January 22 = My Birthday!

My family was going to come up this weekend for my birthday but because we are supposed to get 36 inches of snow, we've decided to postpone the celebration.  But I still had a lovely day.  First of all, Zachary had to go in for a little bit this morning but went in super early so he'd be home before the kids got up.  They did wake up before he got home but were content enough in their rooms that I was able to get some stuff done and wait for him to get home before getting them out of their rooms.  And he brought doughnuts!  I got a pink sprinkled one and the kids got blueberry doughnut circles.  So so good! Next, we signed Zachary up for the same membership at the gym that I have- he has had a lower tier membership because his gym time doesn't revolve around classes like mine does but I thought it would be neat for us to do yoga together so we did this morning!  It was a tough class taught by my favorite teacher, Donna, and she said he was a rock star when we left.  Not surprising.  Then we came home a few minutes later, Liam's physical therapist was there to do a session.  At the end of their session, everyone else on his team came over for his 6 month IFSP review.  It was very encouraging- they all said he's making a lot of progress, cognitively, socially, etc.  While we were having the PT session, Zachary left to get me Chickfila for lunch.  He also came home with this:

This is random but I saw this on FaceBook today and it made me laugh and you know how I love sharing things that make me laugh:

Malia and Liam both sampled my Edible Arrangement- I'm not a huge honeydew melon so we started them with that- they were both fans!  I think they liked eating off a stick more than the actual fruit but hey, whatever works.

We made Tex-Mex rice and nachos for dinner- so good.  And we really had a relaxing evening.  It had been snowing since the afternoon and Zachary decided to wait until lots had fallen to take the trash out.  And he decided to take his clothes off.  Don't ask me- I have no clue.

January 21 = Rough Day

I woke up this morning with all the time in the world... decided to have a casual day... made some chocolate chip waffles... took my time... checked my email, looked at Zachary's calendar to see what he was up to, and realized- oops!  Liam has an ophthalmology appointment in thirty minutes.  So I kicked into high gear and we got there a few minutes early!

Here are Liam's footprints out to the car:

When we got there, the receptionist said I needed the referral that I had been sent five months ago.  If someone paid me a million dollars to find it, I doubt I could.  So I got to try to call someone who could maybe fax it over.  In case you were wondering, trying to make a phone call in a room where it says in three different places "please take your phone calls outside," with two toddlers who needed their coats outside but now that we are inside and the heat is blaring, want nothing to do with them and want them off NOW, and starting eyes and bad signal and getting really hot yourself and Liam running into an exam room... during an exam... is not fun.  So by the time we were taken back to the appointment we had all had our fill.  Enter in doctor who wants him to put his chin here and his forehead there and let him hold something in front of one eye and oh, let's put drops in his eyes too!  Remind me to never, ever, take Liam to an eye appointment with Malia and without Zachary.  Nightmare.  The good parts: instead of a chart of letter for him to read off, they used pictures.  I was nervous that he wouldn't have words for the pictures they'd show him and therefore this appointment would be pretty pointless- but he did!  He did awesome!  Another good part of the appointment was the doctor looked for some problems in the eye that are connected with NF and they're not there. 


When we got home, it was "watch Caillou" time.  I abandoned the preschool plans for the day because although I've tried to put into words how stressful the appointment was, I don't think I've done it justice.  Here's Miss Malia dancing to the Caillou theme song:

Then we had lunch.  And then it was nap time.  For everyone.  When I came out of my room from my nap, I saw this:
 

 Those are curtain rods.  Here's what I found inside:

 Trouble maker.

January 20 = Feed Minnie Day

Sweet little Malia is such a nurturer. I'm convinced she's going to be a nurse.  Here she is feeding her little Minnie Mouse doll.

 And here's a FaceBook meme I found hilarious.  And wish I could say myself.

And... let the snow begin.  This is our skylight in our bathroom and as you can see, the upcoming blizzard got an early start.  I'm praying we don't get too much snow- being stuck in a house with toddlers isn't exactly ideal- but we'll make the best of it if it comes to that! 

January 19 = Shot Day

Since Dr. Modi went ahead and did Malia's 18 month well visit last week, today we just had to run in for one quick shot.  Here we are waiting:

She took it like a champ- she's such a tough girl- and this was the last shot she'll have to get until she's four!  Today's Tuesday so Zachary has class... this week is going to be crazy.  Tomorrow night, he's required to go to a women's basketball game and Thursday night he has a meeting at 6:00- he's not going to be able to come home before any of these nighttime commitments so it's going to be me and the babies on our own for basically three straight days.  But he's taking Friday off so ... there's a light at the end of the tunnel!  Also I have a cute story.  Liam's developed a new habit of finding any cup and filling it with water from the refrigerator.  Today, he brought a pretty full cup in the living room and spilled it in my lap.  He immediately went to the kitchen and got a towel and started drying me off.  Such a sweet boy!

January 18 = MLK Jr. Day

Since Zachary had to work every day this weekend and this was a long week- today, having nothing a free day off, is very much appreciated!  We started out going to the gym and I got some help with doing some new exercises- Zachary is so knowledgeable about good form and what muscle groups each exercise works and what weight I should start out with.  I had to snap a picture of this and I posted it on Snap Chat (which my brother and friend, Alexandra, have taught me to use...) with a caption of "big lifter" because they weighed 2.5 pounds each.  But hey- better than not going to the gym at all right??

Later, I had Liam try a new activity for our new week of at home preschool- putting beads into the holes of an old Parmesan cheese container.  This is a great exercise for fine motor skills and he did great!

We played with his sensory bin as well... can you tell our theme is green this week?

And later we had some sweet sibling time- they love each other!

January 15 = Movie Night

Zachary helped me find a new workout routine- there's a bodybuilding.com app called BodySpace and it has lots of different programs for lots of different goals... mine is to tone, not build bulk.  So the one we found is perfect for me- six different exercises that I do three sets of 12 reps each.  We started it last night and today I went to the gym while Zachary was at work and figured out all the machines myself!  I know how to use the weight machines with the pictures showing you what to do on the side- but these are the machines in the big, scary weight room.  Okay well I had to send him a couple of text messages clarifying some things but still!

Here's Malia leading the way- she refuses to be carried out of the gym now which makes leaving a tad bit stressful.  It's hard to corral these two little ones.

Later that night, we had our first ever family movie night!  A couple nights ago Zachary was humming a song in the movie Robin Hood and was quizzing me to see if I knew what movie it was from.  Since I've never seen the movie before, I did not know and so he insisted that I watch it.  I put a hold on it at the library and picked it up yesterday.  We popped some popcorn and sat together on the couch and watched the whole movie!  Liam got up a couple of times but for the most part they did really well and it was definitely a memorable night!

January 14 = Mommy & Malia Day

Liam was at the CDC today so Malia and I had a fun day together!  Obviously a fun day for us involves Target.  I have been in search of a headband that fits that will keep my hair out of my face when I work out and have bought probably 50- none of them stay on my head for longer than 2 minutes.  Here's the latest hopeful... Malia's trying it out for me here:

 On our way out to pick Liam up, Malia's hair went a little crazy.  It's not wind... just static!

January 13 = Try Scissors Day

Well today is preschool at home day three!  We did our normal routine without any pictures being taken but I did snap a picture of their picnic lunches.

Later, we tried to do an art project where Liam would cut red pieces of paper and then glue them into an outline of an apple.  I had a pair of scissors for him that had a little lever that made the scissors automatically pop back open- doing half the work for him.  I can't find them anywhere!  So I got a pair of blunt tip scissors for him but they were a little to difficult to use so we'll have to recycle this art project and use it later down the road when his fine motor skills have developed a little more.

January 12 = Prechool Day Two

My world is revolving around preschool at home right now so the titles of these blog posts may reflect that for a while...

Here are Liam and Malia playing with their sensory bin.  I threw some small red things in the bottom of this container and filled it with red rice and encouraged them to find the paperclips, crayons, and legos at the bottom.  They had lots of fun running the rice through their fingers and making a little bit of a mess.

This "homeschooling preschool" idea was mainly to benefit Liam but I think Malia may benefit a little bit too.  She's been talking so much- she says mama, dada, all done, bosh (which means paci), thirsty, uh-oh, yes, no, juice... there's probably more but that's all I can come up with at the moment.

Also, I have a funny story to share about Liam.  There's a pretty good consensus that Liam looks like me rather than Zachary but one thing he definitely inherited from his father is his mischievousness.  Last night, he woke up pretty late- around 11 and was pretty mad.  We went upstairs to make sure he was okay and he kept telling us he was hungry.  So we brought him downstairs for a snack.  As he was walking down the stairs he said "Ickey Ouse, Ickey Ouse" and we told him we would not be watching Mickey Mouse.  There's only so much Disney and Sprout TV a mom can take in one day.  So he immediately requested football.  He's done this several times- he knows that request is more likely to be honored.  He also asked for spaghetti by name- well his name for it: "ettie."  

January 11 = Preschool Day One

Let me start with another Facebook meme that I think is hilarious:

And now I'll tell you about our day!  We started with our morning routine: getting dressed, eating breakfast, brushing teeth and cleaning up Liam's room.  Then we did our inaugural "circle time."  It's more like triangle time if all three parties are engaged... but just go with me on this.  So we updated the day of the week, the date, and discussed the weather.  Our theme this week is "All About Red" so we read a book about colors- I've put a hold on some better books at the library but they haven't come in yet so we will have to settle for a book we already had- and then sang a song to the tune of "If you're happy and you know it," telling him to put his finger on his head if his clothes have any red- which I strategically ensured.   Then we did our matching folder:

 Malia decided to help.

And then it was time to go to the grocery store.  I usually go to the commissary on Sundays but Zachary worked all weekend and he thought he'd be able to go on his way home yesterday but didn't get off in time so I headed to this cute grocery store down the street- it's so nice and clean- and it had this cool cart:

Well they look innocent there but boy, oh boy.  They wouldn't stop fighting each other.  Liam was honking Malia's horn and Malia slapped his hand away and told him, "NO!"  So I moved Malia to the normal baby spot on grocery carts and that worked well for a while.  And then Liam discovered he could get out of the car.  So I calmly buckled him in.  Then he discovered he could still stick his arm out of the side.  And by doing this, he could knock over a whole row of hairspray.  Like fifty bottles of hairspray.  Or like thirty cans of Campbell's soup- ya know, whatever was in his reach.  So that was fun.  We checked out and I renewed my vow of never going grocery shopping with the two of them alone ever again.

Then it was lunch time!  Since both of them do so well eating at a little table at the CDC I decided to try it out at home:

They did great!  Then it was nap time and then I had to go to the pharmacy to pick up Malia's seizure medicine (her neurologist called me on his cell phone and had a conversation with me about her care instead of making me go all the way to the Bethesda) so that threw off my plans for the rest of the day but here's a picture of Malia after throwing her dinner on the floor:

January 10 = New Project Day

First I'm going to share a picture of my football fans- Liam's wearing his Packers jersey from Uncle Matty and Rachel and Malia's wearing Liam's first football jersey- the Redskins jersey.  They played tonight in a playoff game.  Zachary wore a Redskins shirt and I was wearing my Packers shirt so our house was divided!

But while I was watching the football game and cheering on the Packers, I also got to work!  Before Miss Malia had her seizure I had planned on not having a lot to get done tonight because I was going to space out the work to have a little each day but yesterday I did some research on different preschool curricula and today I started preparing for "homeschooling" preschool for Liam.  We had a behavioral specialist come to the house the other day and we were talking about how the CDC may not be so great for Liam after all.  It's wonderful for me because I need a break each week but as I mentioned before, a lot of things the CDC said they could do, they haven't done and so I really have to look at the CDC as a babysitting service, not an educational tool.  So from the conversation we had, Zachary and I had our own conversation and we decided it might be worthwhile for me to put that Education degree to use!  So I spent a lot of time looking at different objectives and methods and schedules and routines and tips and lots of stuff yesterday and then today started getting organized and gathering materials for the activities I'd planned.  Here's the big project that took a lot of printing, cutting, laminating, more cutting, and lots of velcro usage.  

And here's one activity we'll do tomorrow- I have matching pieces that he'll put in the correct place tomorrow:

So here goes nothing!  I hope that Liam enjoys all the activities I come up with and I hope Miss Malia gains some from all of this too!

January 9 = Recovery Day

We were up pretty late last night and both kids were up a couple of times during the night- and of course I had one ear open, so to speak.  So today we had a super lazy day.  I took this picture to share with the grandparents to let them know she was back to herself:

Liam was super sleepy all day- you can tell because this rarely happens:

 And I saw this on Facebook and thought it was hilarious and accurate.

January 8 = Seizure Day

Miss Malia gave us a scare tonight.  Zachary has had a lot of time off recently and he just went back full time today- and by full time I mean early, early in the morning until late tonight.  So around 8, I was putting the kids down for bed and looking forward to getting some cleaning done.  It was time to brush teeth and so I got Liam started- I brush his teeth and then let him do his own thing while I brush Malia's teeth.  Well- Malia didn't want her teeth brushed.  However- sometimes as a parent you have to make sure your kids do things that they don't want to do if it's good for them.  Unfortunately, I can't explain this to Malia so she proceeded to get really, really angry.  We've had an episode before where she's gotten really upset and held her breath and basically passed out but this time, she had a seizure.  Being a seizure expert at this point (ha) I knew to time it.  At 30 seconds, I just knew it would be over really soon.  When it lasted over a minute, I was really surprised.  At about the 45 second mark I called 911.  I just knew it would be over by the time the phone call was over and I'd still have them evaluate her and probably end up going to the hospital but the seizure kept going and going.  For six minutes.  The worst part was, I had to go unlock the door.  I was on the third floor so I asked the dispatcher if I should take her with me or leave her on the bathroom floor.  I had to leave my seizing baby on the bathroom floor to open the door and that may have been the hardest thing I've ever had to do.  We happened to be FaceTiming my parents at the time so they got to experience the whole thing.  My mom said later that she was amazed at how quickly I got up and down the stairs- I was back before she thought I could have made it just down the stairs.  Then I realized I wasn't sure where Liam was so after I got eyes on her and saw she was still breathing- still seizing but still breathing- I started calling out for Liam and right after that I heard my mom yelling that she had stopped.  I picked her up and went downstairs as the EMTs got there. I met them at the door but ended up going back up to the middle floor. I held her while they took her vitals and then was thinking since it was a six minute long seizure I wanted her to be evaluated at the hospital and maybe speak to a neurologist so then I started thinking- while giving Malia's medical history to the EMT- I better figure out what to do with Liam.  And maybe I should call my husband.  Thankfully my dad had already got in touch with him so he knew what was going on so then we just had to discuss what we should do.  He left from the Naval Academy and went straight to the hospital while I drove Liam in the van.  

By the way- during all of this- Liam was standing in front of the TV watching Caillou oblivious to all of the lights outside and all of the people inside and all of Malia's screaming at the top of her lungs.  It was quite impressive.

We beat the ambulance there and Zachary beat us there so the three of us waited for Malia to get there.  Seeing her cute little face roll in was the highlight of my day.  The nurse who was going to be working with her was getting the story from me and when she saw her come in she looked at her and then did a double take and couldn't believe how cute she is!  We got her vitals again and then waited and waited.  Finally, we saw a doctor out in the hallway- there were no rooms available.  He was very nice and reassuring.  He admitted they didn't have much of a pediatric neurology department so he suggested we see her pediatrician on Monday and get in touch with her neurologist.  So there wasn't a great deal done at the hospital but I just had to go and have her checked out.  He said she looked great and that she'll probably be President one day.  We headed home and even though it was really late, had some sweet family time and just reflected on how blessed we are.

January 7 = New Clothes Day

One of Zachary's fellow cohort members, Jim, and his wife, Kam, are very generous in giving us their daughter's clothes that she's outgrown.  I was going through them and since they're all 3T it'll be a while before they'll fit but she found this hat and gloves and they fit now- she loved them!

Also- I have proof that I haven't been to Target in a while- I thought it was pretty funny when my phone decided to let me know Target misses me.  I'll have to go before too long... I'm going through withdrawals.

January 6 = Malia's a Big Girl Day

We went to the gym tonight- like most nights.  I really want to figure out my schedule so that I can take the kids to the gym during the day and we can all be at home at night and have some good quality family time.  But we're not there yet so we went tonight.  Usually when we come to pick them up, Liam gets super excited and gives us big hugs and Miss Malia isn't far behind.  But when I came in today, Malia was sitting at the table coloring like such a big girl!

January 5 = Waffle Day

My wonderful brother-in-law got a waffle iron for me and Zachary and so we tried it out this morning.  Oh my goodness- so good- especially with the blueberries and strawberries.  Yum, yum, yum!

I've been fighting a sinus infection for several weeks now and Zachary has been so amazing watching the kids while I sleep off the terrible headaches.  However, he went above and beyond when I had gone to bed and he stayed up a little later and Miss Malia decided to wake up very upset.  He snapped this picture of his little snuggle bug who wasn't feeling very well and needed some TLC.

January 4 = Drop Off Car Day

When we bought the Toyota Sienna, we added on a fabric protection plan.  Our floors and seats have been dirty for a while now so we finally made the call and the appointment to take it in to get it cleaned.  Zachary and I both drove to the dealership in Bowie- over a 30 minute ride- and then rode back together in his Volkswagen Passat.  He loves driving the kids in his smaller car because we are all so close together.  I got this cute picture of Liam taking his shoes and braces off:

and this video of Malia, being Malia:

January 3 = Fantasy Football Day

Tonight, the Packers play the Vikings and this is the final game of Zachary's fantasy football championship games in both leagues- he plays in the league we have with his dad and brother and my dad and brother.  He's playing against his brother in our league.  But he also plays in a league with his fellow LEAD cohort members and he's in the running to win that league as well- they're a bit more competitive than the family league.

Also since my favorite team, the Packers, are playing I thought it'd be fun to make some yummy snacks.  We made buffalo wings and a frozen pizza- Zachary had some ginger ale with a kick mixed in.

Spoiler alert- the Packers lost but Zachary is the champion of both fantasy football leagues!