it's ok Maigan

My sister works in urgent care as a doctor.  She is here visiting me right now and gave me the following info, which is the latest updates doctors are getting from the CDC:

you are not likely to be at risk for this virus unless you have recently visited mexico or san diego county, california

more than 9000 people died of the regular influenza virus this past season, as they do nearly every year

normal precautions such as hand washing, covering mouth and nose when sneezing/coughing, etc should be very effective at preventing transmission

even if you come down with flu like symptoms right now, you will not be tested for this virus unless you were recently traveling in mexico, southern california or texas

I hope this helps honey...  even though the media are calling it the "swine flu Epidemic" it is so totally not an epidemic.  Just relax, use normal healthy prevention style precautions and try not to let the media storm make you frightened.  And don't be afraid of your pork chop.... it's yummy and it can't get you sick :)

xoxo

MaryStarr

Swine Flu...

So...I am totally freaked about this whole situation. My germ-o-phobe self is kicking into high gear. Any thoughts ladies??? I need someone to talk me down!!! They said on the news there are now confirmed cases in Washington. It's getting very close to home!! I know the regular flu kills thousands each year, but this seems way worse. I also know that there are anti-viral drugs that are effective...but still. Eli delivers to all sorts of doctor offices and hospitals...makes me nervous. Not to mention the girls...I know they can't live in a bubble, but it's very tempting to just take them inside and go into lock down mode until this is all over.

Maig

Busy But Good

We have been pretty busy. Today was a meeting with Samuel's preschool teacher and the head of student services for our school district to discuss him having a dedicated aid next year. It is looking like it will be a go for that. He is going back to his old preschool since he barely makes the cut-off for Kindergarten. He really flourishes when he gets one-on-one time and doesn't do well unless someone can be right with him to help with transitions.

Sarah, I cannot imagine going 12 years without knowing, 4 years were hard enough for me. Massive hugs and good thoughts going your way. I highly recommend attending your local chapter of Autism Society of America meetings. The one we are part of has given us a lot of insight. There are so many great parents who already have done a lot of research and have books and resources that they are willing to share. Not sure if it would help your son, but we started a weekly calender for Samuel that we keep on the fridge. We found a magnetized dry-erase board that has the days of the week already marked out. He has responded really well to knowing what will be happening in advance. We are also working on getting a schedule system set up for when we are out of the house shopping or traveling. We try to help him cope with day-to-day stress but have found that sometimes we just need to let him lay on the floor with a blanket on his head (seriously, he does this quite frequently and it helps). You are an amazing mother and I know you will do wonderfully with him. If you ever want someone to vent to let me know.

My favorite comment ever concerning special needs kids still comes from Vivian. We decided to talk to her about Samuel's diagnosis. We started to explain about some of the challenges and how Samuel is going to be a little different from other kids. She looked very puzzled and said "But he is just Samuel." I hope she forever has that attitude about him.

We have been looking into programs to help us pay for things but are finding that we make to much for almost all of them. We are waiting to hear back on a few.

hello!!!

OK- first- I haven't caught up on posts....so forgive me....

I just want to say that Matt was diagnosed as Autistic this past week. WOW. We've been 12 years without ever really knowing, because nobody would look at him.
Sad when the system fails you.

So now we are on the bandwagon looking for therapy, etc.

Riley is geared up and ready for summer. She can't wait to start school in the Fall. I would rather keep her home, but she will thrive. Registration is next week.

anywhoo....
will try to catch up ..


hugs.
sarah

Hello!

Well...it is a fine summer day in Spokane USA!! The sun is shining, the birds are out, and I am stuck in my office cave. It literally is a cave. I am on the back wall side of a circular cubical at this branch. I actually chose this place to get away from a co-worker with chronic illness. I just couldn't handle her coughing and hacking and snot snorting all the time. It was making me insane. I do get a lot more work done at this desk, but I do not have much to look at. Oh well.

So many posts!! First let me start off with my take on the foreclosure issue. Start off by contacting your mortgage company. Hopefully it's a larger lender because most large companies have entire departments dedicated to homeowner retention (ours is called the Home Preservation Team). Contrary to popular belief, the bank does not want your home. When all is said and done the bank will lose a lot more than they will gain on a repossession. They will probably be very willing to work with you. A lot of times they will put you into a plan with reduced payments for a specified time period then add the back interest onto the tail end of the loan. It allows you a reduced payment for 6 -12 months and you are not responsible for any type of balloon payment along the way.

On Kindergarten...I am actually thrilled that Lizzy is going to miss the state cutoff (Aug. 31st) and be forced to stay home another year. I believe in my heart that kids grow up way too fast as it is and if I can squeeze out one more year before I throw her out into the real world than so be it. When I look back on my life I can't figure out where the time goes...one more year at home is not going to hurt at all. And...if she turns out to be the sporting type one more year of maturity will give her an edge over the other kids. She is perfectly capable of going this year as she can write all of her letters and read small words, socially she is 4 going on 14...I just think that there is no hurry. I actually have a school all picked out for her, now I just have to wait and hope that we get in. It's a public school that is a Continuous Curriculum School. I am so excited to think that we will have several short breaks over the year opposed to a long summer break. I think she will stay sharp and we will have less behavior issues to deal with. There are only a few in our area and only one in our school district. Eli and I have really been on the fence between public or private and this is a great compromise. I was also a summer birthday kid (June) so I was younger than my classmates and it worked out fine, but as MaryStarr pointed out...if she needs to go up a grade down the road, then so be it. I have a lot of friends with September birthdays who were held back a year and they all loved it. They were bigger than their classmates, got to drive sooner...all that good stuff.

We are also preparing to plant a garden. Eli has greatly expanded our garden area from what it was last year and we are in the rock picking phase of our operation right now. It's very tedious, but I think it will be well worth the effort. Also going to be painting our house in the next few weeks...I will post before and after pictures of the grand event!!

We bought a kid pool off of Craig's List last weekend and I think it will be warm enough tonight to actually get into it. We filled it up last night and it too almost two hours. It's an 8' by 30" round one. Just big enough for Lizzy to stand up and not be over her head. Allie will have to be under constant surveillance though. I am hoping we can teach them to swim this summer. I like it because it has a filter system and is big enough to put chlorine tabs into so we can fill it once and keep it clean and I don't have to worry about bugs or algae. With our last pool I would fill and dump every time we used it because I am paranoid. This will be much better.

I guess that's pretty much it. I hope everyone is enjoying spring!!

Hugs,

Maigan

hi loves

Michelle!!!  Hi :)  Excellent to hear from you.... I am so jealous of your gardening.  Springtime is so nice in Wisconsin, too.  It has always been my favorite time to visit my sister.  So much joy and renewal in the air after you hard winters.  That SUCKS about Caleb and kindergarten.  Who lets their four year old CROSS THE STREET ALONE???  What, did they write that questionaire in 1910 when ll you had to worry about while crossing the street was a wagon and a model-t?  Ridiculous.  I am glad you like his pre-K.  And since he is a smarty then if he seems ready in a year or two you can try to skip him up a year.  I was an in between years kid... my hometown was so small that all the other kids were either 9 months to a year older or 9 months to a year younger.  There were two my same age but they both did homeschool.  So when it was time for school my parents held me in my montessori preschool an extra year, I guess they figured better to be the eldest than the youngest and they loved the montessori.  But it was always a bit awkward, and I ended up taking classes with two grades up anyways for all the subjects.  But I hated junior high so much at my backwards, hick local high school that I just skipped 8th grade and went to boarding school.  It was perfect.  I was exactly right with the other class, and it was just the right time to get out of there.  So maybe you will find a window for Caleb when you can move him up that will be just right for him :)

ok, gots to go although I still have much to say.  someday i will get on here with more than a minute to write.  today is my baby shower (fun!) in the botanical garden, and tomorrow I am 35 weeks.  In only two weeks if I went into labor my midwife would be able to deliver me at home (she does homebirth between 37 and 42 weeks).  So in two weeks I go into full on bring the baby mode.  My best friend will be here from chicago from the 8th through the 18th.  I am hoping to have the baby while she is here, so she can be with us.  I was there for both her girls, and since this is my last baby I want her to be here with me once too.  My sister will also try to make it from Wisconsin when I go into labor.  She actually made it to my birth when we were in NY, since my water broke at 7 am but I didn't start really active labor until 3pm.  She walked in the door from the hospital and things got going.  Maybe it will work out that way this time too... we shall see.   feeling good although I haven't gained a pound in 6 weeks.  That is just the way it works for me i guess, with the dietary restrictions and all the exercise from the diabetes.  Same thing with Ava, although I had gained more earlier in pregnancy with Ava.  So far I am at 18.5 pounds total, which is what I was at 28 weeks and have just held steady.  But baby is growing, and I am not tired so there is no cause for concern.  

miss and love you all so very, very much.

MaryStarr

Hey everyone,

Hope you all had a good Easter. The kids are on spring break now, and Scott is also off work for a few days, so its nice. We are doing some spring cleaning and getting the garden ready. We are putting up new chicken wire today because our old stuff was too big and was allowing rabbits to get in. This year I am planting strawberries and raspberries, which won't produce fruit until next year, and I'm planting sugar snap peas, green beans, cucumbers, potatoes, tomatoes, basil, lettuce, zuccini, and bell peppers. The garden is fairly large :) I am looking forward to working the earth.

I am also going to build a new compost box today. I haven't been composting for about a year, after my old box broke. Guess I am not that good at building boxes lol. You'd think nailing together 4 boards would be simple enough.

Caleb was born on the 27th of September, and our plan has always been early enrollment into Kindergarten, but he was flat out rejected! He's been in pre-K this school year, and now he's basically going to repeat the class. The school district is really firm on keeping the age limit, and the kids they will allow early entry "don't need to posess the skills to start Kindergarten, but need to be advanced beyond Kindergarten" which makes no sense to me. I had to fill out this survey application thing, and according to that he failed, but I scored Caleb as top in nearly everything. What I gave him low scores in were things like "can make small purchases" "can cross the street" and "can bathe himself" because we don't let him do those things on his own...he's 4! Well, he does bathe himself for the most part but doesn't draw the water or anything, so some of those questions were confusing to me. I asked if we could have Caleb's teachers fill it out since it was hard for me as a mom to judge my kid's behavior, and they said no. So that is that. They wouldn't meet with him or anything. They wouldn't even call his teachers and ask how he is in school. They basically gave Caleb no chance. So, its back to pre-K. At least I like the program there. They teach sign language and yoga on Fridays and Caleb is a pro at both.

My 3 kids are best friends and they play together constantly. Charity is in 1st grade, Tyler is in Kindergarten, and now there will be a year between he and Caleb, because of a few weeks difference in a birthday. Caleb is pretty smart, but apparantly the school district doesn't even want to know how smart he is.

Anyway, that obviously has bothered me. Charity meanwhile is a whiz at school and will be in the gifted and talented program next year (they don't start it in 1st grade, but they have at least been giving her more difficult work to do). Tyler on the other hand hates kindergarten. We are hoping he will change his mind over the summer. He loved preschool last year, so I'm not sure why he hates Kindergarten. I think part of the problem is that in the begining of the year there were a few boys that were picking on him. And I think part of the reason is thaty Tyler's ego is easily bruised, so if he doesn't get a perfect score on something he wants to give up.

So that's my update.

Keli, I hope you and Scott can pull through. Maybe Maigan can offer some advice on the foreclosure. If your loan was based with the Fanny or Freddie programs, you can get help from the government's bailout. I think there are other options too, for other loans. Here is a website with some stuff that might help. http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/eligibility.html

Amy, hang in there with Samuel! I wonder if there is a program that can help you with your medical expenses too, like maybe WIC or something similar.

MaryStarr that is funny about the dreads! I am sure you're right as to why they searched you at gunpoint, I bet that was scary too. I was arrested once. I punched Scott and spent the night in jail. It was before we were married. Haven't done it since! The diet must suck, but at least this is something you can manage. Hope the rest goes quickly, although I know how badly and slowly the last month feels.

Well, I'd better go and start working on the garden. Hope you all enjoy your spring!

where is 08 going ?!?!

hey sweetcakes-
it seems like we have all been so busy lately. i'm doing our taxes today and trying to not lose my mind. work is crazy busy and it always seems like there is something out there that has to be finished. we just found out the reily got into this incredible charter school (a type of montessouri that focuses on the arts, music, performing....ie marystarr's mecca). i'm still on my knees thanking the dear lord that she got in ;) we've decided that avery will need speech therapy. since she was such a late talker, her pronunciation and sentance formation is far behind. and although the lisp is cute, i would like her to catch up with her classmates. hopefully it will help once reily is in a different school and can't act as her spokesman !
keli-hang in there sweetheart. it has been rough for you guys - i was hoping for an update since you had been so quiet lately. big kisses darling.
marstarr- so no more babies ever ? for some reason i thought that you and matt wanted more than two but i must be mixing up my girls. how is the lil bean ? is ava ready to be a big sis ?
to everyone else, i miss you too ! got to finish my taxes and go get Easter supplies before getting the girls from school.

much love
kri

me too

sorry to be so mia

I have so much to respond to with you, dear keli.  I will try to sit down and write a real post tomorrow.

Amy, that is rough about the costs of therapy.  Have I told you lately that you're my hero?

actually, you all are. i miss you guys.  and i love you madly.

xoxo

MaryStarr

Hey, Sorry I haven't been around much. Been busy trying to find a second job. We just started getting the bills for Samuel's therapy and all I can say is ouch.

Amy