Bedtime...Update

It's been a few days since I wrote about our bedtime issues with Cody. We went on vacation for 4 days and not once while on vacation did he give me a fit. So that was a big break through. Our first night home (Tuesday night) he cried a little and told me he was "nervous" but that was all I could get out of him. He fell asleep pretty quick. The past 2 nights have been good. He's fallen asleep with no crying. Maybe it was just anxiety about our vacation. Even though he has been to my brother's house before. Maybe it was over going on a boat ride that we had talked about doing. He was pretty sure he didn't want to 'leave the land'. He stayed with Kevin and Kristie while we went on the boat and was fine with that. So maybe he just had some anxiety about doing something new. We will still watch it. His team visit is 8/12 and I plan to talk with them then.

Ahhh...a vacation!

We left on the 25th for some fun in the sun in Ocean City. My plan was to leave home by 6 am so we could get a jump start on the traffic and get to my brother's in plenty of time to get ready and head into the beach. Well that was a great plan until I forgot to turn on the alarm clock! UGH. So at 6:20 when I rolled over to look at the clock - I quickly jumped out of bed and get everybody rolling. We were on the road an hour later and hit traffic the whole way there. But in hind site it worked out fine as Kevin worked the night before and needed to catch some sleep, so he just got up when we got there. We still went into the beach even though by the time we got there is was almost 4 but we didn't care. The boys loved the ocean!

Sunday we went back into Ocean City except this time for the day. First thing was our ride on the Sea Rocket. You board a boat and it takes you from the inlet to 131st street. First cruising at a slow speed to see all the different condo's and hear some of their history. Then he turns it around and we were going about 40mph hitting 3 to 4 foot waves. We got a little wet but not much as we sat in the front. Mid way back we stopped to enjoy the sight of dolphins. How pretty they were! I got some pictures but my camera isn't exactly fast and I would mainly get their fins . Dylan and Tyler were the only ones to go. Cody was dead set that he was staying "on the land" so he stayed with Kevin and Kristie and helped with baby Jack. He too got to see some dolphins so that was cool. Then we headed to our sandy spot on the beach and ah..it was heaven. Cody and Dylan absolutely loved the ocean. Venturing out farther and farther. Not a afraid for a minute. Diving into the water through the waves. They probably had their fair share of salt water too! Tyler loved it to but only if you were holding his hand. He was funny cause he would run down to the water, a wave would come in and get his toes and out he would run. We got scopes done on the beach. Scopes are pictures taken by a company and then you can purchase them. Jack loved the water and the sand. He tried eating it but I think he found out real quick that didn't taste good. After everybody was full of sand - we headed home to a yummy steak dinner.

Monday was a sort of a lazy day. Kevin had court, Kristie had to work and I got to watch Jack. I don't get a lot of time with him because of the distance so it was great. He is such a good baby. Loved changing his diaper and watching him twist and turn from you. The boys enjoyed him and kept him busy. Mon. night we headed back into Ocean City for some fun but had to change plans as they got a storm that came in. And man did it rain! The boys wanted to play miniature golf but because of the rain - we found an indoor putt putt place. They had a lot of fun. Then we got ice cream, some Thrashers fries and headed back home. Got in some Wii time (thinking Santa needs to buy one of those this year). Vacation came to an end yesterday!

have lots and lots of pictures but they will come later. Here are a couple....

Bedtime....

We had a great night tonight. All the kids had a great day playing outside - even Cody. He was actually the first to be dressed and wanted to go out and play. Yeah! He had a great day. Tonight we met my sister at Friendly's for dinner and then went to the grocery store so they could pick snacks out for our trip to OC. While there they each got a plastic bag and could pick from the bins. Cody did mention at one time, "it's OK mom I know I can't have anything gummy." I didn't say anything but found him some "cool" other kinds that he could have.

We get home and it's time for bed and yep, the tears started again. I have to say not as bad as last night. He's asleep as I type. There was no throwing up this time but he had 3 trips to the bathroom. He became very teary eyed and I tried to divert it to something else. He wanted to be held - so I held him and then I think his eyes just wanted to close so he said he wanted back on his pillow.

I asked him if something was wrong. He tells me "no"....but then why all of a sudden are we having night time issues. We haven't had them before. I've done some searching today on the internet but I'm not a doctor. I don't want to jump to conclusions......but I sometimes can't help myself. He has a lot of the symptoms of PTSD.....but is it really that? Can just getting a palate expander on cause that? And if so, what on earth are we in for when he has an actual surgery again. I don't even want to think of it. I'm not saying he has it....and maybe this will all pass. Maybe we have hit a bad week for some reason.

This is from one website I found:
A child with PTSD may also re-experience the traumatic event by:
- developing repeated physical or emotional symptoms when the child is reminded of the event (while I don't remind him that he got on the palate expander every day - he is reminded of it when he has to make choices about his eating. He just can not have anything sticky in his mouth. He is reminded of it everytime he moves his tongue. It's in his mouth - how can he not be reminded of it everyday)

Children with PTSD may also show the following symptoms:
-losing interest in activities
-having physical symptoms such as headaches and stomachaches (just stomachaches to the point of throwing up at times)
-showing more sudden and extreme emotional reactions
-having problems falling or staying asleep
(these 4 things he has to some degree.)

Oh heck...I don't know. If anybody can shed some light - I am all for it.

I'm stumped, worried, concerned...oh wait - I'm a MOM!

I blog for a reason. Most of the time it’s for my own personal reason so I can remember things. I think the old wives tale is pregnancy sucks out your brain cells and I’m convinced cause man my memory sucks! I’ll be the first to admit it. :) This post is for my memory as I need to keep a daily log of the issue at hand.

I’ll be frank – I’m worried about Cody. This past week we have encounter some bedtime anxiety and I’m trying to figure out what it’s all about. The other night – unbeknown to me he got up and threw up in the bathroom. He went and told Brett who was still up but then he climbed back into bed and out he went. Our bedtime routine hasn’t changed. Go upstairs about 8, watch tv till 9 and then they are out. Which has been fine for Cody but then he starts giving me that look of the deer in the headlight look and I know something is up. Then he begins to get teary.

So last night, it was our normal night and then it started.
1. “Tyler got a lot of new toys for his birthday”…..which was a few weeks ago. Not to mention he also got something new and to be honest Cody doesn’t ever play with Tyler’s toys. Not that they are separate but he is more into Backugan and Pokémon.
2. “Dylan always beats me up and hurts me”……ok, that one bothered me. Dylan is a lot more aggressive but trust me they are BOTH instigators in brotherly arguments. So I told Cody the next time Dylan hurts him to be sure to come and tell Mommy (or gimmie or daddy) and we will get to the bottom of it. But what I don’t want to have happen is us always yelling at Dylan.
Then he got over those and settled down and I thought was on his way to sleep.
3. As the hours were racking up and it’s just about 11 pm – I told him we would turn off the TV and we would lie together. He was fine with it but then the tears started and this time…. “I’m afraid of the dark”……….So I told him it wasn’t completely dark, there was the light in the bathroom that was on, the light coming in through the blinds from the street light, the clock gives off some light…..
He then made a couple bathroom trips and I could just tell he was going to get sick. Sure enough. So instead of going back into bed, I took him downstairs to the couch with a bucket and we sat. Thank god for the bucket cause we certainly needed it. After all that, we sat on the couch and he fell fast asleep.

My mommy mind is racing to try and figure out what the underlying cause is. Here are my thoughts:…. (1) He just had his palate expander on 3 weeks ago. He had a lot of anxiety over this, many tears and this is the first thing that he is old enough to remember. His last procedure was when he was 2. He hasn’t complained about his appliance at all. He has had to give up certain foods and while he doesn’t appear to be bothered by this – maybe it is? (2) He is also on thyroid medication and while he was doing very well on this I have noticed he seems to be a bit more tired than normal. The tired thing was the first sign before he got on the medication that I noticed. Cody has great big brown eyes with super long eye lashes but when he is tired his big eyes get very glossy and he just has that “I’m exhausted look” on his face. So possibly maybe his thyroid is off???? (3) Could be his diet. He isn’t the best eater in the world but does have his favorites and we go with them. (4) Maybe I need to change his activities. He likes to watch his TV. While I am not the type of person to limit the TV he does like to watch. He is more content staying in with the TV on and playing with his bakugan or Pokémon. Of which his brother’s aren’t that into to when he can get somebody to play with him he loves it. He would rather stay in while his brother’s are dying to get outside for the day. (5) Soooo…does this all lead to anxiety? And to what type or is it not at all?? Many questions……… I’ll blog about it and talk with our pediatrician on 8/3 and also see if we can see the psychologist at his team visit. We will figure it out but man am I stumped! :(

Always Analyzing

It seems as though we are always wondering what our kids are thinking. I can remember when they were little and they would give a facial expression and we would say "If they could talk they would say....". Well now that the boys are older and have a pretty good vocabulary they just tell you what they are thinking. Not always is this a good thing! :) Cody seems to analyze things more. Last night as I was waiting for him to go to sleep he tells me "Mom, what if I don't want to have a smile on my face"......"what if when I go to school the kids pick on me cause I'm always smiling". Wow - I started running through my mind to see where on earth this was coming from. Then it hits me - he is referring to his "smile maker" that the dentist calls his appliance. He things that by him wearing this "smile maker" it will permanently put a smile on his face. LOL. It is kind of funny but the kid over thinks things like crazy. So I had to tell him it's really to fix his teeth and make them so he can touch them together. (as I chomp my teeth together so he can see). Then I told him that the muscles in his face control his smile and if he doesn't want to smile then he doesn't have to. So we made all sorts of "funny" faces and I think he understands.

What a Weekend!

We had a busy weekend but lots of fun for sure. Friday night I got to visit my friend Erica for a while why she stopped through town. It's always nice to catch up with friends and like always it's never long enough. Saturday was Karly's 8th birthday. It still seems like yesterday that she was a little baby and now she's 8 and sassy and adorable and ALL GIRL! She had a great party to High School Musical. I have lots of fun pictures from the day but just haven't gotten them on the PC yet. Thankfully the rain held off to just about the end of the party then it let loose. Today was a beautiful blue sky day and we went back up to the Smith's for pool fun. The boys are getting braver in the pool and by the end of the day both Cody and Dylan were swimming with no arm floats and doing great. Not sure if I would let them not wear them in a deeper pool cause if they wanted to touch they could in Tanya's. They both love to jump into the pool and Dylan found out that going in backwards with no arm floats - you sink right to the bottom! He came up just a looking for that breath. Tyler and Connor aren't huge fans of the big pool. The little one is perfect for them especially cause their attention span is so short. We cooked out a hodge podge of things and then Uncle Shaun took the kids for a ride on the 4-wheeler. All that fresh air really knocks a kid out!

Cody is doing really good with his appliance. At times I notice his speech but it's certainly not overly noticeable. I think I am looking for it and I don't think to the normal ear they could hear a change. Keeping it clean has been pretty easy so far with just brushing and with this little water shooter the office gave us. He and I had a big boy chat about what he could eat and when put to the test he hasn't given anybody a fit about not being allowed to have anything gummy. I ended up pushing back his follow up appointment till 8/12 as that is the same day as his team visit. We'll knock out two visits in one day!

We are counting down our days till our vacation in Ocean City. Looking forward to seeing my nephew and getting the boys on the beach.

Pictures to come!!! Have a good week!

Palate expander pictures

Here is my brave man just minutes after we left the office. He realized that is wasn't "so bad" and that nobody could see it. He was all smiles, he loved the fact that he got to keep his teeth to show and that a new Bakugan movie was in the player playing for our ride home.

Then he opened wide so I could take an inside shot. We have our first follow up appointment on 7/29. So far, he is doing really well. He is back to his normal diet. His speech seems OK however I am watching this. I have noticed as he gets tired he gets harder to understand. So I just find myself listening better. When we see the team in August the ST will probably give me a better understanding of things. He hasn't really complained of having it in. Again when he is tired, he gets a little weepy and says he wishes he didn't have to wear it. I wish that to! BUT! It was a little sad having to tell him NO he couldn't have a piece of laffy taffy (he loves that stuff) and to watch his smile turn upside down. I just explained that he couldn't have it now but will be able to sometime in the future. He was fine with that and moved on to sweat tarts! :)

Happy 4th of July

My 3 reasons to celebrate!

We had a great 4th of July in Cuba. We had many wonderful picnics with lots of good food and great laughs. The rain held off Friday night so we could see some pretty fireworks and thanks to Grandpa Cody got to enjoy them too. He doesn't do well with the loud noises and Grandpa gave him a head set and they worked like a charm. Saturday we had a great picnic at Aunt Joyce's. The kids got to swim....the adults played Kan Jam, woffle ball (with many slips in the mud), and everybody enjoyed a playstation 2 game of karaoke. Such a great time! Sunday, we cooked out to celebrate Brett's parents 40th wedding anniversary. The kids got to swim as that was really our nicest day of the weekend. But let's face it - to kids they don't care how cold the water is - they just want in it. It was an exhausting weekend and every night the boys crashed the minute their head hit the pillow.

They played hard and had fun and that's all that matters!

Palate Expander is on

Today Cody got his palate expander on. Since our last ortho visit I have talked with Cody - not every day - but at different times to try and get him to understand just what was going to happen. Last night the anxiety came to head and he cried. As best I could, I held back my own tears and told him everything would be OK.

Our morning started out at 6:30 as we got in the car for our hour and a half ride. As we were pulling into the parking lot he got that "look". We got him dressed and went inside. He didn't want to play and I could see the tears coming. Thankfully Brett was wish us cause lord knows somebody had to be brave and not cry. To see Cody cry broke my heart. We've been so quite in this journey of ours and now to start a new chapter and one that Cody will remember, it got the best of me at times. So Brett and Cody played with some ball game on the wall and I chatted with a mom who was there for their first visit - her son is 2 and was also born with a cleft. Next came our name in the rotation and Cody went to the bathroom for the 3rd time. That allowed me time to tell the nurse and doctor that he was having some anxiety with this.

Well I love our ortho - Dr. Scott - He sat Cody in the chair, gave him his mold of his teeth and told him to keep em to "show em off"....then showed him how the appliance was going to work. Cody got very emotional and Dr. Scott asked him to tell him what was wrong in his big boy voice. Cody said he didn't want to be there and didn't want that in his mouth. Dr. Scott worked his magic and in it went. It didn't take long. The office has a reward program. So Cody received his special tie dyed t-shirt to wear on future visits. He was also given a raffle ticket and after 3 raffle tickets - he gets a big prize. Then our name is in a drawing for a Target gift card. We headed out and went to McDonald's. Luckily, this is just down the street and we will get to know it well I am sure. Sad thing to a 5 year old though is they don't serve french fries at 9:30 in the morning. He wanted eggs and bacon so we got him that. I think he ate about a 1/2 a piece of bacon but did drink all his chocolate milk.

Upkeep tonight has been tylenol every 4 hours, he's had milk shakes, eggs, toasted cheese sandwich. His activity has been great. I've not noticed any big changes in speech. I've read that some people can tell immediately but he's doing very good so far.

My surprise came tonight when the phone rang and I saw on the caller ID that it was the doctor. He called to check up on him and make sure he was doing OK. That means sooooooooo much to me. He told me to give him a squeeze and tell him he was very proud of him. He told me to watch the next couple days as he may complain of his teeth hurting as the teeth are starting to move. So we'll keep tylenol on hand and more milk shakes.

We go back on 7/29 for another check up. Dr. Scott said the appointments will get easier and easier from here. I have pictures - just not tonight.