Conspiracy Theory

Yes, you read right. It's a big giant conspiracy. I finally took the boxes to UPS today. You know, the ones that have been sitting in the corner of Sarah's room since dad's visit in April and mom's visit in May. Since they had been sitting there so long, I had to go through and take out all the summer-ish baby clothes, since Max and Hazen won't be needing to sport their cute Gap shorts and short sleeved t-shirts in the SNOW. So even after I consolidated the 4 boxes into 3 boxes (yes, we only have 1 box sitting in the corner of Sarah's room now), it was still a MAJOR UPS RIP-OFF. I get big Kindermusik shipments Fed-Ex-ed to me 2nd day air and the most it has ever run me per box/shipment is $37.00. The thing that really irritates me is that the rates for USPS ran at least $5-$10 more per box than UPS. And I knew that if I put off sending this boxes one more day so I could go to FED EX another time, it wouldn't be happening anytime soon. (Perhaps by the time Heather was on Baby #4 and Anne was on Baby #5, 6, or 7). So, I know my grocery store, CVS and Costco prices but am CLUELESS when it comes to shipping things cross-country. How much did this cost to send to UT by ground????? If you get it right, your prize will be whatever I have still left in Sarah's closet and out in the garage shipped to you by your carrier of choice . . . UPS, FedEx, USPS, etc. as long as you foot the bill. :0)

Dr. Davis

So as per usual at a momentous occasion in history, I left the digital camera at home. Yesterday afternoon Sarah and I went to see Dr. Davis, the pediatric neurologist. He was absolutely phenomenal. Since we haven't had any medical work done relating to Sarah's developmental delays, we are getting the ball rolling with that. I guess that if you are prone to seizures, you are also prone to having developmental delays. Over the course of the next couple of months, we will have Sarah's blood work done, genetic testing, MRI, EEG etc, (and some other stuff that I can't think of off the top of my head but I am way too tired to go out into the van to grab Sarah's medical file and read my notes from yesterday.) As for autism and anything else related to that, Dr. Davis did notice some characteristics, but doesn't want to further evaluate Sarah for autism until he receives all of the medical testing results.

FINALLY, speech and OT called to set up appointments to get started with Sarah. Between Kindermusik classes, piano lessons, Silver Sneakers, and tutoring I only work 7 1/2 hours-8 hours MAX per week. And it's still challenging to find the time to fit Sarah's behavior therapy sessions in. That's not even adding Speech, OT, and special needs preschool to the mix. How do moms that work FULL TIME find the time to fit in all the extra appointments and therapy sessions that having a special needs child entails? I am so open to suggestions.

Just got tagged

Heidi
A- Attached or single: Attached
B- Best Friends: Way too many to list (yeah, right).
C-Cake or Pie: Either . . . as long as its super duper chocolatey.
D- Day of choice: Friday
E- Essential Item: At least 2-3 hours a week of mommy time-out/alone time (no hubby, no kids, etc.)
F- Favorite Color: Blue
G- Gummi Bears or Worms: Neither . . . Cinnamon Bears
H- Hometown: Danville, CA
I- Indulgence(s): Trader Joes, naps, chocolate, and shopping without kids
J- January or July: Both
K- Kids: 3
L-Life is Incomplete Without: Visits from mom and dad every 3-4 months
M- Marriage Date: December 15, 1995
N- Number of Siblings: 1 brother, 2 sisters
O- Oranges or Apples: Apples
P- Phobias or Fears: Cockroaches and icky slimy tree frogs. Also, stepping in the wrong place and falling through the attic floor and landing splat on the garage floor. (Hence the reason I decorate for holidays 2-3 days before the actual holiday and it stays up 2-3 weeks after the holiday. I am 100% dependent upon Cristian and his schedule to get up in the attic and get all my holiday stuff down for me.)
Q- Quotes: "Do something every day that scares you half to death."
R- Reason To Smile: Kids in bed and sleeping before I go to bed.
S- Season: ANY season in Danville, CA. Fall in FL.
T- Tag Three +: Celia, Shannan, Scotty
U- Unknown Fact About Me: I was a couple of classes away from finishing my Master's degree coursework when I was ordered on bed rest while I was pregnant with Tino. I got special permission from my OB/GYN to get out of bed and drive myself to school on the condition that I remained lying down with feet elevated during my classes. I was the only student at the time that my professors had ever had that attended class with a sleeping bag and pillow. All that effort never paid off. Four to five attempts over the course of several years and I never ever did complete my stupid thesis. Now it's been so long that I'd have to start my coursework and thesis ALL OVER AGAIN.
V- Vegetarian or Meat Eater: Meat . . . but it has to be very well seasoned. And absolutely, positively NO American-style turkey. YUCK! And each time we try to be vegetarian around here it lasts no longer than 1 week.
W- Worst Habit: Putting every one else first and not making time for ME. Also, not being very good at saying NO.
X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Ultrasounds.
Y- Your Favorite Food: Mexican
Z- Zodiac: Gemini

Mis Queridos Hijos 10/14/2007

Dear Tino, Mateo, and Sarah,

This week was filled with doctor's visits, flu shots, and more doctor's visits. When we weren't hanging out in the waiting room of the doctor's office(s), we were busy going to and from our various church activities. So I think we have our bases covered as far as our spiritual well-being and physical well-being.

Tino: Living in Florida is hazardous to your health. You got bit by an unknown bug on Monday. Your ankle, foot, and leg swelled significantly . . . 4-5 times the size said body parts should be. That put you out of commission for several days. You got to learn all about elevating your leg, doing epson salt soaks, etc. Now I'm just trying to figure out what to do with my favorite popcorn bowl you used the entire week to soak your foot. Do I wash it a million times and put it back into circulation in the kitchen as our favorite popcorn bowl? Do I stick it with the first aid supplies to be used as the ultimate foot soaker next time you get bit by a bug???? And for future reference, please try not to miss another day of 5th grade. The classwork and homework you missed was BRUTAL! You spent the better part of the weekend catching up with all your school work.

Tino and Mateo: You got KICKED out of Kindermusik Family Time classes last week. The Kindermusik experience just isn't doing it for you. Maybe we'll try ballet or something else in the arts departments since I want you to be well-rounded individuals.

Mateo: The new car mystery was SOLVED yesterday. Now I know that you want a brand new RED FORD EXPLORER or EXPEDITION. That looks like a truck. But we can call it a van. Now you just need to get to work unloading the dishwasher, mopping floors, and cleaning your room so you can get all your allowance saved up for your new car.

Sarah: You are talking more. When I ask what your name is, depending on your mood, you respond "My name is Sarah" or "My name is Cindewewa" (giggle-giggle). You had an excellent session this week with Ms. Erika, your behavior therapist. That was the good news. The bad news is you are completely ready to be potty trained. That means mami and papi need to get rid of the changing table, diapers, pull-ups, and hunker down the next several days and help you be successful in this big girl endeavor.

I love you kiddos. Time to get you to bed. It's almost time for mami's FAVORITE show of the week. Desperate Housewives.

Love,
Mami

Graduation

Since it is such a taboo topic to talk about, I won't talk about it. I will just let you know that "for time and all eternity" is certainly looking a lot more promising these days. Cristian and I "graduated" today and/or finished our counseling sessions. Not only will I miss "Stan the Man", our incredible counselor, I will also miss the experience of sitting in the waiting room of LDS Social Services. When couples come out of their counseling sessions, I love to see how they duck and cover (especially the males), making sure to make ABSOLUTELY NO EYE CONTACT with anybody else as they rush to get into their car. I'm thinking that with the whole body language and slouched demeanor that going to counseling is not "the thing" to do. And HEAVEN FORBID if you were to actually run into a member of your same congregation while there. But it's not all that bad. I would have to say, it played a major role in saving our marriage. Cheers (with a Martinelli's Sparkling Cider of course). Here's to Time and All Eternity!

America, the Beautiful

O.K. so I am in a MAJOR crunch. And I need help QUICK! Last night, the Branch Activities Chair approached me and let me know that the United States wasn't going to be represented in the Hispanic Heritage Festival on Saturday night. He felt that since we were all living in the United States, that it would be important to have U.S. representation at the festival with song or dance. Since I am the token gringa in the branch, and the other two gringos will not be present, I need to come up with an idea for Saturday night. What should we do? I offered to bust out with a rendition of all my favorite Kindermusik songs, but Cristian said it has to be something nice. Tino is super duper shy so count him out for doing anything onstage, unless of course it has to do with swinging a baseball bat. So, what can Cristian, Mateo, Sarah, and I perform on Saturday night so that the U.S. is represented? Cristian and I are dancing the bachata for Dominican Republic. And of course Puerto Rico, Cuba, Venezuela, Spain, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Argentina, Mexico, and all the other countries have really super duper cool folkloric dances and/or dances that represent their country. How can the U.S. compete with that????? Please submit your ideas ASAP. Thanks in advance!

Choosing Battles

I remember my pre-children days and also my pre-Mateo and Sarah days. I would hear moms talking about the antics their children were up to and I would think to myself "my kids would never . . ." or "I would never allow my children to __________". And exactly what is the word that I want to use???? Oh yeah, UTOPIA: ideally perfect state; especially in its social and moral aspects OR a place considered to be perfect or ideal. Now it's all about choosing battles and/or choosing the amount of self-inflicted drama I would like to have enter into my life.

Since it has been raining very hard lately . . . hurricane-style raining hard, without the hurricane blowing through town, my children have been cooped up in the house more than they are accustomed to. (These are the times I really wish Cristian would have stuck it out at Disney, because at least we would have been able to hang out at Magic Kingdom or Epcot, since for the most part they are very rainy day-friendly parks. If we can't go to the PARKS, or the park . . . you know the one with swings and slides and the like . . . why not let the parks come to us????? Mateo and Sarah broke two of the planks that hold the mattress in the "down" bed by jumping on it from the "up" bed. Since Uncle Bradford (who knows how to fix EVERYTHING, according to Tino) or Grandpa haven't been to visit us for quite some time, the "down" bed has remained in its semi-broken state. Tino, being the engineering genius that he is, figured how to help his brother and sister out of this dilemma. If nobody can sleep on this bed (because your head sinks down too far due to said missing planks) might as well remove half of the other planks that hold the mattress in place and convert the "down" bed into a "down" slide.



Like I mentioned before, this little antic pre-children and/or pre-Mateo/Sarah would have sent my compulsive and control-freak personality OVER THE EDGE. Now I just CALMLY walk into Mateo's room, take a quick picture for the blog, and walk out of the room . . . CALM as CALM can be. It's all about choosing battles.

Mis Queridos Hijos 10/9/2007

Dear Tino, Mateo, and Sarah,

Your mother is a complete BLOG SLACKER this week. Last week was not that adventurous, so I'll go ahead and skip straight to the week we are presently in. Your papi was very sick over the weekend. He woke up on Sunday morning and half his face was swollen. And to top that off, he had a raging headache that had already lasted 4 days, which his migraine meds were not responding to. He thought his head was going to explode, implode, or somewhere in between. I decided that instead of taking him to the emergency room so he could hurry and wait, we'd go to Minute Clinic. That is where we spent the first session of Sunday morning General Conference. By the time we got home, it was almost time for the second session. Papi ended up having a raging sinus infection and he stayed home from work on Monday.

Tino: You got bit by an unknown bug yesterday during P.E. I hadn't been home two seconds from teaching Kindermusik today, when your school called me to come and pick you up. I asked the nurse if you were breathing o.k., which you were. I told the nurse there was absolutely nothing I could do about a swollen leg and as long as you were breathing, you could stay at school. I went to school to give you your heavy duty allergy meds . . . and your ankle had quadrupled in size since this morning. We went and visited Dr. Lagod just to make sure everything was a.o.k. She prescribed you an antibiotic and told you to do cool water soaks with salt. You are limping big time. I don't know how that will effect your baseball game tomorrow. I will continue to help you soak your foot and Mateo and Sarah will continue to annoy you while you are soaking your foot by floating their dinosaurs, tigers, and other plastic toys in your foot-soak water.


Mateo: You are on a MISSION. That mission is to buy a car. A red car. A big red car. That looks like a truck. But we can call it a van. I have tried to explain to you that we don't have money to buy a new car, but you don't understand that concept. You told me you would go and get the black thing that I keep inside my purse (my wallet . . .) and you would give me the money to buy the new car. So far you have given me 35 cents . . . of my own money. I think you will need to come up with another plan besides trying to find money in my wallet. Because at this rate, you'll never be able to afford that new car. That looks like a truck. But we can call it a van. Maybe we will take a field trip down the street to Car Max just to appease you so you THINK we are in the process of buying a new red car.

Sarah: Boy, how it HELPS to have connections. The number one, yes that would be numero uno . . . or #1 pediatric neurologist in Central Florida is no longer taking new patients or any patient that has PDD or anything on the autism spectrum. Mommy's friend Angela has a son that goes to this #1 doctor. Today when Angela took her son in for his appointment, she explained your situation to him. Dr. D gave her specific instructions how to contact his nurse and he would accept you as a new patient. Within one hour of me leaving a message for his nurse, she had called me back to set an appointment. WHAT A BLESSING! Now we can get some answers!

AMO!
Mami

"Happy Birthday to Me"

Mateo has been sooooooooo excited about his upcoming birthday. He knows that first it's Tino's birthday (9-13) and then it's Papi's birthday (9-27). For some reason, we don't believe in celebrating birthdays and having the celebration lasting one day. We make it a long, drawn out process around the Ramirez household. For example, Cristian's birthday was last Thursday. The only thing he wanted for his birthday was for me to take him to Texas de Brazil for dinner, which we did Thursday night. This meant that the kiddos weren't in on the birthday celebration. On Friday Cristian and Tino had baseball practice, so by the time they get back around 9:30 p.m. it's too late for Sarah and Mateo. So Saturday morning, we went to one of the finer dining establishments in town for Cristian's birthday breakfast. In the kids minds, there still was no birthday because there hadn't been cake and no presents that they were aware of. Sunday while Cristian was out home teaching, we hurried and made his "surprise" birthday cake. And on Monday, Cristian's long-awaited package arrived from UPS . . . his new baseball glove.

This morning, Mateo woke up and asked if Papi's birthday was finished already. When I replied "yes", you should have seen the excitement in Mateo's eyes. He ran to the kitchen, pulled out the cupcake pans, put cupcake liners inside the pans, and picked his favorite flavor of cake mix and set it out on the kitchen counter. He then proceeded to climb onto the counter, to look in my "up high" cupboards to find the sprinkles and frosting for his cupcakes. He took a bath, washed his hair, and got dressed into his fancy new clothes. He has doing a project with construction paper, scissors, and glue. I asked him what he was doing, and he started to sing "Happy Birthday To Me, Happy Birthday To Me" . . . and looked at me and told me he was busy making his birthday card. Once again, I am completely open for suggestions as to how I can break it to my little soon-to- be- four year old that his birthday isn't until DECEMBER 11TH. And should we go ahead and save his birthday cupcakes until December 11th or go ahead and eat them tonight for dessert?

Beauty Parlor

As you are all well aware, Mateo LOVES hair. He loves washing hair, styling hair, combing/ brushing hair, and even cutting hair. Since he decided to cut his hair and at the moment doesn't have any hair of his own to style. . . Sarah and I get the great pleasure and joy of having him style our hair. I tolerate it . . . Sarah does not. It really doesn't help when our homework with the behavior therapist is to reduce situations in the household which would encourage Sarah to engage in her screaming, fits, tantrums, etc. Mateo just doesn't get it that the reason Sarah always looks like a little rag-muffin is because she won't let me do her hair. It really really bothers him that her hair isn't beautiful. So he will chase her around the house until he can get her to stay still long enough to style her hair. His latest craze is pony tails or any other thing that requires the use of rubber bands in hair. Here are some pics of his latest Sarah creations . . . smiley stickers on the forehead and cheeks included as an extra bonus. (And the chocolate milk or ketchup or whatever other dinner remains on Mateo's face is my contribution to this blog entry . . . just want to make sure you all know I am feeding my kids. And have to keep that rag-muffin look consistent among all of my children. I can't be playing favorites here.)