Happy Halloween!

With Halloween coming tomorrow I felt the need to share this.  This was posted from one of the wonderful mommies on my June Mom board.  I think it needs to be shared everywhere. When people see my son they 'think' that he is a normal happy healthy three year old boy and most of that is true.  The other part to him is his sensory delay issues.  Yes, I have gotten strange looks from people when we are out in public and he just HAS to touch everything he passes or he starts repeating words over and over again....so, just remember that while some people have more difficult paths to travel in life they are still people.  They still deserve the same respect and love as any other persons that walk this planet. So, please don't judge to quickly and enjoy all the Halloween cuteness that will be coming tomorrow :)

Traveling and Family Vacations : We are here!

We started our adventure at 9am on Saturday morning and by 3pm we were in our room at Saratoga Springs Resort in Disney! My son was beyond excited and so was I.  We chose our room for a few very specific reasons.  1) it had a kitchen 2) it had a washer and dryer 3) we had two places to sleep separated by a door so that Aubrey's night feeding wouldn't disturb Trey or my husband. One of us had to have a full night sleep and energy to run on.

We decided early on that we would not be visiting a park every single day.  We needed down time and so did the kids.  We organized our trip months in advance along with our reservations for meals(which is a must for a Disney trip.  Reservations for character meals book up months in advance).  We sat down with a piece of paper and listed which park we wanted to be at on a particular day.  Next we scheduled our character breakfast, lunch or dinners.  We did not always have a scheduled meal and would write that down too.  Needless to say with a husband that is an engineer and my OCD we were very planned.  I believe this is super important when traveling with children with the note that plans change and everything must be tentative. For us, having a plan allows us to relax more and enjoy the trip.  We were not worried about what we were going to do for meals and where we were going to be when.

Our kick off event for the trip was a character dinner called Mickey's Back Yard BBQ.  We told Trey about it the second we were walking out the door of the hotel room.  He was so excited!  I was kind of worried about Aubrey getting over stimulated and freaking out but she was fine.  Trey on the other hand was extremely over whelmed.  The music was very loud and there was a ton of people moving in all different directions.  At first, he kind of shut down and stayed close to me then his brain needed to increase the intensity of a already very intense situation and he wound him self up.  He had a good time but at some point he kept asking to go to the bathroom and when I took him the second or third time I asked him if he was okay.  He flat out told me it was too loud and he did not want to re enter the BBQ.  So, we left. We had already eaten and he had seen Mickey so it was fine with us.  It was already around 9pm when we got back to the room so we settled in and went to bed.

First Character meet-up at Micky's Back Yard BBQ

The rest of the trip was equally as over whelming for Trey and I took notice of situations where the music was too loud or the situation was to intense.  We watched parades from a distance and would tell him to put his hands over his ears.  This helped a ton and he really enjoyed himself.

Watching from a distance with the best seat in the house

We are very lucky to have a child who doesn't ask for much so we never spent any money on expensive gift items(You already read the post where I pre bought items and packed them).  The one thing Trey asked for was a fan that squirts water but I refused to get it.  Well, to make a long story short we were waiting for a custodian to bring us a screwdriver to put batteries in the stroller fan for Aubrey for the 2nd time that day (note to self bring a screwdriver on vacation!) and the souvenir lady felt bad that it was taking so long and gave Trey the fan!

The fan!

Lets talk about NIP.  You all know I exclusively breastfeed Aubrey and I have to give a big thumbs up to Disney for this! They have air conditioned nursing stations in each park.  They are so nice! I met some wonderful women in the room and it was a nice quite place to let Aubrey relax and cool down and to give me 15 or 20 minutes to relax myself!

The nursing lounge in Magic Kingdom

I also nursed all over the place and not one single dirty look or rude comment! I became very comfortable with NIP on this trip and I never used a cover.  It was far to hot.  I did get a suggestion to get a A&A blanket in the nursing center.  I had never seen them before and now I really want one.  I did use my Undercover Mama so we kept it discreet.

All in All it was an amazingly exhausting trip filled with memories that I will never forget.  My son still talk about it a month later so I pray he still remembers it as an older child and adult. We already are planning our next trip to Disney.  We want to go for Halloween, Christmas and once in the summer to enjoy the water parks :)

My favorite family picture

Traveling and Family Vacations with Kids: Step One Packing

My husband and I love to travel.  We were together less then 6 months when we took our first trip together.  We went to Jamaica.  It was the first time I traveled out of the Country and I loved it.  I had been happily bitten by the travel bug.  We even had a destination wedding in Ocho Rio, Jamaica.  We have regularly taken a vacation roughly every six months since then.  I truly believe that in a relationship or family you need to travel and vacation together.  It doesn't matter if it is a long weekend a few hours from home or across the globe it is great to spend time just the two of you or as a family.  You can create wonderful memories and reconnect as a couple or family.

This year we decided while I was still pregnant with our daughter that we would take a family vacation to Disney. I have to admit I was a tiny bit nervous to travel with a 3 year old and a 3 months old.  The whole thing kind of sat uneasy with me..How would they do on the plane? How do I keep two kids occupied? How do I breast feed on the plane? I decided to take it one step at a time and step one for me was packing.  I needed to make sure that we brought everything that we might need for two reasons. #1 the cheap person I am I hate having to spend money on necessitates on vacation and they always seem to cost 10x's more then they would at home. 2) My OCD : I really freak about not being prepared and I tend to over react to situations like not having what I need..I like to be organized and ready.

I started by using a corner of my bedroom to pre-pack about a 10 days before we left. I would place items that we would need as I thought of them in the "vacation" spot.   Some people might use a list but for me list don't work well.  I need to see the items in front of me.  Most of these items are things I knew I would over look as we pack essentials.  This pile included toys that I didn't want to buy at Disney.  We bought items at Disney.com on a deep clearance discount before we left.  I also purchased glow in the dark necklaces and bracelets.  This pile also had our fans, sunscreen, laundry detergent and a stroller cover for the airplane.

In the process of preparing I decided to add a pile in the kitchen of items to occupy my 3 year old on the plane and 45 minute ride to Disney.  I was dreading having "that kid" on the airplane.  I didn't want him to be to terribly disruptive to other passengers.  I also started training him early on about using our inside voice and soft touch, not kicking the seat ect...he has a sensory delay issue which makes this extra difficult.  He is not autistic but has similar issues.  He has difficulty processing incoming tactile or auditory information unless it is at a level 10. This makes him extra loud and he wants to touch everything! So, I packed items to help him.  Crayons: to color, a camera: he loves to take pictures and this feeds his need for phyical stimulation by touching the camera and auditory by the sound of the camera snapping the pic, Velcro : this was a life savor! the feeling of the rough and smooth sides of the Velcro coupled with the ripping was entertainment for 20+ minutes!

I set a deadline for packing. My deadline was 11pm the night before we left. I organized all the clothes on the bed by kid and parent..everyone had their own pile organized by outfit.  I also had to bring blankets, lovey's, laundry detergent ect...I brought almost everything to our bed to check, double check and recheck before packing.  Once I was satisfied that I had everything we needed it went in to the suit cases and a big surprise to me was that everything for my husband, kids and myself fit in 1 large suitcase, 1 medium and 1 small. 

So, the hard part was complete and we the next morning we were on our way! My next post will be about the tip and how much fun we had!

Life with a Preemie

This is part #2 of our story about Difficult Pregnancies and Preterm Labor....

Trey finally came home on a very sunny and beautiful July 7th morning. He spent ten very long weeks in the NICU and at 6lbs 4oz's he was released to nervous parents.  I have to explain that in the beginning when your baby is in the NICU you are terrified.  You perfect tiny little baby is hooked up to what seems like hundreds of wires and tubes.  The machines bing and ring and every single time you jump and your heart races but some where in between then and the discharge date you become oddly comfortable with it all.  All of the machines and wires become a part of your experience with your child and you kind of learn to love them.  You don't have to worry if they will stop breathing or if their blood pressure is too low or high because the machine will just tell you.  Each alarm becomes nothing more then a set back to when you can bring your baby home.  When you little baby stops breathing instead of freaking out you just pick them up and pat them on the back and then go back to doing whatever you were before.  So, when Trey was being discharged I had a level of anxiety that I did not think I would have.  I didn't know how was I going to know if he stopped breathing or if something was wrong? I actually asked to be sent home on an O2 monitor...crazy maybe but I had become so dependent on the system that had kept him alive for 10 week already.I had learned to not believe in my ability as a mom.  We went and purchased an  Angelcare Deluxe Movement And Sound Baby Monitor.  The system monitors movement in the crib and the sensitivity can be adjusted.  When movement is not detected for a few seconds the alarm goes off. I don't know that I would have slept without it.  We only had one alarm. Trey had actually had a terrible case of reflux and had stopped breathing. I was able to stimulate him and he was fine.

For the prior 10 weeks I had pumped breast milk every 3 hours religiously.  I never and I mean NEVER missed a pumping session.  I had not slept much for those months but once he came home I didn't sleep at all.  I would just hold him and feel him breath against my chest.  This went on for at least 3 weeks.  I didn't allow visitor for fear of them bringing some sickness to my tiny little preemie that he couldn't fend off.  We just hibernated.  The only time I would venture out of the house was for doctors appointments and there were lots of them.  Trey was 6lbs 4oz and techniquely he was 3 months old.  So, we had lots of catching up to do in the growth department.  We also had eye appointments and appointments for his brain...and I did a ton of praying in those months that followed his discharge.  We were lucky.  Trey did not have any issues expect for catch up growing to do. 

The only thing we had to do was get a special shot every month called Synagis.  The shot helps to protect against respiratory syncytial virus or RSV. This is an illness that is not a big deal to normal healthy people but to preemies or elderly people it can be deadly.

Now that Trey is 3 we are dealing with some issues that may or may not be a result of his Grade1 brain bleed and early arrival.  Trey has since been diagnosed with a tactile and auditory sensory delay.  Basically, he needs his audio and tactile input to be at a level 10 for his brain to realize a sound or touch has occurred.  On a scale of 1 to 10 Trey's dysfunction is at a 3.  It could be much worse.  This does cause him some problems with focusing and being very loud.  We have recently found out about this and will be starting occupational therapy very soon...To be honest, I am looking forward to it.  I knew that something was going on with him but I was not sure what it was.  I was actually happy to know that it was not ADD and that medication won't fix it.  This issue just requires a lot of work on his part and mine as his mom and we can do that!By the way he is still perfect to me :)

Like I said before Trey was lucky. Many little ones come home on monitors for oxygen, G tubes or J tubes, physical issues ect.  I do know this..every thing Trey does is a miracle to me.  No matter how loud or annoying he may be to some I thank God that he has the physical and mental ability to get on my nerves.  Some moms and dads are not that lucky.