The Thomas Family

We've been busy. Adjusting to the family schedule has not been easy. Mom is still on the run, and her feet hurt more than ever. We have had some fun going to Halloween parties, pumpkin patches, parks, building legos, reading books and just being silly dancing in the living room. I love you three more than ever!

Aidan is 3 and in pre-k, Sean is 6 and in kindergarten

This summer <<<< deep breath >>>>> was a LONG summer. Sean broke his are in three places and didn't fair well with all of the pain. Amongst his grumpiness we did manage to have an action packed summer full of fun activities. The kids wore me ragged, but I suppose this is what childhood memories are made of. We went to parks, pools, aquariums, stockyards, drive through wildlife park, rode a train, visited grandma, rode on an airplane, and visited a space museum to name some of the things. Enjoy the pictures.

Our Health Insurance "does not cover" issues related to Autism. It's United Healthcare. Employers can also stop Autism Discrimination by letting United Healthcare know you will cover these items.

This week has been an incredibly difficult week for me as a mom.  Last Monday, Sean climbed into an empty cardboard box on top of our king bed, and decided to launch himself off.  As he was falling his stuck his little arm out and took the weight of his body on his arm backwards and broke it in two places and dislocated his elbow.  When he walked down the stairs his poor little arm was swollen and just hanging there funny, I could see the bone getting close to the surface of his skin so I knew it was bad.  Ian, was 5 feet from him when it happened and he rushed Sean off to the ER who confirmed what we thought.  We got lucky, the on call Orthopedic Surgeon, was the former Orthopedic Surgeon to the San Fransisco 49rs.  On of the concerns about Sean's injury was possible nerve damage to his radial nerve. Since the bone broke in half, it was pushing on his radial nerve.  His has limited mobility in his thumb and fingers right now, however at least he has mobility. 

Aaron is growing by leaps and bounds. He is almost 2 months old and he is just about to get into 6 to 9 month clothing! Yikes! Had the boys dress up today and mom played home photo studio and snapped a couple good pictures. I'm doing good, outside of the sleep issues, which is to be expected. I am about 5 lbs from my pre pregnancy weight, however... that was my heaviest weight I started being pregnant at, much more weight to lose!

Aaron made his big debut almost two weeks ago! Boy, where does the time go! I was scheduled for a cesarian section on 3/29 and went in to labor on 3/17 (ST.Patty's Day)... Aaron was born 10lbs 2oz ... I think they got the original due date wrong : ). If he would have gone to the 29th, he would have been almost a 12 lb baby... whew

I woke up the morning of the 17th, having pretty regular contractions. I also threw up that morning and figured I could chalk that up to the flu like symptoms some moms feel before they go into labor. We made it into the OBGYN and he said he would go ahead and do the C Section that day. When I went up to the L&D they hooked me up to the contraction monitor and they were pretty regular. 10mins apart. The C Section went great (with the exception of the Spinal Block administration) and big boy was born and came out screaming! I spent extra time on the table, we did cord blood banking and I had my tubes tied : ). As much as I love children and babies... I know my limit. I am afraid if I went for #4 that my sanity would go downhill and my quality of mothering would also go down hill.

I'll share a couple photos, however for now, I will probably be posting some under Aaron's Blog too.

I cannot wait for my new NOSEFRIEDA. Aidan doesn't blow his nose and has chronic sinusitis and with Ian's help, I think this will help us keep his nose clear. Since I had to order it online, I ordered a second one for the baby.... just in case.

You have to check it out!

I've got the baby's car seat cleaned and ready to go. Diapers, back up formula to supplement as needed. A bed for the baby. Some outfits. All we need is the baby! I hit full term today so it's a matter of time... tick tick tick... my guess is, he will have curly hair. I have the same scratchy sensation on my cervix as I did with Sean... we shall see if that is just a bunch of baloney or not. Make sure you are watching the baby's blog for announcements!

My good friend Lisa just emailed me this picture she took of Sean during his football season, I couldn't be more than proud of him! He starts football back up next month! Ian wanted him to pick up another sport like baseball ... Sean saw Ice Hockey on TV and told his father, "daddy, that's what I want to play". Yikes.... I better get him into martial arts soon, so they can help teach him when it's appropriate to tackle or hit. Sean had a doctors appointment last week and he almost weighed in at 60lbs. He's getting soo big!

Speaking of big, I'm as big as a large whale right now. Equipped with cankles and all! I've really backed off lifting Aidan up to his crib. My mother instincts tell me that if I continue to lift his 38lb rear up into the car seat or crib, that my water will break soon. As much as I am uncomfortable, I still want the baby to make it to term. I want him to be as healthy as possible.

I had a nice day off today. I didn't have to do dishes, laundry. or clean up the toys. I even got a 45 minute cat nap in. Thanks to my hubby for thinking of me in the last month of being pregnant. I really needed the day off too!

 

Here is our young Ali G..... or might I say, Aidan T

what a character!

where does the time go... Sean amazes me more and more every day! This past week he has started to really take an interest in the Weather. In fact, he asks to watch the weather channel on a regular basis. This afternoon while I was cleaning my closet, Sean came up with a doodle pad and free handed the United States and proceeded to tell me about a low pressure front moving over some state causing rain. He then drew lake Michigan and mentioned there was a chance of snow. He proceeded to the east coast and drew a picture of them getting more ice. I can see how he is going to struggle a bit socially in school, because most 5 year olds don't get into certain science subjects like he does. The good news is, he loves sports. That almost forces him to be a little more social.

Aidan, my big boy Aidan. One of the things I missed out with Sean as a first time mom is the creative / imatative play. Sean, just lacked the skill all together. Aidan every night when I lay him down, blows me a kiss... and well, it melts my heart. He is still likes to bust a move to almost any kind of music. I'm working hard on trying to get him into a mom's day out program once a week, however we've hit a bit of a behavior turn with him, he is just now having separation anxiety. This makes it really hard for me to leave him, (with him throwing a tantrum). I go back to the memories of Sean doing that at daycare and how they never proceeded to tell us there were any issues until they kicked him out of daycare. I can't imagine how Sean was being treated in that class.

I've changed the look of my blog to more of a "spring" look. I figured I better do it why I had the chance. Aaron's blog has been updated as well.

I am off to bed, we are lucky enough to have some good friends pop in tomorrow night for the superbowl.. btw, ian has and will always be a die hard steelers fan. Some of my friends from my old neighborhood in Ocean Springs might remember seeing that Steelers flag flying from the house... so if you haven't picked a team to route for and need one... go ahead and route for them!

Eek, I am a bad blogger... I've been busy busy busy!! I started a blog for the baby, my hopes are to print it as a journal at the end for him. You can find it here, or over on the right column on my blog roll.

We've schedule a C Section for March 20th. I do have a feeling I am going to have this baby early. He's already 4lbs!

Aidan, boy... he keeps me busy. The primary reason for not blogging. He's also hit the separation anxiety stage. He's starting it a little late, but wow... talk about timing... I'll be going to the hospital in a couple months for 4 days... I hope he does ok.

Sean, had a rough transition the first week after school for both Thanksgiving and Christmas break. It gives me a good idea that he will need summer services to keep from regressing on his social skills prior to starting kindergarten next fall. In his free time he likes to watch the Discovery Channel. He's watching engineering type shows. "How it's Made", "Time Warp", seriously, I don't know any other 5 year old that will sit there and do that! His football season is coming to an end. He has really learned a lot and I think he has enjoyed himself quite a bit. It's been good to see him & Ian have an activity they could bond on.

Aidan will need to start some type of moms day out program. He will be 3 this coming July and is totally stir crazy with Mom & being home with me. It get's hard to go out because I have to be home for Sean's school bus in the morning and afternoon and he only goes to school for 2 hours and 45 minutes a day (Sean). Right in the middle of the day and I have been putting Aidan down for naps. We had Aidan in a preschool setting one day after we returned from our Christmas trip to Mississippi and he didn't do so well. He wouldn't eat any of their food, wouldn't nap... etc. I suppose it will take him some time to get use to a routine.

It's late and I've organized an event for my local mom's group tomorrow morning (old habits die hard).. We are heading to a bounce house place and I'm taking both the boys (WISH ME LUCK) and hope they are on their BEST behavior because I can't be struggling with them to get them out to the car! Ian is on a short 2 day work related trip to Colorado, so I will be on my own the next couple days. Thankfully I have a friend near by that I can call on in the event of an emergency.

we have a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom fetish in our house, here is Aidan's attempt at singing!

He has quite the voice... i guess I better get him into singing classes.....


warning, hide your fine crystal if you turn the volume up

I had to drop by today and check my "Ticker" because I needed to know how pregnant I was... ha ha ha! That's the difference between baby #1 and baby #3



We have a place for Aaron to sleep, no nursery yet, we may not have one together either!

Today I had the joys of sitting at urgent care. Sean has strep again and we are back to having ear infections. Poor little man got a shot of penicillin and antibiotic prescription for two weeks

I don't have anything exciting to report, if you want to see pictures of me, google "Shamu" .. ha!

I hope everyone is having a happy holiday season.

Sorry, Aidan didn't manage to get any photos taken today , we tried with Santa but it was a no go! Aidan had his ECI / First Steps Christmas party today. He was so excited by all of the helium balloons hanging from the ceiling he kept running back and forth asking for "Green one" or "Red one" and swiping all of the Christmas cookies. I went hoping Aidan's support team would be there (however they didn't show up), so I thought I would spend some time talking to the other moms.

One of the moms particularly hit home with me. She was in her young 30's, first time mom to a very active 2+ year old little boy. She was all dressed up in her local North Texan garb of black tall boots over jeans with a studded jacket, and she was completely out of breath. He son was keeping her busy, picking up toys, throwing them, grabbing other kids toys looking for a reaction from them, and playing with things that were not toys. Making high pitch noises. Well, this boy came over to Aidan and took one of his toys, and Aidan... well it didn't phase him. No reaction. This stumped the little boy and the mom came running over, I'm sooo sorry and she proceeded to sternly lay into her son. I told her, in all honesty, it's ok, it won't phase him, he has an older brother that does that to him all the time. She proceeded to lay into her son and told me, it doesn't make it right and I am so exhausted at the end of the day. I'm trying to teach him to share. What this mother didn't know and hadn't been told was something I had seen before. It didn't take a rocket scientist to see it, he was clearly on the spectrum. It was going to take a lot more than her "telling" him how to share and to pay attention. I took a moment to reflect on all of the progress we made with Sean since he was at that difficult stage and couldn't be more thankful we were past it. Being a mom to an active 2 year old can be challenging, but add autism on top of it, and it will make any mother lose her mind.

Before I got a chance to talk to the mom, she left the holiday party early, entirely frustrated. I said a little prayer for her on the way home, that she would soon understand why she was going through these difficult behaviors and hopefully be given the help she needs to get him on the right path.

Ian came to my rescue at the Christmas party after he finished watching Sean's flag football game. Aidan starts to "run" when he gets into lowd busy scenarios. I was physically tired from bending over and picking him up with my big belly in the way. I still try and push myself for Aidan, because I want him to have all of the social options Sean had at this age. We are hoping to get him into a mom's day out program in January. This will give me a well needed break during my last trimester (which is just around the corner.

Ok, have to run, Aidan is throwing things...

I started cooking yesterday, and I still haven't finished!! The best part is, we are only cooking a few things and our friends that have a little boy with Autism that use to be in Sean's class last year are having us over. I made 2 pumpkin pies from scratch, those were pretty easy. Southern Cornbread Dressing. Cherry-Italian Sausage Dressing. Apple, Orange & Cranberry relish (turned out awesome by the way, I'll post the recipe when I get time). The last item, is yet to be baked, first time making bread from scratch, making homemade yeast rolls! Hopefully they will turn out!

I am Thankful today for my family, my immediate and extended families. I am also thankful we picked a name out for baby boy #3. Aaron Alexander Thomas, with a small deviation of maybe Aaron Glen Thomas. Aaron is Ian's dad's first name. Alexander is a big "Torrey" name, my uncle is James Alexander Torrey Jr and my Grandfather was James Alexander Sr. Glen is my father's first name, however part of me thinks I will reserve this right for my younger brother Tyler to use this name if he by chance has a son. My dad would be happy knowing I used Alexander. Ian's dad is happy we are using his name to!

I'll post some photos/etc later. Everyone have a great day with your families!