Christmas is almost here

I have really neglected this blog for the last couple of weeks. I have felt so overwhelmed with all of us being sick at various times during the last month. I think we are all healthy this week.
Now it's almost Christmas and it's time for us to get ready to drive to KC. The boys and I will be staying with our family for 9 days while Joe flies back during the week to work. I am excited to see friends and family and have help with my kids. I will even get to go to a movie or two and eat out with adults.
What else is happening... Braden turned 1 yesterday. He had his checkup and he is a tiny peanut! He only weighs 17lbs and is in the 3rd percentile for weight and tenth for height. He eats so much food and I don't know where it's all going! As long as he's healthy I'm happy he's so little. It's easier for me to carry him. He isn't quite walking on his own yet, still holding on to stuff and only taking 2 steps by himself.
Zane's new school building opens Jan 4th. It will be great for him to have such a nice place for his preschool. He will have the same teacher, class & bus but it will all be at a wonderful, brand new building.

What a week

We had a wonderful birthday party for Braden in KC last Saturday. It was a great time for us to catch up with family and friends we hadn't seen in a while and our first opportunity to see Jon & Steph in almost 4 yrs. We went to KC for Joe to go to a Chiefs game with his football buddies but I also saw a chance to celebrate Braden's first birthday away from the hectic Christmas holiday. Braden's actual bday is Dec 22 so he will always be lost in the Christmas rush.
Of course as soon as we get home we get sick. It seems we can hardly go a week without one of us catching something. This flu was very mild for Joe and I and only lasted a day but Zane got the worst of it. He had a high fever, vomit, constant big D, pink eye and a cold. His fever finally broke last night after more than 3 days over 100 but he's still coughing and congested. It has made for a very tiring week for me. At least Braden has stayed completely healthy and I have no idea how. I have caught little B a couple of times trying to drink from Zane's cup and chewing on Zane's toys.

The weekend is looking up for us. We are going out tonight to Port Edward Restaurant for a wonderful birthday celebration (for me) and to the movies to see Chronicles of Narnia.
Jon & Steph will stay with us for a few days as they visit supporters in the Chicago area. I just hope and pray Zane's health will continue to improve.

Today I am reaffirmed that my job as a mom really is extremely hard and Zane is tougher to handle than most kids. Zane had his 4 year checkup today and I discussed in depth with Dr. Kaufman about my frustrations with Zane's difficult behaviors, the O.C.D, O.D.D and the constant power struggle. Our next step is to do in depth testing with a neuro-psychologist so see if we can figure out what is really going on with his behavior. Zane has almost caught up with his speech and is doing well with O.T. but his behavior is his biggest obstacle to his learning. He would rather argue with the teacher about everything under the sun instead of cooperate and listen.

In other news, we had a great Thanksgiving at home and this time Joe's parents came to us. It was wonderful having help with the kids for a few days and we even got this family photo taken for our Christmas card. We did go shopping on Black Friday at 5am and it was a crazy time. We were compensated for waking up so early by finding great deals for our Christmas shopping. This weekend we'll be driving to KC for Joe to go to a Chiefs game. We shall also have a party to celebrate Braden's first birthday.

Zane Turns 4

Zane had a great birthday celebration with his grandparents on Sunday. I really can't believe he's 4 already. I was telling everyone he was 3 until the day of his birthday. My firstborn baby is really growing up!

I spent far too much time making a Sponge Bob cake. It took hours to decorate that sucker. Zane was in a very good mood all day and he seemed so happy. We went to Chuckie Cheese in the evening and had a great time with all the games.
Joe & I had trouble deciding what to get Zane as his main gift so I took him to Target and told him to pick out a toy for his birthday. Some kids might have gone crazy but Zane spent little time finding the large purple bucket of Legos and picking it out. Z quickly moved on to the bakery and the free cookie that he gets when he behaves well during shopping trips.
Yes, Zane is bald. If anyone likes his new haircut please post a comment- I'm very insecure about it since I did it and it came out much shorter than I planned.

Sicky Nikki

The flu is no fun at all. I have been completely wiped this week. Of course my boys are all at full strength and have plenty of energy to go around.
I got sick late Sunday after dinner with my MOPS friends. Much big D and vomit ensued. Joe had to come home from work Monday at lunchtime to help out with the kids because I was worthless. This week was wasted on my illness. I spent much time in bed either reading, sleeping or watching TV- things a mom is rarely allowed to do during the day.
I'm busy getting ready for this weekend. Zane is turning 4 on Sunday and my parents are coming in for the weekend to celebrate. No party this year, just a family celebration for Zane. We'll probably go to Chuckie Cheese for dinner and I'm making a Sponge Bob cake. He caught me wrapping presents yesterday and he got quite excited. When he hears the word birthday all he can think about is birthday cake so he started demanding it quite insistently. I had to say a million times that we have to wait until Sunday to open the presents and eat the cake.
We shaved Zane's head Sunday and it's bad- I won't be posting any pictures of him for a while because he is so bald. Above is the last picture of him with hair that anyone will see for a long time.

Rest & Trust

In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength. Isaiah 30:15

I love this verse. I just received a devotional from MOPS (www.mops.org) that's called Just Give Me A Little Piece of Quiet by Lorilee Craker. The very first chapter opened with this Bible verse from Isaiah and I immediately connected with it. It's a wonderful reminder for me that God will get me through any of my struggles and I can rest and trust in Him.

Braden is my miracle baby and his sweet presence reminds me of how gracious God is.

What a day

I received my wakeup call at 4:15am this morning and it was VERY unpleasant. Zane had woke up vomiting in his sleep and proceeded to throw up all over his bed and carpet. We quickly cleaned him up and went back to bed but this was just the start, he woke up sick a couple more times before he finally got up at 8am. The rest of us had a mild case of the flu last weekend but Zane seems to have gotten the worst of it. He is doing much better now and has been keeping fluids down all day but he has no interest in eating.

On to other more pleasant topics.

My new favorite website is: http://ewg.org/reports/skindeep2/index.php
It provides a safety rating for just about any personal care products on the market. I have been spending much of my online time lately finding out just how toxic some of my makeup really is. Actually this prompted me to go buy a few new things and throw out some old stuff. I tend to hold on to stuff far past it's expiration date so it was time to throw out the 3 yr old foundation.

Here's a picture of baby bear Braden and Mukenko. It has nothing to do with anything but it's cute.

It's nice to have friends

Isn't it nice to have friends? Here are pictures of my boys with friends their own ages. What isn't pictured is all the talking & relationship building I get to do with the other mom while our kids are playing.
It's important to me that Zane and Braden have playmates but far more important is for me to have a friend that I can share all the parenting woes with. It is SO nice to have friends.
Zane is playing with Ethan at Tom's Farm Market. They had a fun time running around the playground. Liz and I had a great time getting to catch up with each other in between the chasing and disciplining.
Braden is crawling around with his buddy Nolan. They are the same age but Nolan is about 4-5 pounds heavier. They seemed to enjoy pushing and pulling toys from each other. Brandi and I enjoyed talking about all the things our babies do.
It is So nice to have friends.

My O.D.D. Child

I have a special needs child.
It's tough to admit that because I've been in denial a long time. On the surface Zane looks normal. He has a speech delay and that's easy to explain to people. His behavior is much tougher to explain. We don't have a definitive explanation why he is the way he is. He's so young that it's difficult to tell what's really going on with him.
When Zane was born I didn't imagine he could be anything but perfect. His adorable dimples & bright blue eyes were and are extremely charming. The Lord has reminded me that he's not perfect over & over but being "perfect" is not what is important. This amazing blessing of Zane is more than I could ever deserve.
We had Zane's annual IEP meeting at school to discuss what progress he's made on his goals and to set new goals for the next year. The biggest thing Joe & I learned at this meeting is that Zane's behavior is holding him back and getting in the way of his learning. He spends the majority of his time fighting his teachers while he's at preschool instead of learning.
His teacher, Jeanne, suggested that Oppositional Defiant Disorder was one explanation for some of his behaviors and she believes we should research O.D.D. to see if it offers any answers. Zane is the most defiant, rebellious, strong-willed, difficult 3 yr old I've ever met. I guess it would be nice to know there is an reason, even if O.D.D. is not an easy answer.

What is a BLOG...And why do I have one?

I'm trying to figure out why on earth I have started my own blog.
Am I not busy enough?? No that's not it. My 2 boys keep me very busy and very tired.
I already have a website where I post pictures and news of my family. It is: http://jnrichards.homestead.com/index.html
I guess this will be an outlet for me. A way to vent frustrations and write stories. I need to remember this is for me and not anyone else. My mother told me I need to start writing down all the crazy/interesting/weird stuff that Zane does and I know she's right. So I shall think back on a story...
We were in KC over spring break and Zane had just discovered the garage door at the Richards house with a little help from Grandpa. They made it into a game with Zane controlling the remote to open and close the garage door while they walked in and out of the garage. At one point Zane was standing outside and Grandpa was inside the garage and Zane pushed the button to open the door. Zane did NOT want that door to go up so he grabbed it with both hands as it was lifting. He held on and was dangling in the air as Grandpa rushed to rescue him before the door was completely open. Zane was fine and not at all traumatized by this, he wanted to continue to play "garage door" but the game was over for them that day.
I have so many stories and my words don't do them justice. I'll just have to remember them as best I can.

Thursday... sigh

It's Thursday already, where has the week gone? Zane stayed home sick from school today with a cold. I should have made him go but he was coughing a lot when he woke up. Oh well, we had Grandma here to help out. Braden and I went to Baby Jamboree at the library this morning and little B was dressed as a cuddly little bear.
Our friends from KC, Karen & Matt Huber stayed at our house last weekend for 4 nights. The kids actually played pretty well together all things considered. Jackson (2 1/2) had to claim everything as his and was ofter taking toys from Braden but B has gotten used to being abused by Zane so he can take it. Here's a cute picture of Jack and Zane wrestling.