It is here! Birthday week!

How is he turning 6? It blows me away. I remember the morning he was born quite vividly. Playing UNO waiting for the OR to open up. His delivery, our time in the recovery room. They grow up so quickly. Just yesterday K said 'Mommy, my jeans are almost too short now. I must have grown some more'. He is right! Just last week they would slip under his heel if he didn't have shoes on and now, not so much. Happy almost birthday to my big guy!

It may all work out after all. T cried out at 5:45 and was up for good at 6:15. Perhaps an early nap before K's 1pm party???? I guess the early morning really is a fortuitous turn of events.

I started the day early with T yesterday too. By the time we left for the YMCA I had made a double batch of buttercream and tinted it blue for the cake and stuffed the goody bags (little sea animals and some Wikki Sticks). In the afternoon, after a Sam's Club run the official assembly began. Last year's cake was hard to transport as it didn't fit in any sort of carrier. This year, my goal was to make it fit. Thankfully a 6 can result in more cake from a small space than a 5 can.

My general cake process: cut pattern from paper, use pattern to cut cake, put cake together on covered board, ice and decorate. I've yet to figure out how to easily do the sides of the cake without getting crumbs in it. It is rather time consuming. The 6 took me about 2 hours to ice which is far better than last year's 5.

We have not heard from 4 kids but everyone else in the class is coming. That leaves us with at least 15 kids for our Little Gym party. I decided to not cut out the center of the 6 to maximize the amount of cake we have. The final step is decorating. This year I'm using a different set of Safari Ltd. animals and rock candy. The empty space in the front is for the candles.

It is another rainy day here. I was planning on walking the neighborhood this morning to get some exercise since getting to the YMCA won't be happening with the party. I really dislike the Mall but it might be my only option for getting some exercise (my goal is 4 days a week). I'm still sore from my swim yesterday. I'm up to 2,500 yards which feels good.

Have a fantastic day! I'll report back at some point with pictures of our week.

Building Anxiety

It has been one of those weeks. I’m busy, good busy, fun busy, but still busy. The birthdays are imminent. I haven’t started baking. Due to K’s allergies I must bake all of our cakes. Baking is not my gig, cooking is. Yes, having kids changes you and makes you willing to do things you would have never considered. The first celebration is Sunday. Then Tuesday, and Thursday, and Sunday. It will get done but my anxiety is building.

Layer on top a neurologist appointment for K on Monday. He was a trooper for his EEG in Deccember. I swear it is a test of the parents more than a test of the kids. I had to keep him up until midnight and wake him up at 4 am. No food after midnight. All the parents out there know that sleep deprivation can lead only two places: the grumpies or the sillies. Well, praise the Lord we got the sillies!

So, where was this headed? The EEG was before Christmas and our appointment is Monday. They would have called if it was BAD, right? Right? That wasn’t rhetorical. My ostrich in the sand approach has worn thin now that we are within a week of the appointment. So, leave it to me to layer birthday, neurologist, visiting in-laws, parties and more into a single week. I’m a freaking glutton for punishment. Or, perhaps I find distraction helpful.

Why to the neurologist? K is a sweet, happy, but somewhat yet to be understood child. I adore him with all my heart and soul and want to help him succeed as best I can. He has gross motor and fine motor delays (roughly 6mo – 2 year delay dependent upon particular area) and is a sensory seeker. I’ve mentioned his allergies previously and this is an area where they come into play. I, personally, believe many of his issues stem from his allergies (food, environmental, and seasonal) and his EE.

EE, what is that? K was diagnosed with Eosinophilic Esophagitis in August of 2004. An allergic reaction to something he was eating in his esophagus. It was diagnosed via endoscopy where the GI found the start of ulcers in his not yet 8 month old body. It was a sobering time for us. K was put on Reglan, Nexium, Nasonex, and Neocate (a $130/10 day supply elemental formula). Long story short, he was reacting to dairy, soy, nuts, and all other legumes as well as other random things and it was damaging his esophagus.

Back to today. We aren’t sure what is going on with K. He is seeing the neurologist Monday. He is going for an auditory processing evaluation in April. He is in OT once a week with his PHENOMENAL therapist Ms. Michelle. We just want to give him his best chance. He doesn’t have any profound issues and we are blessed. He is our favorite almost 6 year old.

One possibility is that he could be having absent seizures. I’ve purposefully avoided Google on this one. It has led me astray too many times. Like everything else with K, it is what it is and we will deal. It is part of what makes him the gem that he is. Some of K's specialness is what has led me to meet some people who have become dear to me over the years. Thank goodness for the internet, online communities, and the ability for the internet to bring people together at the right times.

Meanwhile, back to cake baking and diversion. More to come.

Dam* Marketers

Marketing really makes me wonder sometimes. Yes, I work in marketing. Yes, I’ve worked in marketing for over 17 years (did I admit that?). I work for a food manufacturer, Bush Brothers, and am generally immune to the talk about marketing to kids, as our products aren’t marketed to kids. Really, what is the harm in marketing beans to kids?

I’m the mother of two young boys. It is amazing to see the impact of marketing on them. All right, amazing probably isn’t the right word. Frightening? Scary? Terrifying? In the past two weeks both of the kids have proven how they really are sponges. Scary little sponges.

Our first example involves, K, who will be 6 in just over a week. We were having a stretch of cold weather, unseasonably cold. School was closed and he was rather cooped up/caged. Trying to find things to occupy and absolutely stir crazy sensory seeking 5 year old is to say the least challenging. Enter a new toy that Mommy had stashed in the sensory bin.

K walks into the room…’Mommy, you bought BENDAROOS!!!! Can I play with them? Are they for me? I’m so excited.’ I respond that yes he can open them and play with them. About 5 minutes later we are sitting at the kitchen table playing with the Bendaroos and he asks ‘Mommy, did you double your order?’ I about fell off my chair. He proceeded to spout out the copy from the infomercial for Bendaroos. I laughed and nearly cried. Here is a kid who claims he doesn’t know the sight words of 'he' and 'she' yet he can repeat, verbatim, about 6 sentences of copy. Marketing works.

Our second example involves T. Our Nanny, A, was shopping at Walmart with him. K was in school. Apparently they were going down the aisle and T freaked out. He wanted some Disney Take ‘n Toss sippy cups. He was pitching a fit so she got them for him.

Where is the marketing in this? He calls the cups hot dog. Why? They have the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters on them. For those without kids, or who choose to not watch tv, the theme song for MMC includes ‘hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog.’ Marketing works! On a side note, guess I know what I’ll bring T as a souvenir from Disney when we take K in April ;-)

Both tales led to the conclusion that TV watching needs to back off for the kids. They have plenty of toys, plenty to do. Dam* marketers.

The annual insanity

Life is a blur from late October through late January. Holidays and events come at us one after another and sometimes in groups. With young kids in the house there is a certain degree of insanity that occurs from Halloween through Christmas and in our house we are further blessed with both kids having birthdays in January. Yes, insanity from October through the last weekend of January. Fun!

We are in the home stretch. We enjoyed the holidays and are moving towards the birthdays. How are they turning 2 and 6? That absolutely amazes me. The time has gone so quickly but yet it seems I’ve been a mom for a long time now. They are a blessing and are so much fun. They throw us curves but they bring so much joy. But I still have to pull off their birthdays. It always catches me off guard even though I know they are there.

The theme for K this year is under the sea. He wants a cake shaped like a 6 with 2 divers a shark and an octopus. Specificity is good, but daunting. For those who don’t know, the reason it is daunting is because I have to actually produce said cake due to K’s food allergies. Allergies are another post for another day but they are always a part of our daily life.

So, here I am trying to figure out how to create this masterpiece. I set the bar high last year with his rainforest cake. Safari Ltd Rainforest Toob provided the accessories quite nicely for me. I’ve not yet found a comparable under the sea set. I’m leaning towards buying Playmobil Divers in Tropical Reef.

http://store.playmobilusa.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-US-Site/en_US/Product-Show?pid=4488&cgid=Meerestierexpedition

Thankfully T is too young to really care. His cake will be Elmo, or Mehmo as he would say :-) They are growing up so quickly.

Finally succumbed to starting a blog

So, I got an e-mail today, in my slowly dying yahoo inbox, saying the website we have used to capture the boys early years is shutting down this year. What to do? What to do?

Yep, the answer I came up with was to go ahead and do it. I've been dragging my feet for quite a while. Should I? Shouldn't I?

Well, I did and here we are.

Welcome to my first foray into blogging. The name is somewhat self explanatory ;-) I am the Yankee and my husband of 7 years, M, and two little boys, K and T, are the three Southern Gentlemen (most of the time). Both boys have birthdays later this month when they will turn 6 and 2 respectively. We live in East Tennessee and love it.