Back to school 2011!

Kindergarten orientation yesterday

Trevor and his teacher

Stephen was up and out the door early yesterday!

Ryan woke up all smiles, but then when it was time to leave for school you can see how his attitude changed, sigh!

At school, he did get his happy back, thank goodness!

It's only 5 more hours till I see them. I know I will get used to this, but it is so quiet in the house without my little chatterbox Trevor. Trevor and I tend to do almost everything together, whether I am going grocery shopping, clothes shopping, PTA meetings, driving the other kids to an activity, he is usually by my side.

I was kinda an obnoxious mom today, i went inside the school and walked Trevor to class, OH NO!! Yes, there were the Annie dolls supposedly ready to lead the kindergartners to their classes, but I overheard several kids, oh scratch that, I OBSERVED several kids almost interacting with the Annie dolls (the people holding the Annie dolls had their work cut out for them trying to get the kindie kids to tell them what teacher they have so they could direct them! When my other two went to school they had those green sheets safety pinned to the back of their backpacks, so everyone in the school knew the kindies, and the teachers could look on those sheets to know where the kids was supposed to be going. Yes, the green sheets were a pain in the A - I mean butt, but it was kinda funny and cute to see the kids with their green sheets. (Great photo op too!).

So, I was going to go to a Mom's photography group meet up, but I am not feeling like ventruing out into this weather and I almost feel like I should be sittng by the phone just in case they need me for something, what if Trevor won't talk and they need a translator, or what if he starts crying and wont stop. Yes, I know those teachers deal with the kids who have a hard time every year and I know they are good at it, but I still am having a hard time going about my day.

There were a couple kids crying in Trevor's class when I dropped him off. I felt so bad for them. I was relieved that Trevor seemed ok. You never know if you are going to get the super shy Trevor, or the boisterous mischevious Trevor in these type of situations (he was kind of a selective mute the first few months of preschool). So I am hoping it is somewhere in between those two personalities!

Ryan had a good first day, but he is not much of a talker, so can't say much more than that!

Stephen made it to the bus on time and other than not telling me about how he lost his calculator last year (only found out about that a couple of days before school started), as well as his gym locker LOCK got stolen (which begs the obvious question, if you are using your lock and LOCKING it, how could it get stolen?? He too is not much of a talker, so I can only say that after asking tons of questions, things seem good in 7th grade so far!

Now, I need t go blare some music, run around the house dancing or whatever else I can do now that I have the house all to myself till 3:15!!

End of July means Trevor's 5 and back to school is right around the corner

It's been quite a July! As August/back to school started getting closer and closer during the month of July, I got more and more anxious! It meant that my baby was getting closer to turning 5, and it meant that I would be alone all day Mon -Friday from 9:00 till 3:00 when my baby started kindergarten.

Needless to say Trevor is ready for school, but I am not! I've been dreading his going to kindergarten for months. I can tell he really misses the routine of school and he misses seeing his friends and teachers. So we started in the past 2 weeks doing some back to school stuff. My first accepting act of "back to school" was buying Trevor a lunch box (Buzz Lightyear - to the rescue). It was on clearance for 3.00 and Iw as tempted to walk away and pretend I didnt' see it, but I do love a bargain and Trevor does love Buzz!!

I also have been to JC Penny, Gap, Kohl's and other stores and have been getting back to school clothes. Last year I really didn't do much for back to school clothes shopping, but this year I didn't have much choice. Stephen has grown 1 1/2 inches in just 3 months and none of his pants fit, and many of his shirts would have left his belly hanging out, so we needed to get some clothes for him. And then I set up a portrait session at Sears for Trevor's 5th bday pics and of course I needed a new outfit for that and so one thing led to another and before you know it, I have myself some very stylish outfits for da boys!

I also ran across some sales for school supplies at Meijer. they ahd folders at a ridiculously low price,s o I threw a bunch in my cart. I had no idea what colors or how many I needed, but at that price I just tossed in a few dozen and hoped I had the folders covered!

Even though back to school shopping and plannning for the upcoming school year has begun, we are trying to relax and enjoy the last few weeks of summer.

Highlights of July 2011:

Trevor turned 5! Yikes! - We had a "Wet and Wild" / "turtle" themed party with 12 4-6 year olds in the back yard! It was very hot and humid that day so the parents were really sweating it out, but the kids had a blast! Turtle cupcakes, turtle pinata, and we found a turtle on the way home from shopping the day before the party, so he became our mascot!

The Wet and Wild apsect of it was the baby pool filled up and I put small toy boats in it and we put water guns and super soakers out, we had a sprinkler going, played pint the turtle on the submarine, musical chairs and had a water balloon toss, then a water balloon fight. It was great for Trevor to see some of his "turtle friends" (the preschool has all the classrooms represented by a mascot - animals/bugs such as turtle room, snail room, bumblebee, deer room, cat room, etc - Trevor was in the turtle room - another reason for our "turtle theme"!

It was a great kids party! We also set up a family and friends party for the boys on the next day for Stephen and Ryan's summer birthdays (I invited over 55 people and only Mike's parents came). It was very dissapointing! I don't understand why the closest relatives who try to come to all the boys parties dont tell me when they are getting conceert tickets or theater tickets or are going to be on vaction on the day of Trevor's bday. For 4 years they have been to parties the weekend closest to his bday and knew I would probably have his party that weekend. I could have and would have picked another date if a few of the people had told me about the conflict - if they even let me know right when the got the invite almost 3 weeks before the party I might have tried to reschedule. Stephen was pretty disappointed as we still haven't even had a freind sleeep over back in June for his bday and this was gonna be the nice celebration.

In addition to bday celebrations, we also got a trampoline! Friends in the neighborhood wer moving to CA and needed to get rid of it, and so we drove down the street at 3 miles an hour with a humongous trampoline balanced precariously on the top of the van!

We also have a turtle. Not sure if we will keep him or not as I am not sure how happy he is in the fish tank and can't tell if he is eating much. He was trying to cross liberty and we ran over him (the car went over him, but no wheels touched him so he was fine). I turned around parked and waited to go get him while traffice kept passing. right now he is on my island, and the tank is heavy witht he water and rocks in there. Not sure I wnat a turtle on my kitchen island indefinitly so I think at the end of the summer we will release him into a close by retention pond.

Other exciting news for July:

let's see - Stephen and Ryan went to a follow up ortho consult. (follow up from last year). Stephen is ready for braces and will have braces for back to school!

Stephen went to boy scout camp. First time he has been away at camp. (My first experience of him not being with me for more than 2 nights since his stay at my aunts a few years back - and that was with a relative!)

Lots of fun baseball as the baseball season ended! Stephen had a lot of fun and as far as Ican tell, I am pretty confident that he had the best batting average. He did very well as a pitcher and won most of the games he pitched in. I had fun watching and I didn't miss any games except for one while stephen was away at camp. I even went to one of his games even when he wasn't at the game! Yes, I am a true "baseball mom!"

I also took a photography class from Wabonsie college. I really enjoyed it and it has sparked my passion for photography. I am joining a few photography groups and hoep to make some ther photography lovers!

Some "Not So Exciting" news in July:

The summer months have also been filled with some less than exciting news from Doctor visits. Trevor has been to the opthamologist and the patching of his eye has caused his good eye's vision to deteriorate. now we are no longer patching the eye. Not sure long term what will happen but surgery could be in his future.

Ryan had his first endocrinologist visit. That boy doesn't eat hardly anything. Now my baby that was diagnosed as failure to thrive is "fatter" than my middle son. Ryan is not even on the charts for weight, and only 3% of the nation for height. We had some bloodwork done and he is showing some results that make the endo doc tell us to make an appt with a gastroenterologist. I've started supplementing his food with proteinex and we are pushing the pediasure shakes again too. He is very picky and loves to eat fruits and some veggies, not much in calories and no protein in his favorite foods, so we are trying to figure out how to get some wieght on him. He is 9 years and wears shorts that are a size 5 with an adjustable waist. For pants I have to get him skinny jeans - and a size slim with an adjustable waist in a size 7 to get them long enough. If only floods were in fashion or if he were a girl I could let him wear size 5 pants and call them capris!!

Stephen is now taking aromatase therapy medication. He has had such a great growth spurt, but doc is worried about him going through puberty too fast and his bones fusing before he has had a chance to grow to his potential, so aromatase therapy will keep the bones from closing and he can continue to grow. He was at Edwards for Growth hormone stym test and his levels are fine, so no growth hormone therapy for him. He is already taller than me! I hope he keeps growing at the current pace, well actually maybe not quite a tthis pace. I'd have to keep buying him new clothes and shoes!

Okay, so now its on to August! 19 more days till school starts, but who's counting!

Ryan now the leader in lowest growth stats

Ryan is now a patient at the endocrinologist office. Our doctor now has all three boys as patients. After taking his height and weight, I was a little sad to learn that he has lost weight since his April weigh in at the Ped office. In April, he wieghed in at 48 lbs and was 48 and 1/4 inches. He is now 46 lbs and 48 1/2 inches. Basically he is under the 1 percent for weight and under 3% for height. Trevor now has better stats than Ryan, sigh!

ryan has been an even pickier eater than normal. In a country with so many kids fighting obesity, I have kids fighting me to eat much of anything. I don't have to worry about my son getting enough fruits and veggies. He likes them! He just doesn't seem to like much protien based food!

Ryan is in PT for low tone and pronation issues. He is the most sedentary kid I know and I have been on a mission to find some kind of activity where he can get some type of exercise or acticity that doesn't require a game controller. Ryan is taking a Kung Fu class. So far I think he likes it, but if he starts complaining about it, I might make him take swim lessons.


I try to remind myself that I have wonderful, beautiful children and so much to be thankful for, still I always seem to be worrying about some underlying medical issue about one of them.

Trevor will not see Dr. Zimmer for a few months. His weight has stablized a bit and the worry I have for him is his eyes! We had been patching him for 2 hours a day. After our latest visit with the opthamologist, we were told to stop patching because his good eye's eye sight was being diminished. We will be back in September to check on his eyes

It's photography time at the baseball field!!

It's already July and the boys will be going back to school in just over a month. now that Trevor will be going to kindergarten, I've decided I am going to invest some of extra time I will have on my hands in a hobby. I have started taking a photography class. It's a basic digital class, but it has really been inspiring me to look at things and find a picture in all that I look at. After the first week, I already was thinking about things I want to take pictures of and how to compose them

the camera has been clickin away a lot this summer! So much to photograph - I seem to want to take a picture of everything, so now hopefully maybe I will have not just photos, but awesome jaw dropping, make you smile pics in there.

I took TONS of Stephen's baseball team. Ialways take a lot of pictures of Stephen's baseball team. I put together a photo montage and share it with all the families, and I don't want anyone to feel left out so I take zillions of pictures (ok not zillions, but defintiely hundreds, probably about 1200 or more!). I just put my camera in burst mode and keep shootin!

while Stephen's baseball team the rockies had a tough year on the field, you might not know it from looking at the pictures.

I wanted to share a few of my favorite photos, sadly, last night was there last game so I will have to find other subjects to photgraph.

Da Boys

Da Boys of Summer!

Stephen pitching

Ryan (during our visit to Safety Town at Trevor's "graduation")

Trevor with his "graduation ribbon" at Safety Town

Some pictures

An update on the boys - June 2011

The Linden boys - an update Summer 2011

Summer has started. Ryan did so well in 3rd grade (straight A's 3rd and 4th quarter). He will be doing summer school just to keep him into a routine and for a little bit of practice .

Ryan has started Kung Fu. I hope he will like this. We have tried several other sports to no avail and I am trying really hard to find some kind of activity that will help him with his low tone and stamina issues (and his pronation). He is doing well in PT. His orthotics in his shoes are helping along with the PT and we will no be going to every other week for therapy.

Ryan took a video animation class. He enjoyed it. He is not sports minded like Stephen, but he definitely has ability in creativity - building - legos and all that. It's been a couple years now since his ADD diagnosis and I can't believe how much he has changed and how well he is doing from a couple of years ago. Not only did he get straight A's - but he got almost all O's on effort (outstanding!). The teacher liked having him in class, he had lots of friends, and he didn't have to be constantly reminded of staying on task, and he was so much better at controlling his impulsiveness and had many fewer argumentative moments. We have basically kept the same medication even though at times we wondered if it was doing much good. He is very bright and has a wonderful sense of humor, but he still can be very quiet, and withdrawn at times. When his wonderful personality does come out, it is wonderful.

Stephen again seems to excel at most things he tries. (I think it does make it hard to be his younger brother, trying to live up to him). Stephen has done awesome going from grade school to Jr High. He almost had all A's (had a 89.8% in Accel math last quarter). He did very well his first year in band (percussion). I worried he would be lacking some of the skills needed as he never took any music lessons or played any instruments before a couple of months in the Percussion group at NYE. He also did well in football that he tried in the fall and now its back to tennis and baseball. He is very fast and coordinated and serves him well in sports. He is a pitcher again this year, and when he isn't pitching he plays 1st or short stop mostly. He has also been doing a lot in scouting. He has gone on several trips and hopefully will advance to 1st class in September. (He finally got Tenderfoot in January and he hopes to advnace 2 ransk by Sept). I'm very proud of Stephen - he does so well in school (and really without much effort - lucky for him) and does well in sports, has a nice group of friends. The one thing I really want him to improve on is his procrastination and he needs to do things without being told. (Yes, he is a bit lazy and it is rare for him to just step up and pitch in if he isn't asked - however he is a pre-teen now, so I expect its not that unsual!).

We took Stephen for some GH testing. He was not defficient - to me that was good news and bad news. We will be back at the endo in Aug and will probably start aromatase therapy. I still worry about what the future holds for all my boys in regards to their adult height.

We will also probably be getting braces very soon! Both Stephen and ryan will need them!

Trevor my baby - well what can I say about him. He is so super fun at his age. his zest for life and his imagination is great. I love kids at this age, they say what they are thinking ask the darndes of questions and just are always trying crazy things! He finished preschool and will start kindergarten in the fall. It is sad for me, but I am glad he did so well in preschool. When he started preschool he was so scared and anxious and refused to speak for a few weeks. He continued to be very shy and rarely speak for a couple more months. Inthe last months of preschool he was loud and engaging and trying to be a class clown! He does seem to a little lacking in fine motor skills, so I am trhying to work on it with him over the summer. He is not delayed or lacking to get any kidn of IEP /services. He also did so well in speech that he no longer will recieve speech. My little failure to thrive baby continutes to thrive the past year! He is still small, but has made gains enough to keep us out of the Dr's apptmts except for 2 times a year (the endocrinologist). I am just happy that he is finally on the chart even if he is still hovering about the 5% mark. He still is super picky eater, but I do not atch and worry about every ounce as I used to. He seems to be growing on his own pace, and that is just like him - he always does things on his own time table and in his own way and his growth is no different. Overall he has been very healthy and his lactose intolerance seems to be lessening - I am giving him a bit more dairy and haven't seen any negative effects.

We are now patching Trevor for 2 hours daily (started at one hour). So far I have seen very little progress, so there could be eye surgery in the future for Trevor.

I signed Trevor up for Tball again (he tried it in the spring and was very anxious and hesitant and hated it when I left the room). Now its summer and we are trying it again and he seemed more excited about it this time. He has a new big (not a tryc anymore). New for him, it was Stephen's Thomas bike from about 9 years ago!
Trevor just finished Safety Town and loved it. He continues to think he rules the roost around here and definitely has a mischevious side to him (he is the drama king around here) - he definitely keeps things lively around here!

Now that school is out, we are hoping for a great relaxing summer filled with lots of baseball, outdoor activities (especially the pool). I hope you are having a wonderful summer too!

An update . . . .

A long overdue update! things have been quite busy since the school year started. I have had much to keep me too busy including 2 positions on 2 of the 4 PTA's I belong to! In August, things changed as I now had a 6th grader in my house! I was spoiled as Stephen made lunches in the morning and I could count on him to keep the other two from fighting (well at least sometimes!). The new Jr higher has been doing very well! He went into Accelerated math and he has percussion in band. Despite not having much music experience, he is doing well! He played baseball over the summer and was a starting pitcher, and played football in the fall. He did well in that as well. He is a great athlete and is good in school too, very well rounded kid and I'm very proud of him! He's had almost all A's for the past 3 quarters, so a great start in Jr. High. He has also made the rank tenderfoot in Boy Scouts (he crossed over just a year ago March 2010) and is working on his 2nd class rank (possibly advancing late summer if he works hard). He is tall as I am now and I can no longer buy his shoes in the kids department! This summer he most likely will have braces put on. Ryan has been having a great year. He has a great teacher this year and I recently had his IEP eval. They were having trouble figuring out what to put as goals for the next year because he is doing so well. He has not displayed any aggressive behavior and his noise making in class has greatly decreased. He has been more attentive and focused and doesn't hate school as much as in previous years! In his latest report card, he got all A's for grades and for Effort alot of O's (O's are for outstanding effort!) Last summer we had him evaluated for PT. He has some pronation issues as well as some low tone issues in his shoulders and back. He's been doing phsical therapy since January and is wearing some shoe inserts. This is hopefully a short term thing with the therapy. He is doing much better with his "slouchiness" and has more strength everywhere overall. He is still taking straterra for his ADD. It has helped somewhat but we know he may do better on another drug, yet we have decided to stay on the stratterra as we are afraid if we try a different medication (a stimulant) that he will have even more of a hard time gaining weight. He may have even less body fat than Trevor at this point!! He continues to show his creative side with all the things he builds, all the things he draws. And, he out of the 3 of them, shows so much interest in the cats and all living things - he loves bugs, reptiles, and has had lots of things in his little terrarium this year. cuddles follows him around and they are best buds! Ryan had 6 teeth pulled over the summer of 2010 - preparation for braces! He took it like a champ! He did a lot of swimming over the summer and I'm sure we will do a lot of time at the pool this year when summer gets here. Last year was a big year spiritually for Ryan as he made his 1st Holy Communion. He looked so grown up. It was a great day, yet family drama affected some of the celebration. Trevor is doing so well at the preschool. His speech path says he is ready (has been ready) to be discharged from speech, but we may finish out the year. He is quite a talker. It is hard to believe he had been speech delayed! We are workign on fine motor skills right now. He seems a little behind in that area. He doesn't have good control on his hands when holding a pen/marker/pencil/scissors. I try to work on that with him at home but he usually has to be bribed to do anything with a writing instrument! Trevor has put on enough weight that at our meeting iwth our endocrinologist will not be for a whole year. Trevor has been eating a bit better, but it is still a great struggle to get him to eat anything besides pasta and sweets. He had his first cavity this past year. We had stopped supplementing his juice and he seems to be doing well. He hasn't had any major illnesses - he in fact went through the flu the best out of everyone in the family when we got it this year (note to self, get the darned flu shots next year!!). At a check up with the eye doctor, his one eye is turning in more than the other, so we now patch his good eye in hopes of making the other eye stronger. I am a bit worried about his eye, so I am anxious about his upcoming apt in April. As for me, well, last year was a very difficult year for me on so many levels. One of the reasons I was not blogging. Sickness, family drama, lots of unexpected financial things that led to a lot of stress and a host of other things took its toll on me physically, emotionally and phychologically. I am hoping this year will be a bit better, but only time will tell. I try to keep busy as that will at least give me something to focus on. I am the treasurer at the preschool, and I am the Recording secratrary at the Special Needs PTA. I have made some great friends from the special Needs PTA and at the preschool and that has been a blessing as some of the friends I've had for years just haven't been around much to confide in, joke around with, go out with and all that. So now I am trying to build new friendships. I've been so busy at the preschool and Special Needs PTA that I've had to cut back my Tupperware time. With Stephen's sports, scout activities, social stuff and Ryan's therapy and Religous Ed and Cub Scouts I am in the car alot and when I add that to all the meetings I have for my PTA stuff, I don't have as much time to devote to Tupperware. I still had a decent year, but just didn't make what I wanted to make and didn't have as many parties as I would have liked. I really enjoyed being at Stephen's games, trying to make his performances for band and helping out in Trevor's preschool class, so it is all good. This year Mike and I celebrated our 15 wedding anniversary. Hard to believe its been that long (makes me feel very old!). It also means lindy and gracie are now 15 years old. Lindy has lost her hearing and we just found out they both have early stages of kidney disease, so they are on a special diet. I guess we are all getting old, despite me being in denial about it! So, that is my update.