My Little Trooper

These pics were taken the day after Olivia's surgery. Isn't she just precious? Can't tell she was ever put under and had surgery, huh? Just the sweetest little girl ever and those baby blues are to die for.

Olivia's Surgery

I guess I got myself worked up and worried for nothing b/c you would not even know Olivia had surgery yesterday. She is 100% herself and not in pain at all and eating everything.

Yesterday morning was a tough one b/c she woke up early and wanted breakfast and juice, but she couldn't have any, so she just cried until we got into the car to leave. We checked in at 8:45am and then went into the room at 9:15, spoke w/ the doctor, nurses and anesthesiologist. We changed her into scrubs and then at 10:10 she walked down the hall with the anesthesiologist, holding her hand. She didn't cry at all or even look back to see if I was coming or not. Erik and I then headed off to the FamilyWaiting Room.

By 10:45 the doctor came out and told us she did great. She was still sleeping, so he would come get us once she woke up. We went into the recovery room at 11:15 when she finally woke up and we stayed there with her until about 12:30. She was fine and just sat on my lap carefully making sure she didn't move her arm that had the IV still in it. She ate 3 popsicles and was talking and watching TV. We left around 12:30 and the only tears while we were there was when the nurse was taking the tape off her arm that was holding the IV, other than that, she was great.

She slept for a while when we got home yesterday, but once she woke up, she was like nothing happened. Same this morning, she woke up happy as could be and I couldn't be happier!

Scott is still at my inlaws and I think Olivia might go there tonight for the rest of the week since she is doing so well b/c I have to go back to work tomorrow.

Princess Tea Party

My cousin Michelle, Sarah and I brought Alexa, Lindsey and Olivia to a Princess Tea Party today. One of the girl scout troops were hosting it at Sacred Heart School in Danbury. I thought it was a great idea and something different to do with the girls. They got to dress up in their princess dresses and got to sit in a princess chair, take a picture with a prince, play princess games, danced and had some snacks. It was fun and I think they really enjoyed it. Olivia has been waiting for this day for like 3 weeks now, so she was quite excited when she was getting ready. There were about 35 princesses their during our time slot and they were saying that the 2nd time slot had about 50 princesses coming. Good turn out!!

Surgery Update/Scott's 4 month check up

I ended up taking Olivia to the ENT yesterday since I had off from work and she had been sick all weekend with a fever and runny nose. I knew she had an ear infection. After battling them for 3 years, you pretty much know the signs. She was supposed to go tomorrow for her follow up visit and hearing tests and to figure out what path we were going to take, but I didn't think she should wait that long. Sure enough her ears are infected, not a full blown ear infection, but soon they would be. We have decided to do the surgery b/c it does not look like she is going to grow out of this. I wanted to only do the tube surgery, but the doctor really thinks that her problem is with her adenoids and that is where her infection begins and then settles in her ears, so why prolong the inevitable. I thought we would have some time, but they scheduled the surgery for next Tuesday! I am so scared and devastated especially hearing that they just take her away from you when she is still awake and you can't really explain what is going on. I am going to be a wreck! I will keep everyone updated.

Scott's appointment went much better! He weighs a whopping 16 lbs and is 25 inches, 75th percentile for weight, 50th for height. He grew 2 inches and gained 3 pounds in 2 months (since his 2 month check up). He impressed the doctor with all of his tricks and he is right on target. He had to get 3 shots, but he did well. He was a little out of it today and not himself but not that bad said Michelle, so that is good. He goes back to the doctor in 2 months for his 6 month check up. He can start on solids now b/c of his size, so this should be fun! It's so fun having a plump baby since Olivia is such a skinny balink!

Scott's Baptism

Yesterday was Scott's baptism at St. Joe's. It was a great day and he was so good. I honestly don't think he cried once yesterday.

His Godparents, Diana and Michael came over in the morning to get him dressed and put his cross on him. We all went to mass prior to the baptism. Because 40 hours of devotion started yesterday right after the 11am mass, the Baptism had to be held in the day chapel rather than in the church. It was kind of upsetting since the church is so beautiful and it was hard to fit all of our family and friends in the day chapel b/c there was another Baptism yesterday as well, but it all worked out.

We had the reception at my aunt's house afterwards and it was a great day. My mom and my aunt did a wonderful job hosting and I don't know what I would have done with out them. They both cooked and everyone kept saying how fantastic the food was. My inlaws brought the cake which was phenomenal and everyone really enjoyed that too.

All of the big girls took Scott all day so I hardly got to see him, but it sure kept him occupied b/c he didn't make a peep all day, but he was so tired last night, all he wanted to do was to go to bed. I think he would have gone to bed without his night bottle, that's how tired he was. It's 8:30 right now and he is still sound asleep.

I took today off to help clean up my aunt's house and Scott has his 4 month check up today. Olivia is now sick again!! She just got off the antibiotics last week, so I guess the tubes are inevitable! She has her ENT appointment on Thursday, but I am thinking I may have to bring her there earlier than that, but we can never seem to make it to our scheduled appointment and the ENT does not want her to go the pediatrician for ear infections, he wants her to go to them officially. I think what I will do is when I bring Scott in today for his 4 month appt is to have the Dr. check Olivia's ears and just let me know if they are infected or not and then if they are, call the ENT and bring her in. Oh joy!

Anyway, enjoy the pictures from Scott's Baptism. My camera ran out of memory at the church so we didn't get any pics of the actual Baptism, but there were about 40 cameras going off and I know my inlaws took some fantastic pictures yesterday, so I will update once I get the other ones.

I also added pictures of the kids in their St. Patty's Day green in an entry yesterday.

St. Patty's Day

I took some pictures of the kids on St. Patty's Day in their green. I thought they looked adorable.

Tomorrow I will add the pictures from Scott's Baptism from today. I am exhausted, so I will write about tomorrow and add the pictures. He was such a good baby today!

On Track

Well, tomorrow I will have survived my first week back at work after being out for 4 months enjoying my beautiful baby boy. I got used to being a stay at home mom. Everyone asked if I was relieved to get back out there, but I wasn't. Surprisingly enough, I really enjoyed it. It was so hard leaving him, but he is in the best care and is loved so much by my cousin Michelle who is watching him while I am at work. He is such a good by and it is a relief knowing that he is being taken care of by my cousin rather than being in a daycare. I know daycares are safe, but I truly am blessed that I have family that is willing to do this for me and for my baby.

I miss him so much and it is a terrible feeling knowing I only have about 2 hours a night to schmoop my baby, but I savor every moment I have with him and of course my sweet little girl Olivia as well. It stinks that we all get home and settled in around 6:00, have dinner, baths, books, pj's and bed, but you take those moments in and really suck it all in.

The mornings haven't been as difficult as I had anticipated getting 2 kids ready. We have our schedule down pat. I get up with Erik around 5:30/6:00, he makes his coffee and is out the door. I jump in the shower, have a cup of coffee, get myself completely ready and bags packed and put by the door. Around 7, I wake up Olivia, feed her breakfast, get her ready. Then I get Scott up, change his diaper and put him in his carseat and we are out the door by 7:30. Michelle lives right around the corner and my son is so good that he waits for his first bottle at 8am and Michelle feeds him. I drop him off and then take Olivia to school and then I am on my way to work. Erik picks Olivia up around 4:30 and I pick up Scott around 5:30 and head home where we all meet up to have dinner and start our nighttime routines. I still can't seem to get into bed before 11pm though. That's ok, I will sleep once the kids are 18, right?

This Sunday is Scott's baptism. Hopefully the snow doesn't hinder us too much since we are having about 50 people for the reception after at my aunt's house! Scott's godmother, my friend Diana, is trekking all the way up here from PA with her family on Saturday, so I hope their drive isn't too bad...we need her here...safely!

I have to ask this one question though...why does everyone get so worked up every time it's going to snow? Why does the news report on it like it is the next big story? Why do they have to have reporters go to local stores to show that the shelves are running out of shovels and salt? Why do the grocery stores run out of eggs, milk, bread and water?? Are you really going to want to survive on that if you can't get out of your home? That's not what I would want in my house. Anyway, don't people realize they live in New England and it's winter and in winter in New England it snows!!!!!!!!! It drives me mad. Why do the shovels fly off the shelves every time it snows? What did these people do the last time it snowed, do the shovels get thrown away after each snow storm???? My Lord, it is just madness. It snows people, get over it. Aren't there other important things going on in the world that needs to be reported on the news other than the fact that we are getting some snow in uh winter? I appreciate the fact that they are advising snow is coming so you can prepare in whatever fashion you need to, but give me a break, do we need 45 minutes of a one hour news program to be devoted to a snow storm and report that some local store has plenty of shovels? Seriously, seriously. Does this bother anyone else but me? Please share.

Back to work...UGH!

Four months definitely went by way too fast! I can't believe that Scott is 4 months old already and that I had to go back to work today. I was having panic attacks all day yesterday but settled down last night. I had everything packed and ready to go, clothes picked out. Everything should have run smoothly this morning in the Spiegel household, but no...the man of the house (who will remain nameless) screwed up the alarm clock so guess what...we didn't wake up until 7:15 this morning. Yes, that's right. Thank God he was late too b/c I forced him to get Olivia ready, feed her breakfast in the car on the way and take her to school for me. I dropped Scott off at my cousin Michelle's and was able to get to work on time by 8:30. It was a miracle, not sure how I got ready and out the door in 45 minutes, but I did. Thank goodness Scott is such a good baby and was able to hold off on eating his first bottle until he got to Michelle's. That is a huge help!

Work was not really work since I was just pretty much catching up on what was going on during my absence, catching up with friends etc... I did participate in a conference call with an angry customer, so that made me feel like I was truly back. But I am sure by week's end it will be as if I never left.

Tomorrow will be the true test on getting out of the house with the 2 kids and dropping them off at separate places. Wish me luck!

Boys & Girls; Night & Day

I thought it was so funny last night when our friend Tim (Olivia's Godfather) and his son Trevor came over. Olivia and Trevor were playing, but the way they played and the things they played with were completely opposite. Of course Olivia was wearing one of her princess dresses and wearing a princess and crown and there was Trevor running around showing his muscles and pretending that the vacuum cleaner was a fire hose. It was absolutely hysterical and I think I am in for a rude awakening once Scott reaches this age. I am so used to barbies, dolls, princess everything, tea parties, doll houses and I have a feeling Scott won't be into these things!

Olivia is 100% the opidemy of a girl, if there is such a thing and Trevor was just ALL boy. It was so funny!

Getting There...

Erik and I did get a lot done last weekend, but we have about another weekend's worth of work to do and we should be all set. I look around here and feel like we did nothing, but we worked our butts off all weekend. We replaced the front screen door, painted all of the trim, replaced the downstairs bathroom sink and cabinet and taped some places to get it ready for painting. I packed up about 8 boxes of clutter.

We need to get everything over to storage, finish painting, tile the upstairs bathroom, replace the sink/cabinet in the upstairs bathroom and glaze the tub. We should then be all set. Erik is also going to replace all of the doors.

The downstairs bathroom is done and completed updated with new toilet, new medicine cabinet and light fixture and new sink and cabinet. We had taken down the wallpaper and painted, so the only thing original in there is the floor and tile which aren't that bad, so we are keeping that. The upstairs bathroom will be freshly painted, it has a new toilet and new medicine cabinet and light fixture and we put in new surround in the bathtub so all we need to do is finish painting, tile the floor and put in the new sink and cabinet, then that bathroom will be completed updated except for the tile on the lower half of the walls, but that is staying. The kitchen has new floor and we painted the cabinets and put on new doors on the washer/dryer area and pantry, so that is all we are doing there. We put in new carpet on the stairs and upstairs and will do the downstairs when we move out. It is just time for straightening and cleaning.

Oh joyous!

Packing Up!!!

Erik and I are truly ambitious this weekend. We sent the kids to my inlaws yesterday until tomorrow and are packing up the condo, completing little projects and hope to have the condo on the market next week. It is now 1:45 and for the last 3 hours I have been in Olivia's room!!!! I packed up 3 boxes of "crap", 2 bins of clothes that both she and Scott have already grown out of, cleaned out stuff from under her bed that Erik and I keep trekking from one place to another of which we will probably never use again but for some reason can't get rid of. I have dusted every nook and cranny of her room, cleaned the hardwood floor and cleaned out the closet. Her room is done, but all of the "crap" is now in the middle of her room! We rented a storage unit for a couple of months and want to move all of this stuff over there to get out of the way and make some space and "stage" the condo for the market.

Erik is now on his 2nd trip to Home Depot. He has replaced the front screen door and sanded the ceiling from where we had to patch a hole in it after fixing the tub leak. UGH! He is buying now replacement doors for all of the bedrooms, bathrooms and closet doors to spruce it up a bit and a new vanity for the downstairs bathroom since we replaced the medicine cabinet, light fixture and toilet which are all now white and the vanity/sink is off white, so we need to get something to match.

I have taped the stairs and carpeting so I can paint the trim, but oh boy do we have soooooooooooooooooooooo much more to do. I think trying to cram in a week's worth of work into a weekend is truly out of our reach, but we will see what happens. Wish us luck...we need to get into a house!

Why Children Still Need Mother Goose Rhymes by Nellie Edge

Research shows that children who have memorized nursery rhymes become better readers because they develop an early sensitivity to the sounds of language.

Nursery Rhymes are short and full of alliteration and rhymes. Children can quickly internalize the language and make them their own. These memorized rhymes are ideal vehicles for playing with language and developing phonemic awareness.

Children delight in the visual images and strong rhythmic character of nursery rhymes. Visual imagery and the rhythms of sound have a powerful effect on cognition.

Many authors of children's books assume knowledge of nursery rhymes and fairy tales. (See Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown.)

Memorizing nursery rhymes effortlessly plants the grammatical structure (or syntax) of language in the child's long term memory. This accelerates both language and literacy development.

Nursery rhymes invite movement and dramatic interpretation, allowing children to personalize meaning and build language concepts and vocabulary. This is especially vital for children acquiring English as a second language.

Every culture has its own "nursery rhymes" or "out-loud culture".

Reading rhymes that children have first memorized supports them in self-concepting or role-playing themselves as a successful reader. Repeated experiences with "magical memory reading" develops fluency, teaches concepts about print and lays the foundation for "guided reading" instruction.

Nursery rhymes feature common and consistent decodable words (rimes) conducive to explicit phonics instruction within a meaningful context.

Parents as Partners can engage their children in memorizing nursery rhymes.

Many nursery rhymes have survived since the time of Shakespeare. They have been polished by children into a form that is almost indestructible.

When children memorize, recite and perform nursery rhymes they are developing listening and speaking skills in a joyful, non-threatening context.

Active, imaginative teaching with nursery rhymes takes advantage of how the brain learns best- it is meaningful, memorable and multisensory.

Kindergarten children can adapt nursery rhymes and use the patterns to make their own individual books or contribute innovations for group books. Children love being authors and illustrators.

Nursery rhymes are basic cultural literacy - they are gifts of language that all children deserve to own.

Teaching with Fairy Tales

I have this great Fairy Tale book that was given to Olivia by my best friend Karen. It's called "A Treasurey of Children's Literature". It's a collection of more than 225 color paintings and more than 30 children's classics.

Olivia loves picking out a story each night before bed and the stories can be read over and over again.

I received this great handout from Olivia's school:

The fairy tale is a rich storytelling tradition-a source of inspiration for teachers and children that can be adapted to suit all ages and stages. The following is an introduction to the genre and its characteristics, with suggestions for activities based on the theme of fairy tales and myths. And there are numerous fairy tale resources, from fun websites to fairy tales with a twist.

Once Upon a time...

A fairy tale is a wonder tale, involving marvelous elements and occurrences, although it is not necessarily about fairies. The term embraces such popular folktales as Cinderella and Puss in Boots, as well as fairy tales of later invention, such as The Happy Prince, which was written by Oscar Wilde in 1888. There are also many modern reworkings of traditional fairy tales.

Fairy tales function on a number of levels. Even very young children enjoy them as simple stories, while older children are able to appreciate, in a more complex way, their themes and symbols. Thematic and stylistic observations on fairy tales can act as a natural starting point for discussions and activities based on fairy tales, with reference to specific tales that are familiar to the children being taught.

Familiar fairy tales are the ideal starting point from which children can begin exploring issues such as character, as well as the plot, style and structure of a narrative. The study of fairy tales links literacy nearly to other curriculum areas-to PSHE and Citizenship, RE, Geography and History-and there is great scope for linking material familiar in the UK to stories from around the world.

An excellent story to begin with, particularly for younger children, is The Frog Prince. Other well known stories such as Little Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast can offer a "way in". Or you could begin by discussing animated films that children are likely to have seen, such as Shrek. Many will have first encountered fairy tales via films such as Snow White, while the Disney Princesses, for example, may be useful point of reference for stories such as Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. Most familiar tales are widely available in print.

Fairy tale fundamentals:

Fairy tales at first glance seem simple but complex and may have happy or violent endings.

They often begin at a vague and unspecified point "once upon a time" (Hansel and Gretel) but can also be based on historical events (The Pied Piper of Hamelin).

Fairy tales have been relegated to children's literature, but are at the root of many narratives (older children could compile a list of Hollywood films and see how many plots are fairy tales retold).

Fairy tales often depict opposites and extremes: good and evil; wealth and poverty.

Common themes and motifs:

Escaping mighty and evil enemies, Accomplishing difficult tasks, Wisdom through suffering, Generosity, selfishness and pride, triumph of humility over greed, Triumph of the youngest, weakest and most oppressed, Animals: changing into animals, talking animals, animal helpers, companions and bridegrooms.

Characters:

Characters are often clear-cut (good and evil) and goodness is often defined by situation, not character.

A character in a poor position (e.g. Cinderella) is automatically defined as good.

To be a hero/heroine often all you have to do is be at the mercy of someone more powerful or cruel.

Villains often enjoy high social status (Queens in Cinderella and Snow White) or size and strength (the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk; wolves in Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs).

Characters are often aided by magic.

Plot, style and structure:

Powerless underdog changes places with a more powerful person.

Happy endings: good rewarded and wicked punished.

Minimal description, and reliance on formulaic patterns.

Conventional beginnings ("Once Upon a Time") and endings ("and they lived happily ever after").

Storytellers and storytelling:

A simple but effective way of illustrating how stories may have changed through the ages is to play a version of the game "Chinese Whispers". Give one child a sentence or phrase whichthey then whisper to their neighbor, and so on, around to their friends. Each child is allowed to add or alter one detail that they believe improves the sentence, but they don't have to. Older children can follow up this activity by examining different versions of the same story, either in a group or individually.

A word of warning...

Some folk tales were originally intended for adults, but have subsequently been adapted for children. Sometimes stories are "cleaned up" of violent imagery for children, but extra violence may also have been added to make more effective cautionary tales for children. Certain folk and fairy tales contain "adult" themes, such as adultery, incest and violence. Stepfamilies (and stepmothers in particular) tend to receive negative treatment in traditional folk tales. With some stories, or versions of tales, you may need to proceed with caution.

Best Buds

I went up and hung out with Sarah and Mason yesterday. We took some cute pics of the little cousins (best buddies) together. They both are truly "daddy juniors". They both look exactly like their daddies. Too much. I can't wait to watch these 2 grow up together. It is going to be so much fun.