Cat video

I am trying this out to see if I can load videos more easily. These are my cats Oreo and Tiger.



**Well it looks like it worked. I am loving this flip camcorder! Now I just have to figure out what else I want to record. I can't wait to take it to the beach, but you won't be seeing me in my swimsuit!

Another video!

Ok here is a link to Elijah reading, but you will have to cut and paste. It just won't load and I can't get the LINK thing to work so here it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVc7u_zerhw

Ten Years Ago Today

Ten years ago today, I was in the hospital having just delivered my second son Elijah. He was eight weeks premature and very sick! I had him a small rural hospital and he was transported to a larger hospital in Dallas. By 4:00 in the afternoon, I was discharged and heading home to pack a back to head to Elijah! He was such a small little thing at four pounds nine ounces. He needed a ventilator for the first twelve days of his life and antibiotics for an unspecified infection that we never did identify.

It has been a journey since he arrived. Jacob, who was almost four years old at the time, became an instant big brother. I had to juggle him around to the sitters between visits to the NICU. Eljiah spent five weeks in the hospital. When he did come home it was on oxygen.

His hearing loss was discovered the day he was coming home. It was quite a shock. a few weeks later he was diagnosed with Auditory Neuropathy, the cause of his hearing loss. That summer was spent going to see several specialists--audiologists, developmental pediatrician, cardiologist(he had a small hole in his heart, but it closed) and pulmanologist.

We are still on this journey and still have a ways to go. Overall he is a healthy ten year old boy, who has his quirks. He has bilateral cochlear implants, which have given him access to language and speech. He was diagnosed with tourette syndrome in the summer of 2008. He also has ADHD, OCD and anxiety. The journey has not alwyas been an easy one, but I am looking forward to continuing it with him!

Elijah on video

Giving this a try. I am practicing using a camera from work, so now I can finally share Elijah talking on video! It is a short video. He was playing on the computer. Tomorrow is his birthday! I am going to try to get more video later!

Update on Tics and meds

Elijah seems to be doing really well right now(knock on wood!)! He started taking a new medication for his tics back in February and it seems to be helping. We have also lowered one of his other medications that he had been taking for tics. Hoping we can lower it some more too. Both meds increase his appetite and he has PUT on some weight.

I spoke to the teacher about a month ago about his tics. She reassures him as do I that he can TIC at school. However, I still was thinking he was self concious about them. Now he has a "tic room" that he can go to if he wants to "get the tics out". It has really seemed to help him a lot.

I am seeing fewer tics at home, but he still has his "bathroom tics". For whatever reason he just lets those tics out when he is bathing. He makes all kinds of noises and slams his legs, feet and hands around the tub area. I guess he is relaxed in there. He has longer periods between tics and that has helped a lot. Back in February he never seemed to get a rest from his tics.


We have six weeks of school left and then we head to Alabama to see family and go to the beach. We are all so excited. Elijah LOVES the beach. It is one of his most favorite places to go. Jacob likes the beach, but is paranoid about getting sunburned, but I don't blame him on that one!

Recently Dead--Teacher Story

I made it a habit to bring in the Dallas Morning News(newspaper) each day to school. I would bring in the paper from the day before. One of the student’s assignments each week in their social studies class was to find a current event and write a paragraph about it. If there was an interesting story we would take the time to chat about it. After Hurricane Katrina we had many discussions about articles in the paper and also from the news on the television.

One day we came upon the obituaries in the metro section. I asked the students if they knew what an obituary was and they did not. There were pictures with some of the obituaries and the pictures were from when the person was younger. Some of the men were in military uniforms and the pictures looked older, like from World War II.
Emily looked at me and said, “I want to see the recently dead.” I replied, “These are people who recently died.” She said, “No, look these are pictures from World War II, so these people died during the war.” I then had to explain that these were people who died recently but that their family chose a picture of them from their past. They may have been proud of their time in the military so they chose a picture from that time.

You just never know what conversation may arise from a simple look in the newspaper.
The recently dead comment made me think of “The Handbook for the Recently Deceased” that was in the movie Beetlejuice!

Dating

I am seriously considering dating again. I have not dated anyone besides my exhusband in over twenty years. I feel so out of touch with dating. How will it affect the boys if I date? I am not looking for marriage, but rather just someone to get to know or have fun with.

I am still pondering the idea. I am not sure what to do. I did check out the eharmony website and it seems like one of the better dating web sites.

Any thoughts, anyone??