The first part of Matt's birthday celebration was going to La Cocina- yet another place I must go when I come to NC. Here's Liam walking in with Mimi. It used to be Grammy but he calls her Mimi so that's what we're going with.
My mom made the same cake for Matt as I did for Zachary a few weeks ago- delicious!
Matt let Liam try on the hat- he was a fan.
Malia got to spend some time with her great aunts, Deanie & Lynn.
After lunch, we went home, got the kids down for naps and relaxed for a little bit before heading to Raleigh for Matt's birthday dinner! Grace had left after lunch to make him another cake so we met her and her parents and her brother at this cute little restaurant. She brought sparkling cider and root beer since Matt is not interested in drinking alcohol- what a smart one he is.
Malia liked the cake!
I won't go into all the details of sleeping when we're not at home because I don't like complaining and that's all I've got when dealing with that subject. Let's just say Malia was up early and enjoyed looking at the Christmas tree. Since Daisy's crate is so huge, we decided we didn't have room for one and since we weren't going to be home for Christmas anyway, we decided not to get one this year. So it made Malia's discovery this morning that much more special. She was intrigued for sure.
Matt still had a headache from all of Malia's screaming yesterday in the car so I asked my mom if she would accompany me for an outing. First, we went to Light Years, this amazing jewelry store in Southpoint Mall. One of their locations is on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill and I used to go there all the time. Now, I try to visit when I come to NC because they have so many neat things. So we went there first and then headed to McAlisters- another if at all possible must stop when I'm in NC. We went to get him out of the car and he had spilled his juice all over his lap. So we got back in the car and went across the street to Buy Buy Baby to get him some pants. I always travel with diapers, wipes and extra clothes for both kids but when my dad and brother helped unpack the car last night, they got put inside. Thankfully I had an emergency stash of diapers and wipes so I only needed to get pants. So we got him changed and while I could have stayed and done the shopping I was planning on doing in Buy Buy Baby, I was so hungry so we went back to McAlisters and I enjoyed my bacon spud. I got the kids a cheese pizza and some Hi-C. They loved it! They drank out of the straw like pros and ate their whole pizza. Then we headed back to Buy Buy Baby and my mom sat in the car with the kids while I ran in and got a couple of Christmas presents for the kids. I hit Barnes & Noble next and then we headed home.
We were gone for so long that my dad got home from work soon after. We got a family meal from KFC for dinner- my dad always makes sure the kids get (more than...) enough to eat.
Matt's birthday is Saturday and while we were talking on the phone last night he offered to come pick us up. He drove five hours up, came inside, refilled his water bottle, helped finish packing up the car and we headed back. I would have never predicted this but Liam actually slept a little and Malia didn't.
At one point, Malia started screaming. We changed her, fed her, gave her something to drink, gave her toys, tried everything, but there was nothing we could do to make her stop. Matt, not used to this level of noise, got a headache so I started driving and he used some noise canceling headphones. While they were not quite a match for Malia's pipes, they did help but I missed a turn at some point. Zachary said there's a spot coming down where the GPS signal is really weak and it's confusing so he thinks he knows exactly where I went wrong but it ended up taking over seven hours and Malia screamed for the last four. Matt definitely got more than he bargained for!
I can't believe I didn't blog about this a couple of weeks ago- maybe I did and I'm just missing it but I took Liam to the doctor a few weeks back because he had had a cough for a while and even though he didn't have any other symptoms I just wanted to get him checked out. Well, he proceeded to have a melt down. For the whole appointment. He was opening and closing the door to the exam room and I let him do it for a while but at a certain point I decided he had done it enough and it was time to leave the door closed. Well, he didn't appreciate my assessment so he had a fit. Enter the moment in parenting where you wish you could take back the decision you just made because it's totally not worth it but there's no turning back now. So he screamed and he screamed and he screamed. And the doctor eventually came in- Liam's regular doctor, Dr. Modi, doesn't work on Wednesdays so we saw someone else- and had this look on his face like "party's over, I'm here now and he'll listen to me for sure." Well Liam didn't listen to him either and continued to scream. I had put in my message requesting an appointment that I wanted to talk about the cough but also some behavioral issues. Liam just decided to help me out and showcase the behavior issues I was talking about! The doctor made sure his lungs were fine and said the cough should go away soon and that he'd talk with Dr. Modi, and they'd find me help. I was relieved and hopeful but that didn't take away from the fact that I had to transport a screaming three year old through the clinic, down an elevator, through the pharmacy and out the door. I calmly got him outside ignoring all of the glares I was getting, got him in the car, buckled him in got in the front seat and bawled my eyes out. It was exhausting. And frustrating. I don't care that people were staring at me; I'm not embarrassed that I have a three year old who had a tantrum- it happens to everyone. But just trying to speak over his screams to the doctor and just worrying about Liam's future- I know that his frustration stems from him not being able to express himself and who knows how long that's going to be a problem for him. So I cried and cried. And drove home and waited for a call. He didn't call the next day like he promised. Or the next. I surely wasn't expecting a call over the weekend so I sent an email to Liam's education coordinator through the Child Find program to see if she was aware of any resources. I heard back from her immediately- she recommended the BEST (Behavioral/Emotional Support & Training) program. So I called the contact she had and talked for a while and this program seemed like a great fit. There's a waiting list and lots of paperwork to fill out although I think I could fill out the paperwork in my sleep. But as I was filling out the paperwork, I realized that perhaps the caregivers at the CDC might be able to give some insight that I was able to. While I don't witness him interacting with other kids, maybe they do. And maybe he's more cooperative with them and maybe he follows their directions. So I wrote an email and found out who was best to send it to. I heard back from them today and it was not what I was hoping for. It was the opposite, in fact. I was upset because when he turned three, I was hesitant to move him up to the preschool room- I wanted to keep him in the toddler room a little longer but they assured me if it wasn't a good fit, they'd let me know. Zachary was giving an exam tonight so I called someone else I know I can lean on, my brother. I started talking to him about all the people I'd called and emailed and talked to and just how frustrated I was and he let me talk and listened earnestly and it was just what I needed. And then after I talked it all out and calmed down, he asked if I'd like him to drive up to Maryland and pick me and the kids up and bring us back down to North Carolina so that we could be with him on his birthday. He thought it'd be good for me to get away and have other people around - Zachary's pretty busy with the end of the semester. So when Zachary got home, I asked him what he thought and I think he was foreseeing uninterrupted football games and sleep and encouraged me to go. So we'll be leaving tomorrow afternoon- now that the school system is going on winter break soon, there won't be anything I can get done anyway. But when I do get back and school is back in session, we will hit the ground running and get some help for my little man.
Oh my goodness. So there's this little girl at the CDC who gets so excited every time I bring Liam in. When we open the door and she sees it's him she will announce it to the class and come over to him to say hi. I asked her what her name was last week so that I could bring her up at home just to see if Liam would respond to it. One of the developmental questions I'm always having to answer at doctors appointments and such is "can your child name a friend," and I've always said no because he's never named anyone except for Malia (who he calls Lala). So I thought maybe if I knew a name it would be helpful. Anyway- Maddy did what she always does- she's taken Liam under her wing I think. So I had to ask the front desk lady some questions but when I came out and was ready to leave- I saw this on the playground! As I was walking to my car, they were going down the slide together. She went first and then stood at the bottom waiting for him to come down and then they held hands and walked over to where some other kids were playing. This warms my heart so much to know there's another child in his class that takes care of him and enjoys spending time with him!
Malia has learned how to say uh-oh! Isn't she cute??
Today was the last dinner we had for the mids and it was my favorite! But I'm getting a little ahead of myself. Zachary gave Daisy a bath so that she'd be enjoyable to play with- these mids love Daisy. She was super cold even after he dried her off really well so we put her coat on and bundled her up in a blanket- she got so warm she fell asleep.
We've become pros at providing a taco bar for lots of people so that's what we did again. This was my favorite dinner yet because it was the company leadership that came over and so I've met most of them and they actually had conversations with me so I felt like instead of just being the childcare provider and making sure everything was well stocked, I was a part of the group!
Later, we put Malia to bed and Daisy stood watch outside her door. She quickly became an important member of our family!
