LaLaGirl - Twinfinite Chaos! Parenting Multiples and Dealing with Autism
LaLaGirl - Parenting 2 Sets of Twins and a Child with Autism
My littlest babies, Nikki and Lexi, are not even babies anymore. They are BIG GIRLS, big FIRST GRADERS. Kindergarten just flew by, and on Thursday, they graduated. Look how they’ve grown from the first day of Kindergarten:
Apparently learning to read, do math, and make friends causes children to grow like crazy. My big girls on graduation day:
Bring on summer!
Wow, I thought I’d have my whole house clean by now. It’s the third day of school, and the third day where I’ve had three whole hours to do whatever I want! So far, I’ve had lunch with my husband, gone out for ice cream with my teenager, and returned some shoes. Woohoo! I think I’m going to go shampoo the carpets, though, so…watch out. The day is still young.
Here are my big kiddos! Pablo and Mallory started 2nd grade! Time just flies. It doesn’t feel like very long ago that they started preschool and kindergarten. They’ve even grown a lot since they started 1st grade. Check out the big kids!
And speaking of big kids, how big do these girls look in their fancy new school clothes with their spiffy new backpacks? This is their first time EVER being away from me – I homeschooled for preschool, so I don’t even have any cute pictures of them from the past that I can link to. Ha! Here’s the first of what will be years and years of “front door pose” pictures, though! My kindies:
Life is good at the casa de chaos. And it’s QUIET.
Well. Here we are. Friday! A week ago at this time, Mallory was being diagnosed with pneumonia, Pablo was in the middle of a bad spell with his reactive airway disease, and the little girls were coughing like a pair of barking seals. And little did we know that day, that in just another twelve hours, we’d be rushing Pablo to the ER because of major abdominal distress. Our house was like a sick ward, with the smell of Vicks Vaporub hanging thickly in the air, the constant hum of the humidifier, and that loud ass nebulizer buzzing away every four hours, right on schedule.
Contrast that with today! The kids are using the toybox lid as a sled, and sliding down the entire flight of stairs to the basement. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and my little barrel of monkeys finally seems to feel better. It’s about fucking time, that’s all I have to say about that. I’m not certain we’re completely in the clear, as Pablo was just running a fever yesterday – but we’re 180 degrees from where we were a week ago.
We’re midway through the big kids’ track off from school. They got out on March 26th, and they don’t go back until April 20th. That’s three long weeks to spend at home with mom, and the last time they tracked off from school, I damned near lost my MIND! Of course, they were off for FIVE weeks that time, and it was right as we were moving into our new house. This time seems to be going a little better, in spite of the fact that we’re living in the quarantine house.
I fully expected to be clawing at the walls by now, after the seemingly endless snow and cold wind we had that first week, and the whiny sicko children this whole second week. But here we are. Just one week to go, and I’m already feeling sad about them going BACK to school! What? What’s going on here? Shouldn’t I be doing pirouettes around the living room at the very idea of restoring a small amount of order to my house? I’m not at all! I’m really ENJOYING having my kids all home, watching them make up little games and stories, doing art projects, destroying my house.
I’ve only got one week left with them! We need to really make next week COUNT! We’ve got to make our museum trip! We need to plant flowers! We need to ride our bikes to the park! We need to go get haircuts and eat sushi and buy new shoes! And we need to do it SOON, before we start wearing on each other’s nerves!
We’ll see what tune I’m singing NEXT Friday, when they’re heading back to school after the weekend!
Well, the past few days have pretty much sucked ass. Writing about all of that will really require another blog post. But I wanted to quickly take the time to post this video of Pablo. He’s learning to read! We’re so proud of him! Check it out – here he is reading sentences made of the keywords he’s learning in kindergarten:
What a big boy, learning to read! Goooo, Pablo!
Ahhhh! What’s that sound? Two little girls playing together happily, not bickering at all? Why, yes! It seems that our household is down two kids right now – because they’re at kindergarten again! After being home with me for five weeks, Pablo and Mallory have finally rejoined the Class of 2021, in their brand new school.
Yesterday was actually their first day, but it was a little bit disorganized, as I had to stay there for about 2 hours, filling out paperwork, meeting teachers, paras, therapists, and getting the kids all situated. Today, I just sent them out the door with daddy, wearing their backpacks and carrying their lunchboxes. After having 4 little ones home with me while recovering from surgery, packing, moving house, and unpacking, I’m very happy to have finally arrived at this day. And normal life begins NOW.
I feel like this is the most sporadically I’ve blogged…well, maybe ever! I know I’m never here. And it’s not that my heart isn’t in it or anything, I just can’t seem to catch my own ass. And when I do get online, I guess I don’t feel like writing. So many people in real life read my blog, I feel like it almost isn’t an outlet anymore. And I’ve been finding myself on Facebook a whole lot lately. I know I talked shit about Facebook in the past – and it sure isn’t perfect – but I do like the site. I’ve gotten in touch with so many old friends! Fun.
Anyway. If you’re one of those folks I know IRL *cough*MatJasonSteveJulieAmy*cough* don’t feel like you aren’t welcome here. You’re always welcome to read my boring ass posts, where I blather on and on! Feel free! I’m just feeling all conspicuous lately. You know me. It’s my husband’s fault. He’s all, “You share too much about us online! You’re a stalker’s wet dream!” blah blah blah. And I can’t seem to get back in the swing of it since we decided to up and move. Between my surgery and the move preparation, I just don’t have a lot of time for blogging. I miss it, though.
So, yeah. We closed on the house last Friday, although there was a small issue (a clerical issue combined with it being the week of Christmas) that’s preventing us from closing escrow. So, we haven’t been able to go appliance shopping yet. I thinkall the good deals will be after Christmas anyway, though, don’t you? I’ve picked out the stove I want, and I’m pretty set on a dishwasher. I think we’re going to cheap out on the microwave, and put the extra cash into the other appliances. I’m still not sure what fridge we’re getting. Isn’t that exciting, though? A new house AND fancy new shiny appliances? Be still, my heart.
The kids are excited about the move. Even Pablo keeps saying, “Time for new house!” I sort of barely mentioned in my last post that the kids are switching schools. I’ve been extra stressed out about that little detail. Change is hard for kids, but it’s ridiculously hard for kids like Pablo. Unfortunately, our new house is outside the boundary for our current school, and they wouldn’t let us stay. I really feel like it’s for the best, though. I have a good feeling about the new school. Pablo’s (wonderful, amazing) teacher went along with me to tour the school and she asked lots of great questions and reassured me that she’d be there for me, even after we leave. She’s a super advocate for Pablo (and all her kids) and I feel so blessed to have had her in our lives for a little while. And, I’m super impressed with the new school – the principal and vice principal visited our school to find out everything they could about Pablo and what he needs to be successful as a student. You never see the PRINCIPAL of a school getting involved at that level! I was impressed.
The day we closed, Paul and I went to the new house with the kids and ate our first meal there, sitting on the kitchen floor. Sonic! Kayley pointed out that we ate Sonic as our first meal in this house, too, when it was still very much under construction. After we ate, I walked across the street and said hello to our neighbors, who were out on the porch watching us. So, I met three neighbors – all stay-at-home moms. They were VERY nice! I am so excited to be moving into a neighborhood full of women like me, with kids running around everywhere! It’s going to be a great move for us.
So, that’s it for now! We’re doing Christmas at my parents’ house, if you were wondering. Our house is a mess of boxes. In fact, my sister was here all day Saturday, and we completely packed up my kitchen. We’re eating off paper plates and using about 5 cups and glasses at the moment. The whole house is slowly getting packed up. The only area still untouched is our master bedroom, master bath, and closets. Like always, our own shit gets left until the end – whether it’s the laundry or doctor’s appointments or whatever! Such is life when you’re up to your armpits in small children.
