Lil Delay on my first 5k..

Today was supposed to be the first 5k of the year.  I set a goal at the beginning of the year to run in at least THREE 5k's.  Today was to be my first and I have faithfully trained for this for three months now and felt pretty confident that I could run the entire 3.2 miles, but Mr. Caleb decided to have a hospital stay and demands mom's attention.. So, there will be more 5k's.

A bit of me is disappointed as I have had the count down going, my thoughts will be with those running the 5k and 1/2 marathon today.. See ya Next Year!!

No tears... Cracked Lips... Yep, We're Dehydrated!!

So my previous post was calling out for advice on how to get more liquids into a kid that will drink NO OTHER liquids but rice milk. And when his tummy was sick, even rice milk was not going in.

We ended up in the hospital on Thursday morning. No tears, no saliva and lost 1/2 a pound in one day.. My poor bugger was so sick. His little bottom was so sore from constantly going to the bathroom. I knew immediately when he messed his diaper again because he would scream from pain. Its always so heart wrenching when your child is sick.

He has been in for two days now and I am expected discharge today.  He's got his spunk back, he's eating and drinking and quite frankly I AM TIRED OF WATCHING BLUE'S CLUES!!!   There are about 10 channels on the tv here with PBS being the most kid friendly channel, so we have been watching Blue's Clues videos non-stop for three days...UGH   A mama can only take so much of this stuff when I'm confined the the same room and have no other choice to to watch this over, and over and over and over... At least at home I can go about my business and clean or watch a different TV..  I'm just glad that Caleb is content to sit and  watch something repeatedly and still have a gigantic smile on his face with each show.  That is mostly what I watch and enjoy!!

I am looking forward to seeing the other kids today.  This was one of our shortest hospital stays on record but its during tax season when daddy has to work extra long hours and now mommy is away at the hospital with Caleb, we had four kids staying at three different houses.  (Thanks Aunt Cathy, Aunt Megan, Grandma, and no today Nana!!)

As always, its been a learning experience for me.  I got to sit and talk with a dietitian yesterday about his lack of desire to drink ANYTHING but rice milk.  She said that everything I am doing as far as "trying" to introduce different things on occasion is what I'm supposed to do, she gave me some extra ideas to try..  She also said that since I thicken their liquids with Thick It I actually need to get even more fluids in them because the Thick It sucks up some on the fluid converts it to a starch (or something like to that affect).  So I will be more aware of how much they are drinking now.  And we both agreed that there are sensory issues that we need to deal with as well with a speech therapist.

Also, I got a recipe to make my own rice milk.  My husband told me before that I could do this but I didn't think I had the time or patience to add another TO DO to my list, but I have been informed that its very easy and it would save us a ton of money.  We spend an average of $50 a month just on rice milk.  I guess I'll fold and give it a try.

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!!  Again, God has been so good to us with the care we've received and Caleb being on his best behavior (despite immediately YELLING at all medical staff that enters the room and is about to touch him..lol)

Help needed with getting Liquids in my boys...

Ok this is a LONG overdue post. I have been trying different things and asking several people for advice, but to no avail. My boys both have issues with drinking. I don't know if its a sensory thing, if its a flavor thing, or if its just them being stubborn (I don't think its stubbornness).

Ever since they were about 8 months old we have been thickening their liquids due to the fact that they both aspirate thin liquids. We continue to do this still today and they are 4 1/2 years old.

My problem is that today we were at the doctors office, Caleb is close to being dehydrated. We were given another day to push more liquids into him and we were to stay away from milk products. He has a stomach virus going on and its causing him severe diarrhea and occasional vomiting.

This is the conversation between me and doc today:

Doc: Go ahead and give him Pedilyte
Me: he won't drink it.
Doc: Ok then Gatorade will work
Me: he won't drink it
Doc: Ok, well then water down some soda
Me: he won't drink that either
Doc: Humm, well then jello or Popsicle
Me: He won't do either of them either..

So I have no other choice but to continue with the rice milk, but this is not the first time this has happened to us. Does anyone have any advice on how to get them to drink other things? We have tried putting juice in their milk, just to flavor it and see what they would do.. Throw their cup is what they did.

We've tried a small amounts of soda on a spoon before and NO! I don't think they like the coldness of the Popsicle and jello they they spit it right out...

I'm outta things to try. We've only really worked with the speech therapist about two years ago and nothing worked then. Who do we ask about this?? I'm at a loss????

Dinostars!!!

Elijah's K/1 Class just recently had their yearly musical play called Dinostars. It was really cute and the parents in charge of decorations and costumes did such a wonderful job. The play was really cute, and my lil Tranasauras Tex was C-U-T-E!!



Elijah did great with his speaking part...






Then after Elijah performed the 2/3 grade went up and played their fluteaphones, so I got to see Camille perform that day too... I didn't realize she was performing up on stage that day or I might have been a little more persistent about wearing dressier clothing.


She on the bottom left in a white t-shirt with a red shirt tied around her waist. She impresses us very much with how well she plays this instrument. We may just have another musician on our hands. Tristin has played the clarinet now for two years and she really likes it.

That's a Wrap....

This is BIG news!!!



I had to share photos!!



The boys were self-feeding themselves a chicken salad and spinach wrap




This is almost as big and having twins that are potty trained.....I'm hoping to start this over the summer.

Mama's proud of her boys :)



*pssst* Lets keep it up!!!!

31st Annual Run/Walk for Someone Special

When I was a little girl in elementary school I remember getting all excited to walk a walk in Sykesville with my family. We usually raised a little bit of money and had a fun family time together walking for a good cause. Then I moved onto middle school, high school, college, and then life. I honestly can say I didn't realize that the walk was still going strong each and every year. I had the privilege of becoming the Executive Director of The Arc of Jefferson County last year and had a hand in the end of planning for last years Run/Walk.

This year I have a new fire to again make this the biggest and best event yet. Last year we were so excited to have had over 300 participants show up. The Run/Walk for Someone Special is our biggest fund raiser and all monies raised stay completely local. The donations go towards funding a summer camp program we host called Camp Friendship, an autism camp that just started 2 years ago, a sign language workshop we began last year, a lending library available to our members, a parent support group that meets monthly, and the Saturday Adult recreation program we put on. There are so many people who benefit from the funds raised at this event. I have set up a FirstGiving page and would ask you to consider making a contribution towards my little guys future here at The Arc of Jefferson County.

Please visit my firstgiving page HERE or if you would like to read up on more about our organization you can visit http://www.jcarc.org