Fall Update (transitions and settling in)

It's been a busy and somewhat crazy fall so far.  The biggest hurdle we've had is Svea and Kieran both starting somewhere new.  Svea is at a all day every day preschool that is in a church.  We love it and now onto the third week she no longer cries and hangs onto us when she is dropped off.  Whew...it was tough to work knowing you left her like that even if you called the director and they told you she was fine after 5 minutes.  These next few pictures are Svea's first day of school pictures!

 Kieran started at a new home daycare and we really love her.  She is very sweet and a good fit for Kieran.  He either has amazingly sweet days where he is super polite or off days where he is acting out here and there.  He LOVEs school and rides the bus!  We had him start this on the first day as he was so excited.  The only time he cried when going to school was when I had to drop him off.  He cried for 30 seconds his teacher told me, so he obviously is loving it!  He walks in with Dan, goes to the wall to find his name tag and then finds his place at the table all on his own.  He knows his name and finds it every time even when the teacher switches up their name tags at the tables. K has his classroom pre-school teacher, a special ed teacher, a speech pathologist, and a deaf and hard of hearing teacher.  That kids gets a lot of attention.  No wonder he loves it so much.  They are all wonderful as well!

Svea started choir at the church this past week.  She was, of course, a little shy, but we told her next time she can't sit on the teachers lap and she needs to be brave.  The teachers are Jon and Linda who she knows extremely well so we know she feels good with them. 

 It's been warm so we are still playing in the sandbox, jumping on the trampoline, and going to the park.  Svea got a hand me down bike from a little girl at church and we ordered and put training wheels on it.  Well, Dan put them on:)  She took right off and it's the perfect fit for her.  We still can't find our air pump though from the move. 

Speaking of that....It's been one year that we've lived in this house! I'll have to do some before and after photos of the house.  Dan has been BUSY changing things here and there.  Some have been small and quick while others, like painting the kitchen cabinets have been a huge undertaking. I'm hoping for a slow down with the projects or at least little ones through the winter. The next few pictures are from Kieran's first day of school and Svea's second day of school!

I started my job and it's going ok.  I am feeling overwhelmed, but that is to be expected when you are the only person in my role with a district of 6,200 students.  Eeek!  It'll be ok, but right now I really don't want to talk about it because it just overwhelms me.  Lots of deep breaths!

 Kieran has been struggling a bit with his AN.  He mumbles at times and others he is very clear. In those moments he is SO much happier and I just wish this AN away.  It is SO incredibly hard and frustrating for all of us, especially him. He also had a virus for a few days so that not only makes him crabbier, but also affects his AN.  He is feeling much better now!  One funny thing he's been doing lately is requesting not only a dinosaur glass, but the triceratops one.  He knows them all by name....brontosaurus, triceratops, t-rex, teradactyl, and stegosaurus.

Svea seems so grown up.  She still loves to sing and lately has been into dancing a lot.  Her teacher told us that on the way home from the park she sang the little mermaid song all of the way home from the park.  She is getting along with all of her new friends at school and her teacher said they all love to play with her and that Svea is one of her best listeners.  We are so proud of her!

Princess Tea Party

 Svea came to me one day this past summer and said she wanted to have a princess tea party!

Most of the girls Svea knows from church plus they live in the neighborhood!

 I asked her to tell me more about that and she explained that she saw something on youtube (when she was watching her toy reviews) and there was a tea party princess thing and the "idea just came to me mommy"!

 I asked her if she wanted to do that for her birthday party coming up?  She said, "no, I want an ariel/mermaid party.  I want to do this party right now.  Can we Mama"?

 I thought about how we could pull this off, but also make it simple as it was just  for fun.  I also didn't want to clean the whole house for it.

 So the invitations were sent through social media for all of the young princesses who lived in the neighborhood to join us in the park for homemade cupcakes, juice/tea, and fun!  Come dressed as your favorite princess.

 And they came! Can you believe how many little girls around the same age are in the neighborhood.  This is going to be one interesting place come when they are all teenagers! It was a successful princess last minute party.  The girls drank juice from Minnie mouse tea cups, ate cupcakes off of tiny plastic strawberry shortcake plates, and poured their drinks through tiny pitchers.

Kieran came too and played fetch with one of the moms!  He loved all of the female attention! Goofy kid!

Wisconsin Summer Trip 2015!

We had an amazing week in Wisconsin with Dan's family!  Here's a picture of all 7 of the Dornfeld/Otto cousins!  One thing that was really fun was they all had fun playing together.  Kieran was old enough to run around outside with them and Ashlyn was a great at watching him and he fell in love with her!  Just last night Kieran was asking for his "cousins".  "Where are the cousins Mommy"?

Family pic, but we are missing Shane who was in Washington state fighting fires.  The last time we took a picture of all of us on this porch our two little ones were still a prayer.  Crazy what a difference six years makes.

Kieran didn't nap much on this trip because we were so busy and on the go.  Here he fell asleep in the chair with me at 6:30.  To make this little motor konk out we did so many fun things.  The first day everyone was home and all 7 kids played all afternoon.  The next day Kieran was an absolute bear and didn't sleep well the night before.  We went shopping in hopes that he would fall asleep and he did.  The next two days were super warm outside, and the last day was Dan's Grandma's birthday party (Kathy's mom).  She is so sweet.

Grandma and Grandpa D. bought a camping lot about 20 minutes from their house in the Green Lake area.  It was so incredibly peaceful, quaint, and a fun experience to hang out there.  We had two beautiful days that we spent swimming in the pool, playing in the sand, watching movies in the camper, and grilling out.  Dan's mom and dad make the best veggies.......I just wish I loved and craved them like they did. That was random.  Sorry!

After about 45 minutes little man is usually too cold or tired for the pool.  He does this back at home too when he's had enough of the sun and water.

"Cousins"!  Kieran (3), Shay (7), Svea (4), and Ashlyn (11)  Correct me if I am wrong on those ages!

The kids miss Grandma and Grandpa and ask for them frequently.  We are so happy we get to see them in one more month for Svea's birthday!

It was so entertaining to watch our kids interact!  Svea was a fish and loved being in the water.

This is on the way home. After 8.5 hours in the  car together they can still hold hands:)  Thank you Dean and Kathy for having us out for that extended time. We made many many great memories with you all!

Auditory Neuropathy

Update: I wrote this short post mentioning Kieran's audio neuropathy to try and connect with other parents of kids with AN or Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder (ANSD).  I linked myself to a blog of a mom who did a post for special needs moms.  She has a daughter who has a permanent hearing loss caused by her stay in the NICU as a baby and life saving medications that can damage a premie's hearing. In linking up I did find a mom of a 15 year old boy who is also a Deaf and Hard of Hearing teacher too.  We talked on the phone and she was a wealth of knowledge.  It was good to connect with someone who lives and walks the same types of issues and know that there is someone else out there that struggles and lives in the same way.  Kieran's AN is not easy.  Most people just think he has a hearing loss and don't understand the way in which he hears. The static on top of the hearing he gets from his hearing aides along with what natural hearing he has comes and goes.  We're told that if he has a fever his static will probably be more substantial or things can improve and get worse in hours.  I think of tonight as the perfect example.  Kieran whines, cried, or screamed tonight from 4:00 pm until approximately 6:00 pm.  He mumbled and it was hard to make out what he was saying.  He was clingy and wouldn't let me put him down.  He would make his body go limp and was just overall grumpy and downright angry.  But, all of the sudden he was talking crisper and clearer and in a much better mood. He was smiling and a little goofy, polite and kind.  He was like a different kid and although we don't know for certain that his AN improved during that time we wonder and think so.  The mumbling to all of the sudden talking clear are what makes us believe this along with the dramatic mood change.  It isn't easy and I get frustrated because a lot of times he is "that kid".  The one who is inconsolable and appears to whine and get his way, when in actuality he is protesting life in general.  His view of the world in those moments are "this sucks".  I can't hear you and you can't understand me and I just am angry!  I feel better writing about this.  It makes me feel better that he had a solid good hour of calm and fun time with all of us.  Here is a link to a video on youtube that allows you to hear what it is like for Kieran at times.  His audiologist thinks he must have a mild case of it since his hearing aides to help.  If the aides didn't help it would be because all they would do is amplify the static.  Maybe when he is older you'll see him take out his hearing aides when the static is louder and over stimulating him.  We have no idea.  I hope that as he gets older he's able to share with us what it is really like for him. Here he is last winter reading his book.


I will post more about K's AN this weekend. If you came here through my link on at Kellys Korner please come back or shoot me an email. We would love to know other families of children with AN. Leighmcarter@hotmail.com

Winding Down Summer (Random Summer Pictures)

Svea was into taking her own pictures this summer.  We have pictures of Meeko, the fan, stuffed animals, etc.  It's really fun and she enjoys it!

Cute new swimming suits!

I took her to Once Upon a Child one day and they had an ariel suit, but it was a size 5 and too big.  We checked the 4's and thankfully they had this one!  She loves Ariel and as of right now wants an Ariel Mermaid birthday party and wants to go swimming!

Piggy tails!

I loooooove this picture....but she looks so stinking grown up here:(

Birthday boy opening presents on his actual birthday day!

Opening presents from Grandma and Grandpa D!!!

Kayla was here for a couple of days to watch the kids over K's birthday. These too look so much alike I think.

 We have seriously had an amazing summer!  It's been filled with trips to the pool, the park, the splash pad, the indoor play-land, trips to see family, the lake, and so much more. I can't say it was the most amazing for Dan, however.  He had to work more than any other summer so that was kind of a bummer, but hopefully that won't continue. I am so thankful for a warm, and more relaxing/slower time with the kids!  I'll post on our Wisconsin trip next!