Michaels 1st day @ Pre-K

So he started pre-k today. Well, he was there for 1 1/2 hours. He starts full days on Monday. He found his friends and he was fine. he actually asked me (after about being there for about 1/2 hour) "Mommy, why are you still here?" This from the kid who wouldn't let me leave the classroom last year without getting upset. Well my baby is growing up!

He has to wear a uniform this year. The uniform is the smallest size but is still too big. He's ok with it but it drives me crazy. But what can I do?

His teacher is nice and we had a conversation as to what they will be doing this year and stuff. I guess I'll sign up for lunch duty and maybe a class mom. We'll see if they need me.

Here are a few photos......

Back to school giveaway

I am all for give aways. Especially when it will benefit my son. Who couldn't use a little freebie with school starting.

5 Minutes for mom is having an awesome giveaway. Go on over and check it out. There are so many amazing things you can win for your child and there is stuff for all ages and grades.

Click on the link.......
http://www.5minutesformom.com/3924/back-to-school-giveaway-event

With Mikey starting pre-school I can use all the help I can get! Couldn't you?

Good luck!

It's Monster Jam !

This weekend we took Mikey on a 4 hour car trip to go see Monster Jam. He loves his monster trucks and Mike wanted him to go again. He had gone in February (I think) in our area. This time he was at a track that normally holds NASCAR races so we had the opportunity to get closer to the trucks and we also go to go to the pit party. For those of you that don't know a pit party is where they line up the trucks and actually get to see them up close. He as so excited cause he didn't get to do this the last time.

We headed out Saturday afternoon for the trip. The show was on Sunday and we stayed at a hotel Saturday night to make sure that we were on time for Sunday. So Saturday we took him to pay miniature golf for the 1st time. He is no Tiger Woods but he had a ball. I also took him on a go-cart. He couldn't stop smiling once we started off on the track.

On Sunday, they threatened rain. Heavy downpours. Thank God it held off until we got to the car. Literally, 2 minutes after we got into the car the skies opened up.

here are some photos....

Photos

mikey has been doing so much since I last posted so until I can find the time to update you all....here are some photos

Strabismus surgery & snow

Ok so the 2 topics really have nothing to do with each other but that is what has been happening around here. As most of you know, Mikey has a condition called Strabismus (street name ~ Lazy Eye) which is defined as :

Strabismus is a condition in which the eyes are not properly aligned with each other. It typically involves a lack of coordination between the extra ocular muscles that prevents bringing the gaze of each eye to the same point in space and preventing proper binocular vision, which may adversely affect depth perception. Strabismus can be either a disorder of the brain coordinating the eyes or a disorder of one or more muscles, as in any process that causes a dysfunction of the usual direction and power of the muscle or muscles.

He had surgery this past Thursday to straighten his left eye out when he is wearing his glasses. Well he actually had surgery on both eyes. We had the surgery done at NYU. Thank goodness his Dr. is affliated with NYU. We are so familiar with the hospital so we felt more comfortable having it done there. And he is the most wonderful Dr. How many Drs. give you their cell # after surgery and say call anytime day or night. Not many. The surgery was on the same floor he had his palate surgery on. Heck, we even saw Dr. Cutting after he was finished with a palate repair!

The surgery was pretty simple and straight forward. It took about 1 hour ~ start to finish. They gave him what we call Happy Juice before surgery to relax him. He had it before cleft surgery too. Boy did it relax him. It made him down right loopy. He was slurring his words and had no control over his body.

I had to take him into the OR and stay until he was under the anesthesia. I squeezed myself into the surgical moon suit and lovely stylish headwear they gave me and took my only child into the OR and then left him. Now I had done this when he had palate surgery. Same moon suit, same head gear. But something was different this time. Maybe it was because he was older. Maybe because he will remember this one. Maybe because it wasn't Dr. Cutting working on him this time. I don't know. I can't really explain it.

Anyway, everything went fine. Once he was out of surgery and awake we were allowed to see him in the recovery area. This was the hard part. We knew from the palate repair that he is pretty cranky coming out of surgery. Hell, can you blame him? The Dr. had told us that his eyes would feel like there was an eyelash in his eye that he couldn't get out. UGH! That drives me insane. I can't imagine how it felt to him. All he did was cry and try to rub his eyes. Of course he wasn't allowed to rub them so it was a fight to get him to stop. We gve him cold wet towels to put on his eyes. That worked a little. The only combination of things that would calm him down was a shot of pain killer (I was about to ask for one myself LOL), a TV with a construction video, a couple of toy trucks he got to keep and a HUGE LifeSavers ice pop that the lovely nurses were kind enough to give him. Thank goodness for them. Who doesn't love the bearers of drugs, toys and sugar!

At that point he calmed down, sat on my lap, watched the video and ate his ice pop while we waited for the IV to finish. When the IV was done he was ready to go. Got him dressed and took him home with the only restrictions being we had to wait 24hrs to give him a bath, no swimming for 2 weeks and no eye rubbing. We also have to put a cream in his eyes before bed. He isn't too happy about that.

His eyes will be bloodshot for awhile and he has disolveable stitches in there. It will also take some time for his eyes to adjust and straighten out. But all that matters is that he is OK.

Here are a couple of photos of what his eyes look like. They aren't the best. I couldn't get him to sit still.

He was pretty uncomfortable that 1st day but the next day he was his old self. Just in time for the snow!

I've been a bad mommy....

I know I know...I have been AWOL for a LOOOOOOOOOOONG time. But I have a really good excuse(s) and if you need a Dr's note I can get you that too.



Mikey has been sick, on and off since before Christmas. There was a bad virus/cold going around and guess who caught it and caught it like it was the last out in the world series. There was pooping, throwing up, not eating anything....you get the idea. We were at the emergency room twice. And the Dr's office twice. Then on top of that HE GOT HIS VERY FIRST EAR INFECTION ~ followed by his SECOND EAR INFECTION. Anyone who knows me, knows that I was proud of the fact that he never had an ear infection. Especially since cleft affected kids are prone to them. Hell, cleft aside, most kids have had at least one ear infection by the time they are 3 1/2.



Now he is still sick and we went to the Dr. again today with the complaint of a cough that sounds like a seal on crack, a runny nose that would make Niagara jealous and of course pain in his ear. See where I am going with this one? Can you guess what I am going to say next. Yes~ his THIRD @^$*#!& EAR INFECTION. Time for a different round of antibiotics. Well this time the Dr gave me amoxicillin. I freaked when I got it from the pharmacy. I know it's very common to have an allergic reaction to penicillin (or anything ending in cillin). I'm allergic to it but I have no idea if he is. So I call the pharmacy and ask them what I should look for. This is what I was told.

"A mild allergic reaction would be a rash after about an hour. If that happens stop taking the meds (well DUH!) and call your Dr. ~ A serious reaction will be he has trouble breathing and if that happens call 911".

WHAT!?!?!?!? Are you kidding? He could have a reaction so severe that I need to call 911? I really didn't want to give it to him but I had to see if he was allergic and it was too late to get any other meds. Well, he is fine and not allergic so I have stopped freaking out about it and we shall move on. He is on 5 different meds (1 ear/1 eye ~ more on that in a second/1 nasal spray/1 cough/1cold). He is a walking pharmacutical company. Thank God for free samples or I would have had to empty my bank account for the co-payments!



On to the next medical issue. Mikey's eyes. He also contracted his 1st case of pink eye. i told you it has been a hell of a time around here. Also, his crossed eye isn't getting getting any better (or any worse for that matter) so the Dr wants to do surgery to loosen up the muscle. Ugh. It's only a 15 minute procedure per eye, he's doing both, and he will be completely asleep. The best part is it is being done at NYU. So that will be done on February 21st. Might just stop into the IRPS and see if I can schedule his 4 year appt while I'm there. It should be in May/June.

School is going really well. He is learning his numbers and shapes and colors (most of which he already knew) and making a lot of friends. Heck, even I'm making friends with the other moms so it's a win/win situation LOL.

So here are some photos starting with Christmas....

National Adoption Awareness Month

I had no idea that November was National Adoption Awareness Month. I found out through a blog a read http://mamaknj.blogspot.com/ who got it from http://www.lifeofelle.com/go-purple-for-november/.

Adoption is very special to me as you all know. Michael was adopted at a week old. He is the most special treasure Mike & I have ever received. After many years of trying we decided adoption was the route for us. And it was the best thing we could have done. Without the help and support of our family and friends we never could have made it possible.

Here is a link to our adoption profile that Michaels birthmom saw and chose us with. http://adoptionprofile.blogspot.com/. It was not easy to make, took many, many hours to complete (including a computer crash!) and I needed 12 copies but it got us Michael and that is all that matters.

So anyone thinking about adoption, on the verge of starting the process of adoption, or in the throes of it....I wish you all the best. And if you need someone to talk to or need some advice on domestic adoption please e-mail me.

"We look at adoption as a very sacred exchange. It was not done lightly on either side. I would dedicate my life to this child."

Jamie Lee Curtis~Adoptive mother

"However motherhood comes to you, it's a miracle."

Valerie Harper~Adoptive parent

Happy Halloween

Michael has been sick all week. He's still sick. This is not like him. He was a little better yesterday so I took him out trick-or-treating for about an hour. We met up with some friends and started off. Have you ever been trick-or-treating with 9 kids and 8 adults? On a major throughfare with tons of other people? talk about confusion. Half of us were on one block and half were on another block at any given moment. But it was fun.

I sent him to school yesterday because they were having a party. I didn't want him to miss out and like I said he was feeling better. I brought in homemade chocolate lollypops of ghots and pumpkins. I thought hey would be the best thing there. Boy was I wrong. Otherparents sent in candy, coloring books, stuffed vampires, stickers. I need to step it up for Christmas LOL!


Us girls went in our jammies as Rosemary's Baby (inside joke!) and had our hair in pigtails. The kids were everything from Ghouls to a Power Ranger. But I wish I had taken pictures of some of the people out there walking around. Do they not have mirrors in their homes? If you weigh 300lbs, dont walk around like you weigh 150lbs, thinking you look like a cute little fairy. You look like Shrek!

Anyway....here are some photos of Mikey