport her somewhere? Then my tired brain started to think harder. She meant transfer her back into her bed. Well, we will. lol

Keira officially starting her ABA in home program. They were doing baselines for almost a month. Now the real work starts. She anxiously awaits either Mark or Brendan at the door once the dog starts barking. She even cried the other day when Mark left.

Highlights of the week.

My kids going to art class for four days. They loved it and made a pretty cool masterpiece using melted crayons.

Playdates. Kailyn had a few and we had one with their cousins. They seemed to have a blast.

Kailyn whispering to me in Boston that she knew the secret of what LMFAO was.
Laugh my fat a$$ off or Laugh my freaking a$$ off.  I wonder how long she has pondered what those letters meant and if she really knows what the F is? lol  If she does, she is really good at hiding it.  If someone has told her it was not us and she has not heard it in our presence. I told her to keep it a secret and not to tell anyone else. lol   It is impossible to hide my children from pop culture. Kailyn takes hip hop classes and it is around them all the time. Especially her.

My nephew asking me if Sam, "Customizes his Beyblades". He turned four in December.

Watching Keira learn how to use the Ipad. She is really good at her shape sorting game. It really impresses her teachers. She can barely talk, but can push and move complicated pieces into their right places.

Finishing up our paperwork for the Autism study.

Going to the Boston Museum of Science as a family. My kids favorite exhibits were the dinosaurs and the human body section. They could not get over looking at the real brains.

Going to Ikea (This is much more fun without kids though ;) )

Kailyn getting her bunny. It's annoying sometimes, but she loves Holly to pieces.

Being healthy over a vacation. The last one was a bust. We literally NEVER left the house. It was nice to be able to do things over the vacation.

The Never Ending Autism Study. But, it is all good!!

Here is the info on what we did via the NESCA website



Children's Hospital Boston Research on Autism Spectrum Disorders

Children's Hospital Boston has asked our help in recruiting families to participate in their ongoing research study of possible genetic and environmental factors in the causation of autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Participation will ordinarily require two hospital visits, the first generally lasting 4 - 5 hours and the second, about two hours, although these are estimates. Families may also choose to complete their involvement in a single, full-day appointment, from 9:00am - 4:00pm. Children's Hospital will validate parking for all participants, and families opting for the full day will also receive cafeteria meal vouchers.

Here's their information:

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Study at Children’s Hospital Boston

· Who we are

We are a group of doctors and researchers from the Developmental Medicine Center, the Division of Genetics, the Department of Neurology, and the Program in Genomics at Children’s Hospital Boston.

· What we study and its importance

We are studying ASD and related disorders in order to better understand why they occur, increase our ability for early identification, and find improved treatments and an eventual cure. Specifically, we collect information on children aged 18 months and up who are diagnosed with ASD and their families.

· Your involvement

Participation in this study involves two research visits at Children’s Hospital Boston. We interview all immediate family members, including the individual diagnosed with ASD. The data we collect includes general facts about developmental history, family history, and environmental information. We also collect genetic material from a blood or saliva sample in order to look for possible gene changes that may be related to ASD.

Shortly after the visits, families receive a research report of our observations that includes developmental, cognitive, behavioral and social findings.

If you are interested in participating or would like more information, please contact us at 1-866-982-5826 (toll-free) or 617-355-9152. You can also email us at ASDResearch@childrens.harvard.edu.

We were also sent home with homework and $120 worth of American Express gift cheques. $40 per kid.


And a little homework. These envelopes were stuffed full of info on all five of us. Asking questions on behavior and communication over and over again in different ways. Making sure we answered the question the same way every time.  This took about 2 hours.

I also got a one hour follow up call this week filling in any questions that were unanswered and agreed to do a 2 hour over the phone interview/ research study to help them come up with a form to better identify children with autism at regular pediatricians visits.

I have a feeling I will be asked to do more.  But, the more we can do as a family, the further I hope we can get the information we need to help identify and find treatments or cures for Autism.

Plus they have to tell us anything they find in our gene pool that is treatable. This is for our entire lives. We gave them permission to use our blood for any research studies they would like. We can either decide to participate in interviews/paperwork (or not) that are associated with new studies.


This was well worth it for our family in more ways than one and probably will not end for a long time.

Pure Joy is getting a bunny!

You have wanted for 3 years.

She started in on me when I was pregnant.

She was 7. I told her 10 years old.

I never thought she would turn 10. (In a month and a half)

She was told she would be responsible for her rabbit entirely.

I am not a huge animal lover, but my kids are.

She earned all the money to get the supplies and the rabbit.

The nice rabbit man gave her one of the gentlest bunnies he had.(Did not make her pay)

(I have no idea what kind. Just that it will be as big as my Mom's

dog Daisy. 8 pounds)

The bunny will stay inside until it gets warmer and then will stay in

a hutch out in our garage next to the heated side of the wall. She is too

young to be outside yet.

So: Introducing

Holly

The newest member of our family.

And her Mom:Kailyn

 Apparently, they were worried she would get lonely so they fell asleep in the Playroom. Sam did not find his accommodations very comfortable for long and woke up to move to the couch. The new unfinished playroom chairs just did not cut it. I then whisked him upstairs into his own bed. I then went and dragged Kailyn up to her room. Holly is in the cage with the blue blanket over it and a little opening.

Here's to hoping they calm down about the rabbit before vacation is over. ;)

A Big Thank You to Grammie and Grandpa for helping her research and taking her shopping for the supplies: I think ;)

Good Moms have sticky floors. A little of everything.

Sam    

     I really LOVE how Sam says some things the wrong way or labels objects incorrectly. Yeah, I probably should always correct, but once he gets it in his head it is hard to retrain him. For instance, he keeps calling R2D2, Wall-E. He won't back down. He calls Kailyn, "Kaiyn" and his reading teacher, "The work lady". He has a hard time remembering names. So, I try, but figure at some point he will get it. Until then, I will sit back and quietly chuckle. Also, note to self: I can't do first grade homework. I tried to help him last night and we got a horrible grade!! Here is a picture of my cutie when he was two! He was such a monkey and always climbing. Just like Keira now.

Someone was talking to Keira about getting a haircut.

1. She had no idea what they are talking about.

2. Why in the heck would I get her a haircut? They acted all shocked she has never had her hair cut. Why would I?

She is totally posing in this photo ;)

Here is a picture of my Dad holding Keira right after she was born. I am putting it here so I can find it for her ABA people identification program. I actually really love it though. It's perfection in my opinion.

My philosophy in life has changed a bit in the last few years. I used to sweat the small stuff. Then I was stuck. I did not know where to go. I could not live the life that I expected. This picture sum's up how I felt. I find this picture amusing! I have found my way if you were wondering ;)

This is my new philosophy after Autism, Type 1 Diabetes, Epilepsy, G-tube feeding and a blood clotting disorder  (that resulted in two pulmonary embolism's) entered my life. Yup, my house is way messier than I ever expected, but I don't care. It's clean, just messy a ton.

And just so a pretty picture of Kailyn is not left out: At camp last summer almost 3 years after her Type 1 Diabetes diagnosis.

On a Valentines Note

     I am pretty proud of my skills of putting together a duck taped tissue box for Valentines this am.-Ha ha. I did it in 3 minutes flat. I forgot that Kailyn's class was having her Valentines party a day earlier than the actual day. We remembered right before bed the night before. Seth went out to get the last minute supplies in the am and just happened to pick up the good kind of napkins that Kailyn volunteered to bring in. They came in an almost tissue box shaped box. I took the napkins out, used her HOT pink duck tape, wrapped the whole thing in it and decorated it with hearts, peace signs, and words of happiness using a sharpie. When she saw it she said, "Cool". She also proclaimed that her box was a lot cooler than other kids. It's the little things that make your kids really happy sometimes and for you in return as well.

    I was also able to get Keira her work space for ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) today.  I looked and looked online, but I could not find anything made of real wood. We have already had the fake wood type of tables and they lasted a whole year. This one is made of solid pine.  We got it at the Mill Store. It's unfinished "real" wood. Now I need to stain and paint it. I also have to convince Kailyn that her chair is not going to be Hot Pink. Maybe a Red close to Hot Pink? Sam of course wants his chair to be blue and Keira's captain chair is to be determined. The captain chair was purchased on purpose to help keep her on the chair. She gets wobbly on chairs without sides.  I do plan to stencil their names on them. ;)

My accomplishments of the day. Now for that laundry pile ;)