Now A Family of *gulp* Six.

Today we had our first appointment with a psychologist to talk with Roman. We explained to Roman that we want to become a "less yelling family" so that's why we wanted to talk to a man who can help us. We were there almost 2 hours, and Ro did pretty well. What appeared to first be long drawn-out small talk (which on one hand, it was) was the dr's way of watching Roman play, interact with us, get bored, etc. The psych's reactions were the following: 1. Roman is ahead of development in vocabulary, communication, math, & reading. In other words, "a very bright boy." Honestly, we thought this all along but wondered if it was just because we're his parents. No, he assured me, he could be on the "advanced" end of things. 2. As a result of #1, it's possible all these issues are because Roman is bored at school. 3. We will do more observational testing for ADD/ADHD (forms for teacher and each of us to fill out) but his initial reaction is,...

I wondered how long it would be before I forgot to take a picture each day. Apparently only 23 days! I missed last Thursday's, but luckily made it up on Friday as it was more of a "staged" photo. It's not been real hard to come up with a picture a day - it actually gives me some freedom to snap away as I would normally like to. In the past I would take a picture and think, "how will I scrap this one photo?" And I've caught myself not taking pictures at some places because I didn't want to have yet another event to scrap. Which totally defeats the purpose of the hobby. The 365 project is replacing my events this year, I think. Of course I will still have to scrap the big stuff - birthdays and the like - but now I won't feel bad that I haven't scrapped some events, because there will be some basic documentation of our life in the 365 album. I'm also excited because Becky Higgins , the woman who designed the original kit (which sold out in h...

It's the end of the semester, which makes me busier than normal. I also took advantage of Doug's being home to stay late a couple days and catch up and plan ahead at work. I have missed my routine of the computer, though, I haven't truly spent time with it in 48 hours. I think it could be bad that I missed it so much, huh? I haven't named the computer yet. I have been wanting to crow about the fact that Roman is doing a fantastic job reading the last few weeks. He is very proud of himself, although when presented with slightly challenging words he tends to give up. If it's not a "word wall" word he gets flustered. However, he read the book " The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear " in its entirety to me the other night. We also have introduced "Dick & Jane" and I noticed that he concentrates so hard on the words, he's not getting the comprehension of the story. He does like to do it, though. He also ...

We have a new president now, and I'm fine with that. I feel like such a minority sometimes, being middle of the road. I like Obama, really. I also like McCain. I don't like the Clintons, but thank goodness that didn't have to come into play. I surprise myself with how dispassionate I feel about politics. In fact, more and more people who get all wound up about it irritate me, no matter what party they are. If supposedly Obama has gotten people more involved in the political process, I find myself growing more laissez-faire about it. The election didn't surprise me - after 8 years of a Republican the country was bound to swing the other way. I didn't see it as a big "race" or anything, I figured the outcome. And when talking to some coworkers, a couple who are very politically-minded, I was kind of surprised, I guess, that they felt it necessary to be all passionate and working the polls. How strange for a Social Studies teacher to feel that way. I think t...

So the birthday party happened, 2/3rds of it anyway. Doug's parents and my brother & family made it, but my parents were still suffering from lake-effect snow and had to turn back. And then I, shocker of shockers, didn't charge my battery and only got a couple shots of the birthday in action! But here are two cute ones. Can you believe the look of anticipation on Charlie's face in that first one?! He was too funny, he picked off and licked all the frosting first, and then mashed up and ate the cupcake. Pretty cautious too; I mean, he did end up with frosting all over, but it was nothing like his brother's of 5 years before where we had to bathe him for all the chocolate frosting in his hair. But today back to "almost" normal. I decided not to attend meetings at work and stayed home to ease Doug into his new job as "house frau," aka unemployed dad. And for the history books, this is what a man looks like when he's filing for unemployment onl...

There were a couple frightening moments when I thought we wouldn't get to this day. But here we are, one year after January 17, 2008 , and we are celebrating Charlie's first birthday. There is something significant about getting a year "past" something, especially something traumatic. Charlie's birth was not an evening of celebration; rather, I felt some relief, quite a bit of sadness, and a lot of worry. In fact, when looking for a picture taken on his day of birth, I decided I couldn't post it. I couldn't even stand to see them. He had the CPAP up his nose and frankly looked like a wax figure. Instead, I chose one of my favorites from the day after he was born - the first time I was allowed to hold him. Charlie: 3 lbs, 8 oz. 30 weeks' gestation. Charlie: 22 lbs, 3 oz, 12 months old! Today was a quiet day. Our birthday party was a bust due to weather; neither set of grandparents, nor my brother & family, could make it because of the snow. We have...

We want to. Really. We want to buy chairs at the La-Z-Boy Galleries, which are all closing and clearancing everything. Would love to "make our best offer" at the local pool, spa, and billiards store. We were itching to take advantage of IKEA's unprecedented sale (kitchen cabinets at $19.99 each?!). But we just can't do it. Why? Because we're going to Disney World! No, really. We are. Spring Break. Well, that's the plan. There are many sub-plans, depending on the layoff situation and how well I can resist the siren call of the sales as we move toward Spring. But we had planned this over a year ago; we stuck the money away into a vacation account and haven't touched it. The first week of November, before all this auto *crap* began, we made reservations with a coworker's connections at a resort just outside WDW. Our minds and hearts committed. And after some long talking, decided we're still going to do it. We purchased airline tickets and made reserv...

Charlie now has 4 teeth. His top 2 have broken through (at the same time, poor guy!). Thinking he's got his Mama's teeth, as they look awfully big and could definitely be buckteeth at a future date. His digestive system is struggling with his antibiotics, and someone at church recommended giving him baby probiotics to counteract the loss of bacteria. Picked some up today and he received his first dose tonight, so fingers crossed the "liquid farts" as we call them, can now not cause such a big rash. Detailed enough for you, gentle readers? (Charlie in calmer, happier times) We have been increasingly frustrated with lack of communication from a psychology service that we contacted (in September!) for an evaluation of Roman. Our insurance only covered a small amount of places, but even though we have called them 3 different times and talked to various people, we have never gotten an actual appointment. Doug finally did more research and found a psychologist in our town ...

Today around 4am is the one year anniversary of the harrowing journey I like to call, "get that baby out of my body before it kills me - wait - no, leave him in!" It was a year ago today that I entered bedrest at Beaumont Hospital and life spun out of control. So. A year ago I was on magnesium drip and a fetal monitor; today I went to church, shopped at Kroger, and cooked breaded chicken for dinner. A year ago I laid in a hospital bed listening to Charlie's heartbeat on a monitor for hours; today I played "Noah's Ark" with him and sang "Wheels on the Bus." All in all, certainly glad to be in 2009. Yesterday was a day of ultimate thrills. I had been doing research for a field trip for school on Friday when I saw that Henry Ford Museum was doing a Star Wars-themed day to celebrate the last day of their "Out of This World" costume exhibit. We immediately changed plans around so we could get there - even a winter storm dumping 5 inches on us...

Charlie is on the brink of yet another ear infection. I took him in this afternoon as the followup from the 4th round of antibiotics. We knew he was clear because we had audiology testing last week at Beaumont and they said his ears were free of fluid and top of that, his hearing was above-normal (he heard more tones than they expected) for a baby his age. Perfect. So I took him in and Dr. noted his crusty nose right away. Well, I reported, we returned to daycare and we figured he just had the "daycare disease." But, true, his appetite was decreased yesterday and today. And he still claws at his left ear every once in awhile, but figured that was being tired. Well. Right ear "bloodshot" and left ear got an "oh, shoot." It was red with a bit of fluid. She said if it was a normal case, she'd tell us to wait a few days to see what happens. Being that we just finished with a marathon antibiotic treatment, she gave us 2 things - more antibiotics & a ref...

Jan. 1, 12:01 am Jan. 2 - revisit the NICU Jan. 3 - Christmas with dad's side Jan. 4 - Roman goes "fishing" in my parents' staircase Jan. 5 - back to school (the daily schedule for the students) Jan. 6 - boys playing around Jan. 7 - we tried out the CD "No!" by They Might Be Giants, and Roman couldn't stop giggling at the song "I Am Not Your Broom."

I don't usually have January blues. But a lot has been thrown at us the past couple months, and 2009 doesn't seem to look better. And I'm just feeling... blah. From previous bouts, I'm pretty sure I've stumbled into a depression. Which is interesting. It's interesting to know the symptoms, realize I have them, and not care. Or know that I am in it, but can't get out of it. Know what I should do, but don't want to do. Even when I say things, I know I'm being totally melodramatic and it's because of my mental state. I even joke about it, which is odd too. I was talking to Doug in a "woe is me" state and finally I said, "don't you see? Everything is horrible, nothing goes right..." in my most dramatic fashion. I even know that I sound melodramatic. But I can't stop feeling that way. So. It could be the impending one-year anniversary of when my world turned upside down. Could be the housing problem and realizing we'...

The start of 2009! I'm kind of grumpy today, not sure if it's just that kind of day, or I'm tired, or what. We had fun with friends last night who we usually spend New Year's Eve with. We played Settlers, of course, 2 games - Doug won one, and Nicole won one. I had a hard time staying up, in fact dozed off a couple times between 11:30 and midnight. But, we made it to watch the ball drop and welcome the new year. I was promptly in bed by 12:10am. To start the year I am going to participate in Project 365 . Basically, taking a photo a day (or more than one, and narrowing it down or collaging them) for an entire year. It's been around for awhile but in a magazine I get there was a layout template on how to showcase each week's photos so in the end, you have a completed album. So I'm intrigued to see what I end up taking pictures of.