Christmas sun catchers and sensory bin

One day after blog hopping, I found a fun craft that the kids would enjoy. They made sun catchers using Christmas cookie cutters, translucent beads and clear glue. It took about three days for them to completely dry.

 Hailey made a gingerbread woman.

 Robert filled a stocking. He got a little frustrated with the beads when they didn't lay down flat.

 Also I made a Christmas sensory bin with epson salt and tiny ornaments I had  for my personal tree growing up. I also got some bells, bows, and foam shapes this year to throw in.

The kids loves doing crafts. From the dollar store I got big foam Christmas shapes like angels, bells, stockings, and trains that they could decorate.

Potty Training

Sometime between St. Nick's Day (Dec 6th) and St. Lucia's Day (Dec 13th which we forgot to celebrate), I completely gave up on potty training Robert. I've struggled potty training Robert from the very beginning but he wanted to go potty so we tried. The first week went okay and he wanted to go potty with Hailey. We gave him the bath toys to play with and books. Soon the power struggle began. We tried a lot of different incentives to encourage him to go. We gave candy, used happy faces, gave pennies, went out for ice cream after so many dry days. We also tried doing punishments like no tv and having to clean up after himself by himself or he had to give us pennies back to help him. 

Even though we started in August, we still didn't choose to use the potty by the time Rachel came.  The week right before, he did very well, only one accident very two days. I expected some set backs when the baby was born which happened. Hailey even had accidents. Then he went through a period of time where he would be great for three days then have a day or two with nothing but accidents.

I realized around the beginning of December that he wasn't making it to the bathroom at all. So I started putting him in pull ups after he had one accident. Then one day he took off his pull up to pee in the potty. That was wonderful and hopeful. He finished up in the bathroom by himself and even used the big toilet. He then went into his room to change his clothes (he changes his outfit every time he goes potty whether they are wet or not). After a while, I went in a checked on him and saw him completely naked with poop on the floor. I was very mad and took away all of his underwear. I actually missed one that night and when he went to change into PJs, he found it and put it on. Since I was tired of fighting, I told him that that is his last pair and once that is wet no more underwear.  He didn't even last 20 minutes.

I felt like a failure for a few days but for the most part there has been very little power stuggles. Robert and I get along pretty well. When we were potty training, we also made him responsible over getting himself dressed. I decided I didn't want to fight over that either and as long as he gets dressed quickly with my help, then I stay and help him.

Maybe we were just trying to get him to grow up faster then what he was ready for. I hoped that he would be potty trained before he goes into Primary and even before he turns 4 but I don't think that will happen.  He has a whole year before he starts Kindergarten. So I don't feel the need to start potty training him again any time soon. Hannah however, wants to be potty trained and has peed in the little potty a couple of times. I know she doesn't have the bladder control yet but she has the desire which is saying a lot.  Most likely, Hannah will be potty trained before Robert.

Having 3 kids in diapers (Robert's still in pull ups but they are getting expensive and will go to diapers when this packet runs out) isn't too bad and my sanity is worth it.

St. Nick's Day

This year I had St. Nick's gifts ready before December hit. I ordered the Christmas books from Scholastic (and even found a packet of four Christmas books and a stamp for $6 which I'm saving for next year). I got the candy in the bulk section at Winco and on Black Friday, Hailey, Hannah, and I got the ornaments.

 Hannah's shoes.

Hailey's shoes

Nathan and I got matching snowmen. (his is red and mine is green)

 Here is Rachel's shoes.

Here's Robert's.

 They were very excited about St. Nick. Unfortunately, Hailey remembered that she picked out the ornaments at the store. Next year, I'll have to leave her at home.

Baby Rachel can't sit up yet so this picture was a little awkward. I'll have to think of something better for Christmas gift pictures.

Advent Calendars

Even though we weren't faithful about our Giving Thanks tree to count down the days in November, I loved having it. I think it helped make November pass by quite quickly. So I was very excited to have another fabric advent calendar. I got all the materials to make it last year but didn't put it together until this year. I'm glad I waited because now I know some basic quilting techniques due to Sis. Hudson's help with Robert's Christmas present. (I'll post more about that after Christmas).

 Also, Hailey came home with a countdown chain that she made at school. The star has a cute poem about taking off a chain each night after reading time.

Then we were pleasantly surprised by this mini muffin tin advent calendar made by my sister-in-law Amy. Underneath each number is a fun Christmas activity to do.

All these advent calendars have made me think about making one for January. January is a hard month because the weather isn't nice, it's dark, and there's nothing to look forward to during it. However, this year I am going to have quilting lessons at my house every Monday for 12 weeks starting in January. I'm very excited about this. Also, my mom is coming back when Nathan leaves for a math conference in Boston. She'll be here for a whole week which will make January fly by.

Santa pictures

Here are the Santa pictures at the ward Christmas party. Robert went first and sat by the Christmas tree and talked to Santa a lot. He told him about his new baby, Baby Rachel. We had Hailey come in to show Robert that Santa isn't scary. Then Robert sat on his lap. Hannah didn't want to at all and we didn't make her. There is always next year. I love how these pictures turned out.

christmas tree

The day we got our tree was a very interesting day. This year I had my heart set on having a real Christmas tree. Our fake tree is pretty small for a house (but was perfect for our small apartment) but I knew we shouldn't buy another fake one since this isn't the house we are going to stay in long term. Also, I have never had a real tree before and we don't know if it would be possible to get a real tree at whatever state we move to next year.

Nathan didn't want us to get to right after Thanksgiving in case it dies before Christmas. So we were going to get it on Thursday Dec 1st since it looked like we were going to have some extra time but Hannah had a seizure.

Even though Hannah had a seizure Friday morning, Friday was a pretty good day until the ward Christmas party. I signed up to bring the pumpkin cake that they wanted. I learned a valuable lesson that day about following directions. The cake needed to be put in a sheet cake pan which I did not have so I used a 13X9 which didn't work out. The middle never cooked and the edges burned. So, I brought a sheet cake pan after we picked up Hailey and made a very delicious cake. However, when we left to go to the church, our 2 week old tire was flat and so was the donut tire. It snowed a little that day but the church is only two streets down so we all walked.

The party was tough because I was so nervous Hannah would have another seizure, I was constantly watching for her. Hailey had a major accident (lucky we were able to borrow a pull-up from a friend who is having a difficult time potty training their almost 5 year old. Robert luckily was wonderful at the party. They had a great program filled with music and a fun slide show made up of most of the ward members acting out The Night Before Christmas poem. There was a candy cane craft and pictures with Santa. We got a ride home and was able to borrow an air compressor to fill the donut and help with the scooter's tire also.

So on Saturday, we took Nate's scooter into a motorcycle place to get fixed and then we all took the car to Costco to get fixed. Since we had time to spare, we walked up the hill (over a fun bridge) to pick out our Christmas tree. We made sure everyone was bundled up and we had a pretty fun time picking out the tree. All the trees were either $40 or $50. We got a pretty nice one for $58 including tax. Then we shopped a little at Costco and had lunch there. By the time we were all done (including potty breaks for Robert) the car was done. While Hannah, Rachel and I took a nap, Nate took Robert and Hailey to pick up the tree.

Nate wanted to see if anyone had a tree stand they weren't using on Sunday. Since no one did, I picked one out at 5:00am on Monday after feeding Rachel, so we could put up the tree before Nate left for his office . I taught preschool that day and with Hannah's help, put on the lights later in the day. Hannah really loved the lights.

 I'm so happy to have our beautiful Christmas tree.

 That night for family home evening, the kids  put up their ornaments.

 The bottom half was full and the top hardly was touched. However, within a week that switched because I put all the ornaments that fell down up high.

 

We got our tree up and ready just in time for St. Nick's day which was on that Tuesday.

Another Seizure

Om Thursday, Dec 1st, we started the day great. Hannah found the baby doll front pack and wear it most of the morning. I wear Rachel in my front pack a lot, so I thought it was very cute that she wanted to copy me.  On Thursdays we go to the library, she had fun and kept wanting to pull all the books out.

She had a shorter nap then usually because she had a chiropractic appointment at 3:00pm. Nathan scheduled it without remembering that Hailey had dance at 3:30pm so we had a little bit of shuffling to do. I drop Nate and Hannah off then took Hailey to dance. When class started, I left to pick Nate and Hannah back up. Then we hung out at the Rec center for about 20minutes until Hailey was done with her class. Hannah was fine and happy the whole time. There are some older girls who love to play with Hannah while they wait for their class to start. As we were leaving, Hannah was dawdling behind, just being silly and was a little distracted by the Christmas decorations that they have up. This is also very usual for her and since Nate had Rachel, I went to Hannah and carried her to the car. I got to her side to the car and put her down to open up the door. I still had one hand on her and told her to climb in the car. When I looked down at her, her head was rolled back, her eyes were flickering, her lips were smacking and turning blue. I picked her up and went to sit in the car with her which was difficult because she was very stiff and couldn't bend her knees. Her breathing was very labored and we knew she was officially out of the seizure when her breathing was back to normal. I would say it lasted 1-2 minutes. She stayed awake the whole ride home and was awake for a little bit after that. I gave her frankincense oil and then she went to bed for an hour or two.  Unfortunately she woke up and had a hard time going back to bed for the night.

Then Rachel got me up a couple of times that night. Around 6:00am I got up with Rachel and took her to the front room because she was really awake. I walked past the girls room and heard a strange noise. I set Rachel on the couch to investigate. It turned out to be Hannah's labored breathing. She was in another seizure when she was completely asleep. Her eyes were closed and her lips smacked a little. I passed Rachel to Nate, while I just sat with Hannah. There is nothing to be done but to wait for it to be over. I don't know how long it lasted since I'm not sure when it started. I knew it was done when her breathing changed again. Around 6:30-7:00am I came back in to rub oil on her. That woke her up and everything continued as usual. We had a very lazy day and Hannah fell asleep on the couch for an hour.

The hardest thing about her new pattern of seizures is that they are harder to detect. I'm 80% sure that we missed a seizure. On Sunday Dec 11th, Darlene and Wayne came to spend the afternoon with us and have advent. Hannah would not go down for her nap and around 6:00pm was extremely cranky. The next morning, Hannah actually slept in for the first time. She always wakes up with Hailey but that day she didn't. She finally woke up around 7:30ish and was very tired and clingy that day. I usually go grocery shopping on Mondays and in the cart she kept laying her head down to sleep. This odd behavior makes me seriously consider that she had a seizure sometime that night. She was off for the next couple of days which is tough to deal with.

And now, Hannah just had another seizure in nursery on Dec 18th. Sis. Taylor who was just called to nursery, was putting Hannah's shoe back on when she looked up at her a noticed she was in a seizure. I described to her how Hannah's seizures were the week before so she was a little prepared. She said that it was still nerve-racking and that it seemed at last a long time (2 min). Even though this is her 14th one, it is still hard for me to see her like that and I doubt it will ever get easier. After the seizure, Hannah just fell asleep. They handled the whole thing by themselves. I was giving them the role as Hannah was starting to wake up and at that point, I just kept her with me.  She was fine the rest of the day and took a good after church nap like normal.

In summary this means that after a 4 month break, Hannah has had 4 seizures (possibly 5) in 35 days. Before the break they were grand mal seizures now they are absence or silent seizures (my own diagnosis). I feel like we need more answers about this change so we will go back to the specialist in Utah when the doctor has an availability. I feel like the chiropractic visits has helped because the seizures are more mild. The calcium she is taking is supposed to help relax her muscles which has worked since she doesn't have any shaking with a seizure now. I don't want to increase her medicine at this point. I would rather just observe how these seizures are happening naturally especially since they don't seem to affect her development at all. She doesn't talk yet but that it typical for a third child and all my other children were late speakers as well. 

What I worry about the most is how Hannah stops breathing with a seizure or at least has very labored breathing.  With the first seizure lasting 45 minutes, I feel like that could be a possibility. I want to be aware of all seizures that she has.  I've been thinking about and researching the possibility of getting a baby movement monitor that different companies have for infants to help prevent SIDS. There are two type of monitors. One is a pad that goes under her mattress. If the pad does not detect any movement for 20 seconds an alarm will go off. However, she can get out of bed whenever she wants (which will set off the alarm) and she doesn't always sleep in the same place in her bed (which could make the alarm go off if she's not sleeping on top of it). The other downside is that she occasionally sleep on the floor during nap time. However, it would have a parent unit that we could keep in our room or with me downstairs during nap time.  The other monitor is a small unit that attaches to their diaper and the sensor is on their stomach. This one is portable and it wouldn't matter were she fall asleep at. However, since she is an active sleeper and a stomach sleeper she might knock it out of place a lot. I wonder if wrapping an ace bandage around it and put her in a onesie would keep it in place.  We are not sure if either monitor would work for our purpose. With the portable monitor, I was hoping we could keep it on her all day for a week and see if it will go off when she has a seizure normally. Then after we know it will work, we can just use it for sleeping time.

I wonder if I'm doing enough to help her or if I'm doing too much. I wonder if I am really handling it okay and accepting it as her normal behavior or if I'm trying to "fix" her and have her cured for something that just doesn't get cured but masked over by medicine. I'm more concerned about her new type of seizures because there is no signs leading up to them and can happen at anytime and in any place.  I have to tell anyone who watches her what her seizures are like and everything asks what are they supposed to do. It's hard to say that there is nothing to be done but just be there for her. I hope she grows out of it. Most likely she'll grow out of it. But there is a chance she won't. On the other hand, I only freak out about it for a day or two after the seizure, then everything seems so normal and typical I almost "forget" in a way that Hannah has a problem.



Crazy Kids

Who needs a couch, a bean bag chair, or a rocking chair to sit on when you have a whole bookshelf to climb in? I came downstairs and saw them do this for the first time and just laughed at it. Robert even climbed into the top shelf once and was too scared to climb down.

Robert and Rachel's room

Robert was so excited to have a roommate. He wanted her in there from the very first day. However to his disappointment, Rachel started out in the Moses basket. We talked to the kids about why it is called a Moses basket and Robert thinks that this is the same basket Moses used. At least that's better then thinking we are going to put Rachel in the water. Rachel is a noisy sleeper, which makes Nathan snore more, which in turn makes her noisier. Either of them minded but I couldn't handle it. So Rachel only stayed in our room for a week. Mom helped rearrange the room to have the room half boy, half girl. Later, dad was here to help hang up Rachel's pictures. I'm so happy that we have a real room big enough to do that. When Hailey and Robert were sharing a room, we changed the whole room to be neutral by doing a Winnie the Pooh theme.

Here's Robert's side.

The two shelves (which is opposite of the rocking chair) is the dividing line.

 Now here's Rachel's side.

 I love this picture with the mother and baby. I've had it so a long time (maybe when Hailey was a baby) but this is the first time it has been put in a frame and hung up. It's a very special time to have a newborn and picture reminds me where we get these precious children.

 Rachel also has her name painted (got every one's letters at Kmart), her Jesus picture, her blessing picture, and her newborn picture all set up like the other children.

 This is the same bedding that Hailey used. Hannah skipped this bedding since she was in the crib started at 14 months and only stayed there from a few months. Robert likes to get on the rocking chair and play with the mobile.

Thanksgiving

We had a pretty low key Thanksgiving day with our little family. Even though I'm in no mode to travel at this point, it didn't seem to feel like Thanksgiving to me without the big family gathering. Also, I felt there should be a football game playing in the background even though I haven't watched football since high school. This is our second Thanksgiving by ourselves (I wasn't going to travel close to Hannah's either almost two years ago). I realized this year that I need to focus on how I want the kids to experience Thanksgiving and to create our own traditions. So, this year I had everyone rate the food options this year. This was an idea from a preschool blog to work on making bar graphs. This was a little too advance for the kids to rank their preference. Their favorite item was the marshmallows and ham.

After dinner, we did a little "skit" about Thanksgiving. I was the narrator and when I said "pilgrim women" Hailey was supposed to say "mercy me!" Robert was the pilgrim men who said "bang, bang, bang". He was a little shy about doing it so we tried to have him bang on the table instead. Hannah really liked that part. She was the Indian women who said "sh, sh, sh". It was fun and the kids will be able to do it better next year. Then we sang Thanksgiving songs that I found off a blog, oopsey daisy. We also had a coloring page. Hailey loves to color by number now and she numbered all her feathers.

This year I finished our Thankful Tree that my mom and I started last year. All I needed to do was to sew on the leaves and put on the border but this the move (back in February) my sewing room was the last thing to get organized and set up.



Each leaf is a pocket where we put our thankful notes each day. Most of the time we were thankful for family members. A few times Hailey and Robert were thankful for dancing, spinning, jumping, and their dance teacher. We made up the things that Hannah were thankful for since she can't talk yet.  Hailey loved this tree and enjoyed counting all the numbers. We weren't as on top of it as I would like to be and ended up doing a few days at a time. I'm thankful that my mom came up with the idea and helped me work on it. It is something we will really treasure in years to come. I also saved all our notes and it'll be wonderful to see how our gratitude matures as the kids get older.

3 weeks

These pictures were taken when Rachel was three weeks old. Sweet little Rachel is simple adored by Hailey and Robert. They love to hold her, especially Hailey.

 This is also our first full day without any extra help. My mom stayed for two weeks after Rachel was born and left the day she was blessed. Then Nate's mom, Gramma Cherie, stayed with us a whole week after that.  It was nice having her around. She read tons of books to the kids and I was able to slowly take on more responsibilities to figure out what is the best way to handle four kids. (The answer is hope the baby sleeps or put her in the front pack).

 I'm not sure how my family grow up sitting on the smaller benches at church. When we arrived with all six of us, we felt a little cramped especially when the kids wanted to color. On this Sunday, I held Rachel all during Sacrament meeting, then spent the next two hours carrying her in the sling.

The following two Sundays, a sweet older lady, Fern,  held Rachel the whole time during sacrament meeting. This helps a lot and she's more then willing to hold her every week. It's nice that Rachel sleeps the whole time at church. I know this will quickly fade as she gets older and I'm not sure what we'll do then.

As for Rachel's sleep habit, at one week she was sleeping 2-3 hours at a time. At two weeks, she weighs 8lbs and 4oz and sleeps 3-4 hours.  At three weeks, we average about 4-5 hours of sleep. At the time of writing this, Rachel is 5 weeks old and still sleeps about 4-5 hours at night and sleeps most of the day. She did do a six hour stretch once but I didn't get that much because Robert started his hacking cough which woke him up frequently.