Back to reality

 Bronwyn has been in SpEd for about a week at this point.  She is doing much better, in terms of school behaviour.  In a few weeks, she'll start to do some activities with her old class (PE, library time, and math, I think), in an effort to transition her back to gen ed.  I think she may need 2 years of SpEd before going back to a gen ed class, to give her time to emotionally mature.  But we'll see what happens.

The Sunday right after we returned from Virginia, Bronwyn had her sleep study.  I wasn't sure how she would behave, since it's always hit or miss with her.  But she did amazingly well.  She sat still for an hour while all the electrodes were placed.  And she actually fell sleep quickly too.  The only hard part was taking off some of the sensors.  Some had tape, which hurt on her little leg hairs.  And waking up at 5am was hard too.  Also, whatever they used to stick the sensors to her head is not coming off easily.  Everything was supposed to be water soluble, but we've scrubbed, shampooed, conditioned, oiled, and it's not coming off.  Fortunately, it's not noticeable.  The results of the sleep study came back with everything normal.  So her sleep issues are related to either ASD ADHD or both.

Getting all hooked up.

Both kids had their walk-a-thons over the weekend, Bron on Friday and Bert on Saturday.  As is the case, with my little firecracker, I wasn't sure how she'd do.  But she ran and ran with a smile on her face.  I made her a sign that said "GO BRON", per her request.  Her school's walk-a-thon isn't a real one.  Each grade does about 30 minutes of walking during the school day and that's it.  In the evening her school had their annual Fall Festival. They have a lot of little games and activities.  Bertram was happy to decorate a pumpkin, do spin art, and get a shaved ice.  Bron played most of the games, and had a great time.

Bertram was pretty excited for his walk-a-thon (which is a traditional one, where you walk all day, and get lap prizes etc).  Once Saturday morning rolled about, he was in a particularly sour mood.  He wasn't going to walk, I couldn't make him.  We walked anyway.  He kept throwing his lap card on the ground (and then would, inevitably, pick it up again).  He'd stop walking, saying he was going home, I would keep walking, and he'd run to catch up with me.  He crumpled up his lap card in an effort to rage-quit.  I was ready to quit myself.  What was the point of torturing both of us?  After some amount of laps, he earned a cold drink (as a lap prize).  We took a break, he drank, his attitude improved.  He asked me how much he had to walk.  I said at least 6 miles, since that was what he did last year.  So that's what we did.  I walked all but 2 laps with him.  Grandpa stopped by, and somehow managed to find us while we were eating lunch.  Later Aaron and Bronwyn came by.  She had a churro and went in the jumpy house.  Bertram got another shaved ice (the same snow cone truck was at both events).  I got a caramel churro.  On the way home, we saw a little lizard that let up touch it, and pick it up.  In total, he and I walked about 8 miles, since we walked to and from the event.  I came back when it was over.  I won a piercing gift card in the silent auction.  And I helped pick up and put away with school merchandise booth.  It wasn't hard, per se, but I hadn't had enough to drive, and I was worn out from all the walking, and the sun (though, thankfully, it wasn't too hot, maybe 80.)  After that I showered, napped and Aaron fetched pizza for dinner.

Early Sunday morning, Aaron left on a work trip to Richmond, VA (of all places).  Luckily, the county booked his flight out of the San Jose airport, so we didn't have to get up as early as we would if flying out of San Francisco.  The kids went to church with their grandpa, and I bought groceries for the week.  I was supposed to donated platelets that day, but the timing didn't work out.   I macerated some strawberries and made baking powder biscuits to take to family night.  Bronwyn played by herself for a long time in the garden.  I prayed cards, I lost one game, and tied to win the other.  Bron slept in bed with me.  

Yesterday, I walked Brony to school, she was not happy about having to walk, which we do, most days.  She kicked me, and screamed, all of which I ignored.  Eventually, she calmed down, and the rest of the walk was fine.  I came back to the school at lunch time to have a family meeting with the new school counselor.  She's going to see Bronwyn weekly, and sent up a social skills group for her.  I'm very excited about that.  After school we went to her other counselor (the one through Kaiser).  Bron was not being very participatory.  She kind of shut down, and I'm not sure why.  That's a new behaviour.  She perked up towards the end.  We stopped at Macca's on the way home, specifically because they were supposed to have the Halloween Boo Buckets.  But the one we went to didn't.  So that was a bummer.  The kids were at each other all evening.  But, they both went to sleep at reasonable hours, in their own beds.  Bron got in bed with me during the night, but that's fine.

Midday, I have a zoom appointment with Bronwyn's psychiatrist.  I'm not sure if the medicine is having the desired effect.  So we may change it up.  We'll see what she says.  After school today the kids and I are going to get our covid shots, and I need to pick up Bertram's Adderall.  

Wednesday I have my counseling, Thursday the kids have speech, and there is a scout meeting that I may try to take Bronwyn too, since she earned a badge, or patch, or something.  And Thursday night Aaron returns (yay!).  

Snapshot: Bronwyn (age 6)
Most days she gets up between 6:30-7.  She has been watching a lot of Disney+, namely Super Kitties and Spidey and His Friends.  Every morning she has a vanilla Ensure for breakfast.  She wears uniforms, but always a dress or skirt, never pants.  She loves reading, and is reading books for 4th and 5th graders.  She likes Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Hilo, Science Comics, and many others.  Her eating habits have started to narrow again.  I need to get her back to trying new foods more often.  She loves salt.  She likes to play imaginative games with her different toys, usually the little plastic ones.  She loves stuffies.  She has recently gotten into playing more card games like Memory and Go Fish.  She also likes various board games.  Occasionally, she'll do some art.  But she's not as dexterous as she wants to be, so art can be hard.  I've been showing her more modern art to try to show her that art doesn't always look just like the thing it is.  She has a fairy garden that she is very into.  She like Crocs, but will wear other shoes.  She likes watching YouTube videos with Bertram.  They would probably do that a lot more, if I let them.  She is getting into music.  She like mostly older (80-90s) songs.  But has some other the pop hits on her list as well.  We go on an evening walk everyday, and she and Bertram fight over whose music to listen to, even though a lot of the songs are the same.  One song she can't stand, and won't tolerate is Rush-E.  

Snapshot: Bertram (age 9.5)
Most days, Bert gets up between 5:30-6, but sometimes as early as 5.  He doesn't have a lot of tv shows he likes, but he has YouTube channels that he watches.  I have to be fairly vigilant to make sure there isn't anything he shouldn't be looking at.  He likes Five Nights at Freddies, Rainbow Friends, Pokemon, and a channel called Game Theory.  Most mornings, he'll eat a PB&J.  Occasionally, he'll have cinnamon toast, cream of wheat, or a smoothie.  He doesn't have preferences about what he wears, as long as it's comfortable, elastic, or drawstring pants, t-shirts without buttons.  And Crocs.  He would be barefoot, or in Crocs all the time, if he could.  He likes reading, but not as much as he once did.  He's reading at grade level now.  He collects Pokemon cards, and has a lot of Legos.  He wants to learn magic tricks and coding.  He does coding via Scratch.  He's gotten pretty good, especially since he's self taught.  He also loves stuffies, and his bed is filled with lots of different ones.  He is of the opinion that school is useless, that he knows everything and is a genius.  Bertram likes drawing and making comics, he has made a lot of his own characters.  His least favourite subject is writing.  Bertram has an extensive Spotify list.  It's mostly video game music, but there is some pop mixed in, and various other types of music.  When we walk to school, he usually says "Can I tell you something?" I always hope it's going to be something personal, but it never is.  He usually tells me video game lore or cannon.  He loves animals, especially cats.  But has started to keep his door closed all the time because Oona keeps peeing on his things.  (I don't know what her deal is.  There is nothing medically wrong with her).  He doesn't take showers, just baths.  He still needs a little help washing his hair.  And he needs to learn to tie his shoes (for the PE days, when he has to wear trainers).  He is an atheist.  (Though, I don't think he knows that word).  And really doesn't like going to church with Aaron and Bron every week.  

February catch up

 The biggest news is we bought a car. A new car, not just new to us, I think it had 3 miles on it when we drove it home. I think more exciting than it being new, it's electric. It's very comfortable and fun to drive. It has all the bells and whistles. But considering that our current cars were an 07 and a 2010, anything new, even without the bells and whistles would have been amazing. My dad gave us a some money for the car, we used part of our savings/tax refund to finance the rest through our credit union.  The only thing I don't like about the car is the colour. It's silver. I really wanted a blue car.  I've never had blue (I've had rust orange, hunter green, silver, red, and now silver again).

Bron seems to be getting kicked out of class more frequently since the beginning of the year. She's hitting or kicking, or being generally disruptive.  She just seems kind of angry. And I can't think of any sort of triggering event. There have been no big changes, no traumas. We have an evaluation with children's psychiatry later this week. Hopefully we can help her better express herself.

Bertram has been doing pretty well. Nothing too exciting going on with him. He's had substitutes for the last 3 weeks, because his teacher caught covid. Hopefully, she'll be back today. For the past 3 weeks, he hasn't had any homework, which is a blessing and a curse. Homework is something that is a spot of contention, so sitting down together to do it sometimes feels torturous. But with no homework to do, he doesn't actually have a lot to do after school. I guess on no homework days, I should make him read or do chores or something.  But his behaviour has generally been good. He is set to graduate from ABA at the end of the month.

Aaron has been going on a lot of job interviews as of late. He really doesn't like the way his department is being run, and when he, and other employees voice their concerns they're brushed off, gaslit, or ignored completely. It seems very frustrating and demoralizing. So he's had quite a few interviews (all this within the county), and a few 2nd interviews as well. So hopefully he'll find something that is a better fit for his talents.

I'm presently in Virginia visiting my sister and her new baby, Eddie. Well, I'm staying with my mom and stepdad, but the purpose of the visit was to meet the baby. He's a very serious baby, at least so far. It was/is a short trip Thurs -tues. 

My scrappy quilt 2 is about 80% done. I've had to do a lot of hand quilting. I'm getting quicker, but it's a slow process.  My other current project is my temperature quilt. I've kept up with it so far, except I need to get ahead on my cutting. Maybe, finally get all the squares cut.

Mid December

 Everyone has been sick. It started with Bron and went to my MiL and FiL, then Aaron, Bertram, and lastly me.  Aaron has been sick for almost 3 weeks at this point, since Thanksgiving. He still has a cough, but aside from that is nearly back to normal. Bertram has been sick for a week, decent fevers, coughing, stuffy nose. I had it as well, but only had a real fever for a couple days. Now, I'm just run-down, and stuffy. We finally got Bert in to see the doctor today, and it looks like it's the flu. Even though we all got our shots, we got it anyway (for the first time ever). He has to be 24 hours fever free before returning to school. So hopefully he can return on Tuesday.

So Bertram was home all last week. Aaron was WfH all last week. Bron went to school at usual.  I worry Bertram will have a hard time catching up, as school work isn't his forte to start with. We've been working in his math book, and online program. But we have a lot of writing to do, which is his weak point. He missed a lot of fun stuff too, his last anime drawing class, the regular art class, science at school, his class musical performance, the book fair. It was not a great week to be sick, though, there is rarely a good time to be sick. 

Bronwyn had her book fair this week as well, and enjoyed getting new books, she chose one for Bert too, which is really nice. She had her musical performance as well.  A little holiday musical. I couldn't go, I was sick, and I needed to stay with sick Bertram. Aaron took her. And everything was too different: school at night (especially school at night), no backpacks, parents being there. She ended up not participating, and sat in the audience instead.

Waffles got spayed at the beginning of the month. She still has her cone on. She hates it, but is navigating a little better.

Monty is still being a good boy. His first training class on Saturday.

I finished the subway quilt, but I hated the binding, so I tore it off, and need to buy a new one.

I'm slowly getting the quilting done on my sister's quilt. I am doing some by hand, much to me chagrin. But the quilt is so large, it's very hard to maneuver in the machine, and my machine is running a little loudly. I think we need to get it looked at. 

6am Catch up

 We had an ok Thanksgiving.  We  went to Aaron's cousin's house, which is fine.  But Aaron's parents' house is more conducive to entertaining.  I wasn't feeling super social to begin with.  Then I got to hear the two old men complain about how drag queens are somehow corrupting the children.  Not sure how, but they are.  So I most hung out alone, and played on my phone.  I brought Monty, so I walked him once or twice.  Sophie's dog really liked Monty.  Like he kept trying to hump Monty.  Monty was not happy about this.  Dinner was good.  I was bummed that there was no sweet potato casserole.  I like to make it, but someone else was bringing sweet potatoes and I didn't want to step on any toes.     

We did a little Black Friday shopping.  Mostly at Joann's.  We've been doing a lot of quilting lately.  More on that later.  We also went to Target, but only for usual things.  I bought a couple things online, mostly pants for Bertram.  He seems to have gotten tall all of a sudden, and his 7s are too short.  Almost all my Christmas shopping has been via Amazon.  And I'm nearly done, I just need Rebecca, and my step dad.  I'm going to make cookies for my FiL.  Saturday we went to Maker's Fair for Small Business Saturday.  We bought a few things.  I want to go again next year, sans kids.

At Maker's Fair, with her purse and dino.

We also got the Christmas tree up, and the decorations out.  Usually we do this Black Friday, but Aaron was feeling particularly sick that day, so we did it Saturday, which didn't feel right to me.  And because it didn't feel right, we didn't put out the outside lights.  I just don't feel like it.  (Or feel like having Aaron spend an hour+ doing it, though I usually do it).  I have the kids stockings done, little gifts for Hanukkah, bought a menorah, and candles.

Waffles got spayed this week.  She is still in her cone, because her surgery suit isn't here yet.  Hopefully today.  She's starting to be more like herself again.  But, hates the cone, of course.

Aaron has been sick for about 2 weeks.  I think it started as a virus, and became and infection, if that's possible.  He got amoxicillin this week, which is helping.  But he's still not 100%.  He was off work for 3 days.  Actually more, because he took a day or two before Thanksgiving.  He's starting to improve.  But is coughing a lot.  It's driving me crazy.  

A while back, in August, I started working on my sister's king-sized t-shirt quilt.  I started it, then took a 3 month break for no reason.  I made a lot of progress this week.  I got the top finished, got it pin-basted, and stitched in the ditch for the vertical lines. Before I basted it, I noticed the backing fabric was too short, so I had to get another sheet (twin-sized this time), to add about 5 inches to the quilt back.  I started quilting in each square, making a sort of baffle-box, though not really.  

Completed t-shirt quilt top

I also finished the scrappy quilt. It was one I made on the fly.  No plan, or pinning or ironing.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  For some reason, I don't have a completed picture. 

Nearly complete scrap quilt

A while back, I bought a batch of pre-cut strips from Joann's clearance bin.  I had this for a long time.  I came across them, and decided to make a subway tile quilt with them.  I had to buy supplemental fabric, and it ended up being lap sized.  I did different quilting.  I've never done triangles.  They turned out pretty good, though, I can tell my basting isn't as good as it should be. I decided to attempt the binding on my own.  Usually Aaron does it.  I bought machine quilting thread.  Which is apparently not made for my machine.  The bobbin kept getting jammed.  It was really irritating to have to fix the bobbing every 3 minutes.  So, it took a really long time.  And I thought I remembered how to do the corners, but I didn't.  So, the binding looks terrible.  And I don't like the colour with the quilt.  I think I'm going to take it off, and have Aaron redo it, in a different colour.

The subway tile quilt, done, but not redone.

The other thing Aaron and I have been working on together is Christmas quilts.  We made one for Aaron's mom, and we're in the process of making one fore his bio-mom.  I cut all the squares.  Aaron did all the sewing.  It turned out a little busy, but very Christmasy.  

The fabrics, all laid out

Monty in front of the basted quilt.

Aaron and Bron playing a video game.

animals on me and the scrap quilt.

Making the gingerbread house

My new ornament

Monty, in his purse

Always sewing.

Day 192

 Bertram had an IEP addendum meeting a couple weeks ago.  He can now "leave" school at 11:45, which helps some.  I think if I had realized in the summer how this was all going to pan out, I probably would have looked seriously into home-schooling or independent study.  Like all kids, especially ASD kids, it's hard.  It's far from optimal.  And since he has ABA (or speech) after school he's just go, go, go.  We may still change ABA to a shorter schedule.   Yesterday he had a great day "at" school, and he did the best he's done in a really long time with ABA, and he did his short day.  I don't want him skipping social studies/science everyday, but if that improves his behaviour that much it may be worth it.  The district has been perhaps hinting about changing up the day with less online instruction, but nothing has come, as of yet.

Bronwyn had the first half of her ASD assessment on Monday.  Nothing to report as of yet, not until we complete the second half in a couple weeks.  She's still reading a lot.  I have a running shirt with a turtle that says "Slow AF".  I asked her to read it, which she read as slow af (the af sound).  I was surprised that she did the phonic

Aaron got into a covid vaccine study, and got his first shot last week.  I think since his arm wasn't sore he  got the placebo,  but we'll find out at some point in the future.  

I've been working on my giant t-shirt quilt.  I have all the large panel's done, and I've started working on the sashing to even out the sides.  My yard project it currently at homeostasis.  It looks great, and there isn't a ton more work, except watering, and occasionally adding a few more seeds.  The actual quilting will be a large undertaking; due to the size and heft of the thing, most of it will have to be hand quilted.  I'm not sure why I quilt.  I don't particularly enjoy it.  I just enjoy the end result... which I guess is enough?

Day 17

Our shelter in place order has been updated through May 3rd.  School is out until Fall.  Hopefully we'll be back in Fall.

I only found out about school this morning.  I feel gutted and panicked.  I am not cut out for this; I have no pedagogical skills.  At least, not without significant preparation.  I have a hard time making it fun for Bertie, and I have to push him to do it.  Plus I'm hoping he's getting something out of it.  Really, he needs school for the routine and cooperation skills. 

The only time I go anywhere is driving Bertie to speech.  And walks and stuff.  But I haven't been to a store in over 2 weeks, I haven't been anywhere, except Speech.

I'm sad, and tired.  I need to talk to my psychiatrist, except, it's only been a month since my last med change.  So I'm not sure he'd change them yet.

I've been ordering a lot of various things from Amazon.  We got a small swing set (just swings) for the kids.  Also, bubbles. 

Bron hasn't been eating well lately.  All of a sudden she'll only eat chicken nuggets, french fries, pancakes, apple sauce, cereal, occasionally bananas, pistachios, bread, and that's about it.

Aaron has been working from home.  Which is good, for the most part. 

Our cat

Elephant and piggie

School work

Bubbles

bubbles

ABA

Chicken pot pie with phyllo crust

Nightly call to grandma and grandpa

We played make up

She has been a grump

Playing in the rain

Aaron made our sim family

Bertram's 3-d pacman (pacmen?)

She loves hats

Reading on the Libby app

Painting coffee filter Easter eggs

My paint by number

Mid December

Training has been going ok.  Wednesday was a longer running section.  I'd been doing 2 minutes of running, followed by 2 minutes of walking, repeated for 30ish minutes.  Sometimes that was ok, sometimes it was a struggle.  Wednesday was 3 run, 2 walk.  I was dreading it, but it went really well, and I didn't wish I was dead.  I've kept up with workouts with week.  And I ever threw in an extra one after running on Wednesday.  I've been wanting to do more leg/butt strengthening training, but I didn't want to be sore for running.  I figured Wednesday to Saturday would be enough recovery, which it was.  So I may have start including that, when the kids will let me.  I haven't done my 4 mile run yet (it's 2/2).  I didn't sleep great, and was exhausted when the alarm went off.  But I should be able to do it some point this morning.

Everyone is well again, finally.  And, I think we've finally found a solution for Bertram's sleeping issues.  We had to stay in his room til he fell asleep, and then he'd wake up several times in the night and either get in bed with us, or we'd have to sleep with him.  One night, I left the reading light on in his room.  (We call it the Nana light, as it used to only be in the room when my mom visited).  He slept all night.  Now we've done it for the past 4 nights, and he stays in his room all night.  I think he was waking up in the dark and feeling lost or confused.  Now when he wakes up, he sees all is well and goes back to sleep.  Hallelujah!  I got several nights of 6 hours uninterrupted sleep, it was amazing.

Bertram is doing well with school.  He plays with a couple other boys, Kunal and Mayson.  (I don't think I mentioned previously that Bertram bit Mayson.  It was a confusing situation, since the teacher didn't see it happen.  Bertram said Mayson put his finger in Bertie's mouth while he was talking.  Which sounded like a lie, but Mayson later told the teacher the same thing.  So I'm not sure.  But I made Bertram write an apology note, and I apologized to his mom.)  I made his appointment for Kindergarten registration.  :sob:  I can't believe he'll be starting real school in the fall.  The district used to do half day kindergarten, but stopped (I'd guess) because parents had issue with child care.  I'm bummed that he'll be gone all day.  Plus that seems like a long time for a kid to sit still and listen.

Bronwyn has been picking up a lot of new words lately.  She calls our cat meow-meow.  She loves the Christmas trees and lights.  I counted yesterday, and she has almost 30 words (she'll be 17 months in a few days).  I think when Bertram was 18 months he had about 80 words, so she'll be close to that, I think.  She is very dramatic, and will throw herself to the floor when she is unhappy with something.  She is getting molars.  She has been eschewing all naps lately.  She still needs them, she just refuses.  It's irritating, because then she's a grump, which in turn makes me a grump. She was doing a pattern of wake up around 7, back to sleep around 8 until 10:30 or 11.  Then nap again from 1-3ish.  Maybe she only needs one nap now. I guess I'll have to experiment with that.  She is at an age that makes it very hard for me to do things while she's awake.  She is our little octopus, hands into everything.  And she still loves to put everything in her mouth. 

Aaron is currently hating his new job.  It doesn't seem like a very defined position.  For the first couple weeks no one knew what he should be doing with his time.  Then they had him work on a project that got scrapped.  So now he's back to reading manuals and twiddling his thumbs. 

My depression game is still strong.  I think I'm going to have to switch meds again.  What I'm on might be working if I were also taking Adderall, but Bron is still nursing, so I'll have to wait.

November

Aaron's arm finally got better.  It seems like it took a long time, but it's back to normal now.  He starts a new position on Monday.  It's mostly a lateral move (but he loses his office, and is back in cube land).  But there are more opportunities for advancement in the new position.  I think he's a trainer, it's hard to tell, all jobs within the county seem the same to me.

My mom has been here for a week.  I love when she visits. 

We went to the aquarium at the beginning of the week.  This was the first time that Bronwyn was interested in the fish.  It was a good trip.  We were all tired by the end of the day.  And the kids slept a good bit of the drive home.

We had a good Halloween.  Bertie was dressed as Tracker from Paw Patrol and Bron was a flamingo.  And Aaron was Gandalf.  I didn't dress up this year.  We had a trunk or treat at church on the Friday before, and the kids went trick or treating on Wednesday.  We bought a bunch of candy, but only had about 30 kids come by.

 
Bertram has been doing pretty well at school.  He had been having some separation anxiety, but seems to be doing well lately.  He's made some friends.  He was upset at one point, because there was a "new kid".  Then, he made friends with the new kid, Kunal.  Now, his friends are Kunal, Mayson and Millie.  I still can't get a ton of information about what he does at school, but he's always happy at the end of the day.  His writing is really improving.  And he is really loving reading.  He reads on his own a lot now, as well as being read to.

Bronwyn is getting into reading too.  She likes lift the flap books.  Tonight she had Aaron read her a book (Where is Spot?), then she brought it to me to read, then my mom.  But, she loves to get books off the shelf and look at all the pictures.  She is repeating more words.  Her current vocabulary is: mama, dada, ball, dog, hi, bye, num num, up, down. Pretty good for 15 months.  She is walking all the time.  She loves carbonated water.  Tonight she started climbing, and standing on a little chair.  Then she'd smile, in a very cheeky fashion.

My sister is running a half marathon next week (her first).  She inspired me to do the same.  I signed up for the Silicon Valley Half Marathon in April.  I've read that 6 months is enough time to train (from 0).  I found a training program to follow.    I start on Monday.  I'm nervous about failing.  I'm nervous about my stamina.  But I'm glad about being proactive for my health.  And I've paid the fee, so I'm committed.

Catching up again

I'm towards the end of a 10-day social media fast.  I really hate it.  I think's harder as a stay at home mom. Social media is sort of how I have friends.  It's been lonely, and isolating. It was suggested in the general conference for church to do a 10-day social media fast, and (re-)read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year.  I've mentioned it before, but I have pretty much no faith at the moment.  Well, no feeling of faith.  I try, and I just don't feel like I'm getting it, if that makes any sense.  So, I thought, I would try to follow the advice of the president of the church, and see if it might bring me closer to Christ.  In the recent past, the more I try the further away I feel.  But I thought I'd try again.  Try and try again.  No results so far, but I'm not any worse off because of it.  (Except the isolation).

Last Saturday Aaron help his cousin build a fence.  He was sore for a few days, and mentioned his arm was bothering him.  Tuesday Bronwyn and I went to Kaiser.  I did my quarterly blood draw, and Bron got her HiB, Pneumococcal, and tDap boosters.  Tuesday after work, Aaron mentioned his arm was really starting to bother him.  He went to Urgent Care in the evening.  They said it was tendinitis. Tuesday night, he took ibuprofen and benedryl and went to bed early.  I came back around midnight.  And he was awake in pain that got worse.  He was writhing and moaning.  He took a Norco, and it didn't touch the pain.  So around 3 am, I called my Mother in Law (who lives 2 houses away) to ask her to stay with the kids.  We went back to Kaiser, to the ER.  There are no wait, which was nice, we were out in under an hour.  He saw the NP, she confirmed that it was tendinitis.  He got a shot of to tordol and dilaudid.  It took a while, but those helped some, and he finally went to sleep.  He stayed home from work Wednesday.  His arm was still hurting.  We went back to Kaiser that afternoon.  Aaron saw another doctor who wrote him a prescription for Flexeril.  He took that, it worked, then slept for about 17 hours straight.  Friday he went back to work.  So it was a fun week.

I have a bad memory

I want to write all about our trip to Virginia, but I don't have my daily journal in front of me, so I probably won't remember enough details.

The flight out was good.  The kids both did very well.  We only had 55 minutes to make our connection in Chicago (well, less.  It was 55 minutes til the next plane left).  So I had to hustle Bertie across the airport.  We had a long way between gates.  The second flight was pretty bumpy.  And of course, on that one, he needed to go to the bathroom 3 times.  (Three times in 2 hours.)  I felt bad for him though.  He really needed to poop.  And it was when it was bumpy and the flight attendant was serving drinks.  I push the call button, and she moved for us, but it was just a little too late (just a skid mark, but he never has accidents). 

My mom has a port-a-crib for Bronwyn (in the room where I was sleeping) and a twin bed for Bertram.  Bronwyn slept well overall, especially after I moved her crib into the walk in closet.  She was sleeping for 8-9 hours a night!  Bertram did so-so.  Every night at bed time, he would start a chorus of "I want to go home".  He was really sad, and I felt very sad for him.  We gave him melatonin most nights, to help him settle.  Once he was asleep, he did fairly well.  But he did wake up early quite a bit.

While we were there, I started and stopped eating wheat.  It seems to be what is upsetting Bron.  She gets rashy and gassy.  (Being wheat free is really annoying.)  So I found different gluten-free things to eat.

The weather was dreary for most of the trip.  Drizzle, rain, and a lot of cold.  So we didn't get outside as much as I would have liked.  Usually we do a lot of walking, but hardly did any this time.

We got to see my Nanny a couple of times, and two of my aunts.  We did a fair amount of shopping.  I got to hang out with my sister a lot, and see her new house(I can't believe my little sister is a homeowner).

Aaron flew out after a week to hang out too.  We took Bertram to the trampoline park one day.  I am very out of shape.  He had fun, but he's still not jumping. 

The flights home were fine.  We had to get up at 4am, but other than that there were no issues.  Both kids did fairly well.  Bertie slept for an hour or 2.  He had a small melt down, but he's 3 and a half, and sitting still that long is no fun.

Since we've been home, his sleep patterns haven't been very good.  He's very tired and will be asleep by 8 every night, but he'll wake up between 5-6 and not go back to sleep.  Then he is really tired throughout the day, but won't nap.  And then is a really grump.  Hopefully, he'll get back into the rhythm soon.

Bronwyn is 4 months old today.  She is sleeping 7-9 hours at night, and naps throughout the day (not really on any schedule yet).  She rolls over both ways.  She likes sitting in the bumbo seat, and holds her head up well.  She pushes up onto her arms when laying on her tummy.  She loves smiling.  She doesn't laugh much (only Rebecca has made her laugh so far).  She doesn't vocalize much either.  She loves sucking on her fingers, or thumb.  Her eyes are starting to become a grey/brown/green.  I think she looks more like me, at least for now.  She is still a great nurser.  And I'll probably wait until 6 months to start introducing food (unless she really shows interest earlier).

Bertram has gotten really interested in maps.  He loves geography.  He can name all the states and most (or all) the capitals.  He knows some of the countries/continents, and oceans.  He also likes the solar system.  He knows all the planets, some of the moons, and some dwarf planets.  He knows a lot of sight words, but isn't sounding out words yet.  He watches a lot of youtube videos about these subjects.  He likes Phineas and Ferb, SpongeBob, and Teen Titans Go.  (Though, we really only watch Phineas and Ferb regularly).  He loves reading, and we go to the library every two or three weeks.  He still can't really say "S" sounds.  (Mississippi sound like Mi-i-i-ppi).  He likes a lot of different foods, lately he's been into cheeseburgers and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  He loves Bronwyn, and being a big brother.

I have to say, as hard as it is sometimes, I really love being these kids mom.  I think about a third sometimes (already).  And, I'd love to have another.  But I think two might be our number.  Our house is fairly small, and there is a lot of expense that comes with a third (bigger car, traveling gets harder and costlier).  Plus, I worry about Bronwyn becoming a middle child.  As a middle child, I can say it's not a great place in the birth order.  However, I love my little sister, and can't imagine how things would be without her.  It's still up in the air, and there is time to decide.  But that's where I'm at currently. 

Waiting to get on the plane

Rebecca loves baby snuggles

Blurry, fashion baby

Bertram and Rami

The night no kids wanted to sleep

Bertram and Nana

Reading

Four generations (all ladies)

Four generations

Bronwyn's fuzzy head

Bertie fell asleep across my lap, and Bron was nursing

Another cute outfit

I love them.