Pictures of my kiddos

Bragging Rights & Provoking Thoughts

Must brag:

DJ's speech is getting so much better! He said "with Melissa" today when I picked him up from school. Then when we were leaving, he said, "Bye friends!" It was so sweet. It was so clear. Amazing. He is doing so well.

Trevor has become my little helper. Helps me feed the cat (which in and of itself is amazing, since he is petrified of the cat), helps me load the dishwasher, helps me put shoes in the shoe basket. And he just eats up the praise.

Emily. What can I say about Miss Diva? She has no fear and her new favorite word is "climb", God help me. And she does it too. She has a speech eval tomorrow to make sure she can be discharged from Speech Therapy. Please please please.

OK, my mind is spinning. And for those who know me well, this is amazing...I am now beginning to wonder if DJ's autism was caused by vaccinations. Yes, I know, sit down. But I am reading Jenny McCarthy's new book and it talks about other aspects of vaccinations besides mercury/thimerosol. In the Hep B shot newborns receive when they are one day old, there are 250 mcg of aluminum. A recommended allowance of aluminum is 4-5 mcg per kg of body weight per day. Well based on DJ's birth weight, he would have been allowed 30 mcg. He was given 250. 250. It makes me sick to my stomach. Shame on me for not researching this sooner. I'm not saying this was the actual cause; I still believe it is something genetic or in the DNA, which is triggered by something in the environment. So I am now reading, reading, reading on aluminum.

The whole thing is making my mind spin.

Tropical Storm Kyle

We live in Maine. We are not supposed to get hurricanes. However, according to several news/weather sources, we are getting one on Sunday.

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/2008-09-25-kyle-atlantic_N.htm?csp=34

And here's the warning track from the National Hurricane Center:



Yeah, that's not looking so favorable.

Facebook, David Blaine & The Jonas Brothers

Has anyone else become addicted to this? I have a myspace page but never got addicted to that. I am getting in touch with all kinds of people from high school all of a sudden and it is awesome!

I can't stop checking in. It's very sad, really.

And what the hell is up with David Blaine hanging upside down for 60 hours? Does anyone really care? They are actually going to show him on TV doing this. Please.

And I am officially watching the Jonas Brothers for the first time ever (on DWTS). I suppose if I were 12, I'd be screaming too. OK, now I'm interested...Mark Ballas is dancing with them. MUCH more to my liking. :)

Reality Show Anonymous

Hi. I'm Stephanie and I'm a reality show junkie.

I am psyched the new shows have started. I have always watched the regulars (Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, Big Brother, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette) but I also watch The Real World, The RW/RR Challenge and now thanks to my sister, I am sucked into America's Got Talent and The Biggest Loser.

Thank heavens for TiVo.

And may I be as funny and adventurous as Chloris Leachman when I am 82.

Bulky Waste Dropoff

Our town has started something new, Bulky Waste Drop off. For a mere $30, you can take an entire carload of whatever you choose to get rid off and drop it off at the Town Works Dept. and they will dispose of it for you.

So this has been the motivation for Dave to finally clean out all the garbage we've had in the garage:

1 broken grill
2 dead vacuum cleaners
1 broken gazebo and all the wrought iron things to hold it up
1 dead weed whacker
2 computer monitors
1 dead lawn mower

Say a little Bulky Waste prayer that it will all fit in the van so we can get rid of it all. Thankfully, if it doesn't fit, they are offering this over the next few weekends as well. But he does NOT want to pay another $30 if we don't have to.

Now, if he'd just part with all of his Sports Illustrated magazines that he's been saving for years (and years and years and years and years).

Stickers

Who invented stickers? They have kept my boys occupied for more than one hour, which is a Steinmetz family record.

I love you, Mr. or Ms. Sticker Inventor.

xoxoxoxoxo

Mscellaneous Stuff

Update on the DVD player: it is off to the DVD player heavens. Some of it was due to the popcorn, pretzels and paper, some of it was due to an accountant attempting to fix a DVD player.

Today's post:

Allergies suck. I have no other words.

:(

What NOT to put in a DVD player

Pretzels, popcorn and paper.

It doesn't work when there are things in there that shouldn't be.

I have now seen what the inside of a DVD player looks like (very similar to a computer). I have now seen what happens when a screw is lost inside the DVD player.

No more food near the TV.

Sigh.

I'm changing my name

"Mommy. Mommy. Mommy."

"What, honey?"

"Mommy. Mommy. Mommy."

"Yes, dear."

"Mommy. Mommy. Mommy."

"What??"

"All gone."

(that was a conversation between Trevor and I)

"Mommymommymommymommymommymommymommy"

"What, Emily?"

"walrus" (she has a lovey that's a walrus)

"What about your walrus, sweetie?"

"mommymommymommymommymommymommy"

"What, sweetie?"

"Walrus, mommymommymommymommymommy"

(obviously between Em and I, we were in the car)

"Mama, Mama, Mama, Mama, Mama, Mama, Mama, Mama, Mama"

"Yes, DJ?"

"mamamamamamamamamamamamama"

and he then reaches to take my pony tail out.

I'm changing my name. How come they don't say "daddydaddydaddydaddydaddydaddydaddy"?

Autism Statistics

http://www.fightingautism.org/idea/autism-state-rankings.php

Maine is SECOND in the country, trailing only Minnesota in the number of children with autism. In the 2006-07 school year, 1 in 87 children had been diagnosed with autism.

http://www.fightingautism.org/idea/autism.php?

The number of children diagnosed with autism has been increasing in huge numbers over the last several years. Why? I think more kids who were previously diagnosed as having a behavior disorder are now being diagnosed properly with autism. I think the criteria changed (became more vague and more general) so more kids fall into the diagnosing criteria now. However, there is a missing piece that has yet to be found.

http://www.fightingautism.org/clock/index.php

How often is someone diagnosed with autism? How much does it cost a year? The numbers are staggering.

Bottle Redemption

Here in Maine we get to return bottles and cans for money. Fantastic, right? Well usually. Dave is in charge of this duty. He likes to collect (and collect and collect and collect) until we have enough to make it "worth it". So I am off to take TEN GARBAGE BAGS full of cans to the redemption center. In the pouring rain.

I'll update later to tell you how much we actually got.

We get 5 cents for each can and I think we get 10 cents for a bottle and wine bottles and some bigger bottles get 15 cents.

UPDATE: I got $44.40. I usually take the cans to a grocery store where they have redemption areas. This place was nasty dirty. ICK.

Kids say the darndest things

We spend a lot of time teaching manners. A lot. I will admit to being a bit prissy and think that manners are important. So when they cough, we teach the kids to cover their mouths. Say please. Say thank you.

So last night, Trevor burped. Twice. Loudly. I said, "OK, Trevor, what do you say after you burp?" He looked me dead in the eye and said, "YUMMY!!!"

I am in so much trouble.

My first post...who am I?

I'm a mom to three kids. I'm a stay at home mom. Really, though, I'm not since most of my time is on the road taking said kids to school and back every day. So I guess you could say I'm a stay in the car mom? Or a sometimes at home mom, sometimes in the car mom?

Anyway, my life as a mom began 3.5 years ago, when DJ and Trevor were born. I do believe I have two of the most energetic children ever to walk this earth. They are perpetual motion. And smart, which is not always a good combination. My daughter Emily is 2, and unfortunately for us, is the toddler version of her mother. She, too, is perpetual motion and very smart. A triple whammy.

I am sometimes called Super Mom or Super Woman because of the load on my proverbial plate. All three of my kids were preemies and spent time in the NICU (let me plug Maine Medical Center's Level III NICU here as well as the March of Dimes as without either of those organizations, none of my children would be here today). As a result of the premature births, however, all three have had developmental delays. DJ has been diagnosed with autism as well. Trevor also has what is called a nonverbal learning disorder (NLVD). He has problems processing language and answering questions, although somehow, he understands when Dora or Diego ask questions, sometimes in Spanish too (no, I'm not kidding).

My life has been one fight after another in the last few years and I have learned how hard you must advocate for your children when they need services (developmental, speech, occupational and physical therapies).

I have been told that I need to write a book. Well, that will never happen, and I doubt how interesting it would be. So instead of a book....here's a blog.

And yes, for those of you who know me well, I actually figured this out (well so far).