This week, things have settled down a lot. I am still one thousand percent sure that we could never survive long term in an apt in the city, but we are making the best of it. There is a nice wildlife refuge close and we have taken the kids walking many nights. I survived taking them to Kmart alone-SUCCESS!
Homeschool officially started a bit tonight. I tested Easton's spelling level and (drum roll and trumpets please), he tested at a 5th grade 2nd month level. We knew he would test well but had no idea he would test that well. He is going to be part of an autism study (no, he isn't autistic) at CHOP. They needed non-autistic children to take part (and get paid) and part of it is an IQ test. Adam and I are really looking forward to seeing those results. Adam swears Easton is smarter than some of the adults he knows-hahahha. We have become CHOP's research family. Anytime there is a research project where they need a little child, they come find us because they know we 1) have lots of little ones and 2) will say yes. The new baby is already enrolled in a research project about how the brain develops between birth and age 3. In exchange, we get money to travel up to CHOP (which we will combine with Weston's monthly visits after transplant) and they pay for our hotel and food.
Yesterday, Adam and I took the kids to a craft festival/farmers market in a neighboring town and then to Linvilla Orchards for peach and apple picking. We are trying to find fun things in the city for the kids to enjoy before the weather gets too cold. Weston has been busy making his list of things he wants to do when he leaves the hospital. His number 1 thing is go to the beach and number 2 is go to a fair and ride a ferris wheel.
On the transplant front, I have no news to report. We don't get to find out everytime they get a call about a possible transplant match but we do know that they have had a match for a heart a few weeks ago and a set of lungs about a month ago. Weston needs the heart and lungs to come from the same donor so we will keep praying. Hearing that he got some offers made me feel better. It made me feel like we aren't just sitting around in the CICU for nothing.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
1 week here
I meant to post some last week but the internet at the hospital hates most websites that are useful including blogger, facebook messenger, and a few very necessary kids clothing sites. This has been a rough week for everyone involved. The kids had never visited an apartment/townhouse/or anything of the sort before so they keep calling our apartment a hotel. They have no concept of neighbors being so close and talk to every single person that walks by our apartment. If they are inside, they stand at the window and wave. They are the 5 man welcome crew.
Weston is doing well but it hurts his feelings when all of the kids visit and then they all leave together so we are limiting group visits to twice a week. We are still figuring out an extra few days for Easton to go to the hospital. Adam and I are trading out more so that has helped tremendously. He has gotten to go on a walk around the CICU and take a real bath so those things lifted his spirits!
There is a really nice town close to our apartment called Media. I joke with Adam that it is where all of the sane people in Philadelphia live because it is a nice size town with lots of shops but nothing overwhelming-EXCEPT the 2, 2 story Targets that are just amazing. The YMCA there offers a homeschool group, dance classes for the girls, karate and swimming for the boys, and all sorts of arts and cooking. Because they work closely with CHOP, we will be able to enroll the kids in some of the activities for free. We also found Easton a Cub Scout group in Media. I hope this will help him make some friends.
Speaking of school, we will begin formal homeschool next week. We are doing things a bit differently this year because of our situation here in Philly. For Language, Phonics, and Bible, we enrolled Easton in Abeka Academy. They video stream and online teacher teaching. We are also going to use a few new multi-age texts. I am hoping to get a few years out of these books and involve the other kids more. I am going to use Spelling Power for Spelling. For Science, we will use Apologia. I really love Apologia. The books are bright and full of beautiful pictures. I got the lapbook cd to go with it so I am hoping for Easton and Weston to make more lapbooks this year. Lapbooks are 1 thing the kids really love. We are going to try Story of the World again for History. Now that we have done a year of homeschooling, I don't feel nearly as overwhelmed so I think Story of the World will be a good fit. The 2nd week, Easton will be making a mummy out of a whole chicken. I believe Adam will be helping more with that. We are using A Reason for Handwriting for printing and I believe Easton will start cursive this year with Abeka. Easton's Abeka won't arrive until later this week so I will know more then. For Math, we reluctantly bought Saxon again. Saxon is a great, hands on program but you constantly repeat what you just learned. It made Easton very frustrated but he loved the hands on elements.
We also ordered the K4 curriculum from Abeka Academy. Adam and I struggled with trying to decide whether to start Weston in true Kindergarten or have him take another year of preschool. Weston is very smart but with everything going on, I think another year of preschool will be great. There is no need to make him grow up faster than he already is. His birthday is in September so it is no big deal to do another year of preschool. I have read lots of studies saying that boys, especially, benefit from starting school a little later.
As much as I hate to admit it, there are a few things I love about Philadelphia. The very best thing about Philly is the fruit cart. Don't worry-I was scared at first too. Who eats fruit out of a tiny cart??? Well, the answer is, everyone who knows where to get good, cheap fruit! I am going to post a pic next time of how much fruit you get for 4 dollars. It is amazing. You could not buy fruit and cut it up for less than you can buy it from the fruit cart. My 2nd favorite thing is Trader Joes. LOVE LOVE LOVE this store. 19 cents a pound for bananas EVERYDAY. Great, great, great. And, last but not least, now that we have kind of settled, I have found some great homeschooling oppoortunities for Easton. This year may end up consisting of lots of unschooling because of all of the fun things we have found for him. I hope you all have a blessed Sunday!
Weston is doing well but it hurts his feelings when all of the kids visit and then they all leave together so we are limiting group visits to twice a week. We are still figuring out an extra few days for Easton to go to the hospital. Adam and I are trading out more so that has helped tremendously. He has gotten to go on a walk around the CICU and take a real bath so those things lifted his spirits!
There is a really nice town close to our apartment called Media. I joke with Adam that it is where all of the sane people in Philadelphia live because it is a nice size town with lots of shops but nothing overwhelming-EXCEPT the 2, 2 story Targets that are just amazing. The YMCA there offers a homeschool group, dance classes for the girls, karate and swimming for the boys, and all sorts of arts and cooking. Because they work closely with CHOP, we will be able to enroll the kids in some of the activities for free. We also found Easton a Cub Scout group in Media. I hope this will help him make some friends.
Speaking of school, we will begin formal homeschool next week. We are doing things a bit differently this year because of our situation here in Philly. For Language, Phonics, and Bible, we enrolled Easton in Abeka Academy. They video stream and online teacher teaching. We are also going to use a few new multi-age texts. I am hoping to get a few years out of these books and involve the other kids more. I am going to use Spelling Power for Spelling. For Science, we will use Apologia. I really love Apologia. The books are bright and full of beautiful pictures. I got the lapbook cd to go with it so I am hoping for Easton and Weston to make more lapbooks this year. Lapbooks are 1 thing the kids really love. We are going to try Story of the World again for History. Now that we have done a year of homeschooling, I don't feel nearly as overwhelmed so I think Story of the World will be a good fit. The 2nd week, Easton will be making a mummy out of a whole chicken. I believe Adam will be helping more with that. We are using A Reason for Handwriting for printing and I believe Easton will start cursive this year with Abeka. Easton's Abeka won't arrive until later this week so I will know more then. For Math, we reluctantly bought Saxon again. Saxon is a great, hands on program but you constantly repeat what you just learned. It made Easton very frustrated but he loved the hands on elements.
We also ordered the K4 curriculum from Abeka Academy. Adam and I struggled with trying to decide whether to start Weston in true Kindergarten or have him take another year of preschool. Weston is very smart but with everything going on, I think another year of preschool will be great. There is no need to make him grow up faster than he already is. His birthday is in September so it is no big deal to do another year of preschool. I have read lots of studies saying that boys, especially, benefit from starting school a little later.
As much as I hate to admit it, there are a few things I love about Philadelphia. The very best thing about Philly is the fruit cart. Don't worry-I was scared at first too. Who eats fruit out of a tiny cart??? Well, the answer is, everyone who knows where to get good, cheap fruit! I am going to post a pic next time of how much fruit you get for 4 dollars. It is amazing. You could not buy fruit and cut it up for less than you can buy it from the fruit cart. My 2nd favorite thing is Trader Joes. LOVE LOVE LOVE this store. 19 cents a pound for bananas EVERYDAY. Great, great, great. And, last but not least, now that we have kind of settled, I have found some great homeschooling oppoortunities for Easton. This year may end up consisting of lots of unschooling because of all of the fun things we have found for him. I hope you all have a blessed Sunday!
Saturday, August 6, 2011
We made it after all
I flew home last Monday thinking it would be a quick trip. I would clean like crazy, pack like no tomorrow, and leave out Thursday. I have never worked so hard in all of my life. This is no understatement. I worked from 6am until at least midnight every single night. The kids were so excited to see me. I couldn't possibly think about them spending the night elsewhere after they were so excited to be home. We did a bit of visiting while we were in (you try telling great grandparents that you are home for what is probably a very long time and you aren't going to visit). On Wednesday, I called Adam to tell him we weren't going to make it on Thursday. I still had way too much to do. So, Thursday, I went to take the car to Sears to get tires and the kids and I were going to get cupcakes. Adam jumped out from behind one of those bathroom model things. I was so glad to see him!
We left Friday around noon-after a stop through Pals. The kids did really great on the ride up. Avery was the only very unhappy camper but hopefully, the ride back home will be better since she won't be backwards after she turns 1. We got to the apartment around 1am and the kids were overwhelmed. They were nervous. It was probably the first apartment they had ever been in. The girls and Sutton shared a bed, Easton slept on the couch, and Avery slept on a blanket in the floor (she was NONE too pleased with her sleeping place but we had forgot her Pack N Play).
Today, we brought them to the hospital to visit Weston. He was overjoyed to see them and they were thrilled to see him. Avery was, by far, the most excited. They left right before lunch. That will be our routine for awhile with Adam and I trading off. It isn't ideal but it is SO SO SO nice to have everyone in the same city.
Did I mention how much the littles have grown? Avery is so big and about to walk anytime. She isn't talking yet but when she went for her 9 month apt (she is 10 months but we have been busy!), she has an inverted ear drum. We are supposed to see ENT here in Philly next week to see about putting in tubes. Sutton is talking up a storm! He has turned into a big kid saying sentences and singing songs. Emery is saying more too and has become very opinionated. We will be looking for a speech therapist for her up this way as well. Abby has become a young lady. She lost that baby look and looks like a big girl.
So, that is about it. We still have to figure out grocery shopping and all of that. Grocery stores here are a lot different than back home. Wegmans
We left Friday around noon-after a stop through Pals. The kids did really great on the ride up. Avery was the only very unhappy camper but hopefully, the ride back home will be better since she won't be backwards after she turns 1. We got to the apartment around 1am and the kids were overwhelmed. They were nervous. It was probably the first apartment they had ever been in. The girls and Sutton shared a bed, Easton slept on the couch, and Avery slept on a blanket in the floor (she was NONE too pleased with her sleeping place but we had forgot her Pack N Play).
Today, we brought them to the hospital to visit Weston. He was overjoyed to see them and they were thrilled to see him. Avery was, by far, the most excited. They left right before lunch. That will be our routine for awhile with Adam and I trading off. It isn't ideal but it is SO SO SO nice to have everyone in the same city.
Did I mention how much the littles have grown? Avery is so big and about to walk anytime. She isn't talking yet but when she went for her 9 month apt (she is 10 months but we have been busy!), she has an inverted ear drum. We are supposed to see ENT here in Philly next week to see about putting in tubes. Sutton is talking up a storm! He has turned into a big kid saying sentences and singing songs. Emery is saying more too and has become very opinionated. We will be looking for a speech therapist for her up this way as well. Abby has become a young lady. She lost that baby look and looks like a big girl.
So, that is about it. We still have to figure out grocery shopping and all of that. Grocery stores here are a lot different than back home. Wegmans
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