Fall in Florida

Here we are!  It's fall in Florida and we're still here.  Amazingly enough, Eric made it past his one year.  He's battered and bruised, but has won the admiration of one of the top chefs in the company, which means that the sky's the limit from here.  He's been talking about going to South Korea, but I don't think I am ready to take the international plunge just yet.  Marriott makes going overseas very attractive, with a nanny, driver, private school, insurance all paid for.  It's something we'd like to explore in the future. This summer was fun with weddings in New Orleans and Michigan.  It was good to be back in the Midwest and see family and friends in Iowa too.  Being in Iowa reminded us what down to Earth, do anything for you people are like, and we'd like to get back to that.  We're in the process of firming up which places we'd like to go to.

Spring!

Has sprung!  I hope everyone is enjoying it.  Spring in Florida is beautiful!  Homeschooling is going well with Elle, we did learning profiles on the website after reading the book Discover Your Child's Learning Style, and that has helped tremendously.  It turns out that I am a print/auditory/producing (think workbook) learner and she is not.  She's a visual/picture/tactile learner.  So the curriculum that I was picking out for math wasn't meeting her needs at all, it was black and white and boring!  The unit study or literature approach she likes (we started Five In A Row in November), and I lucked out on the phonics workbooks because they are mostly picture learning.  She's also a relater, which means that she needs to talk things out to understand them, which was driving me crazy because she would constantly ask questions about what she was learning.  Turns out, she needs to talk it out to understand.  We went on a field trip to a composting place to learn about worm composting, and it was partly lecture and partly hands-on.  When I questioned her about the lecture, almost nothing had been absorbed except for the hands-on part of the lecture.  She doesn't learn that way, she is completely visual.  Art is her favorite subject and she started taking a homeschool enrichment art class on Thursdays which she loves.  

Autumn

So the last update was May I think?  A lot has happened since then!  Of course, we moved to Orlando.  We miss our Iowa peeps dearly.  I think we had gotten so used to the way life is so different there, that it is hard to get back into a Southern state of mind!  Not that Orlando is slow paced by any means, just the plain talk in Iowa was a breath of fresh air, and now we are back to the niceities of the South.  Blech!

Miles is doing phenomenal, I can't believe how well he is growing up!  Too fast if you ask me.  He'll be 23 months today.  Our eight month battle with yeast finally ended when we moved down here, perhaps because of the humidity, perhaps because our new diet was such a shock to the system, who knows?  We were in the hotel for six weeks, eating out all the time.  Anyway, he is talking in four word sentences and his fine motor skills are unbelievable, he can catch baby lizards!  Just picks them up like it's nothing.

May!

Hello everyone,

Hope you are all well, time for an update...

Miles is doing ok, he is talking a lot more now. He says "ready, swing, peek a boo, mommy, daddy, elle belle, apple, nana (banana), monkey, quack (when I sign duck), finished, fish, water, flower, shoe, sock, eat, stop...", and he signs finished, fish, claps for more, doggie,

So his speech is improving, I started using coconut oil for the yeast we still have (no it did not go away), which is antifungal. It seems that the antibiotics just tipped his system in the direction of the yeast over good bacteria in his gut, because he is still only pooping twice a week, and is very uncomfortable when he does, and I'm not sure what else to do. We did 7 weeks of grapefruit seed extract and cranberry juice in our smoothies, oregano oil occasionally (which is fungicidal and bactericidal), I quit eating chocolate, we have cut down on the white rice flour products, and we are on our second round of two weeks of Diflucan (which is about the third line medicine for yeast).

What happens with yeast is that sometimes it gains a foothold in the gut and converts from its spore form to an aggressive hyphal form, which can attach to things, and is the yeast responsible for punching holes in the gut. So to say I'm concerned about his little system is an understatement. I finally found however a very strong probiotic from Klaire labs that I have been giving him and Justin, and it seems to be helping a lot. I didn't realize until my current chiropractor pointed out that the probiotic I have been using for months for Justin only has 1 billion viable cells, which is fine for a kid with a normal gut, but for our family it doesn't even cut it. 5 billion is the minimum for Miles, and 50 is the minimum for Justin. Right now I'm taking 200 billion to try to get my gut in the right direction- away from the yeast.

Spring Updates

Hello everyone!

We are finally thawing out after a record winter with 90 days of more than 5 inches of snow on the ground. It is nice to see the sun again and for the snow to melt, although after it melted we had another storm which dropped about 4 inches in our backyard, and that is almost gone, only one heap of snow left in our front yard. Did you know you can take a paint roller to the snow and make it stick? I had no idea and it is the coolest thing next to snowball fights!

It is cold here. I am kind of tired of being cold, tired of long sleeves, tired of my forearms constantly itching due to the seams on my long shirts. Now I understand how kids with sensory issues feel about tags on the back of their necks! After 34 years of short sleeves I am feeling oppressed by wearing so many clothes for so many months of the year. Not to mention the laundry that five people create when everyone wears at least three layers!! I tell my friends that it is crazy that I moved from a place where we wore winter clothes for three months out of the year, to a place where we wear summer clothes for only three months out of the year!

Elle wants to wear dresses every day and I still haven't figured out how to do that- I know she could wear tights but those drive her up the wall. She is doing very well in school, with her writing. Math not so much, they started a program called Everyday Math which introduces math concepts at a very early age, and we are having trouble finding the time to do the take-home exercises after school. She is so spent after 7 hours at school I would rather that she just play when she gets home. She is 5! I think anything beyond counting to 100 in Kindergarten is a bit ridiculous, but it is the curriculum, so we'll do it somehow.

Ten Years

Hello all!

So I skipped Nov and Dec. It has been busy, to say the least. I'm going to try to get up to speed but I am really not sure what I missed. I realized the other day that I have been writing this log for ten years now, and I think it's time to put it all in one place, I just can't decide how to go about doing that. I thought about separating out Justin's story but I think that would just be more work... I have all of the emails compiled into a binder but now I can't find any of my email files older than my cox.net account (which is like four years worth). So if anyone has by chance saved those old old emails could you send them to me? I don't mind rewriting them, that is just a pain.

I have a few blogs started, but none of which I want to keep doing. I think I am going to go over to WordPress and see if that is any better. Suggestions are welcome. I quit doing my M2M blog when Rob (Susan's husband) offered to set up a website for my business, and we migrated it over to m2mbfs.com. Unfortunately or not I haven't had the time to even fool with it so it is still under construction. I have nothing but time on my hands, though, so I think it's time to get the story out there and give myself an outlet to write- because it is my stress reliever and helps me cope with this crazy life with three kids!

Miles is doing *great*. He is running, and falling down a lot, but doing very well. He is trying to talk, which is so cute. He has said "hi", "yeah", "NO", and "daddy", and "mama" when he is mad. He is a very intense baby who is determined to do what he wants to do, but not very difficult when limits are imposed (unlike his older brother)! He climbs up the stairs and down a few, climbs off the sofa, likes to stand on top of the little desk Elle has, and loves to walk around outside in the snow. Not necessarily walk in deep snow, but along the sidewalk where it has been shoveled, so he can play with the snow on the sides.

Sept Pics

Sept went by very fast, with the start of preschool. Elle has adjusted very well to Kindergarten and I am almost adjusted myself- weaning is hard any way you slice it. Her teacher and I had a few disagreements and all seems to be smoothed over now. She is learning sight words and can read quite a few, the first word she learned to read was "wheat", as in "wheat free". She would ask if a food was wheat free when she could read wheat on the box.

Justin is doing well in Preschool after some early difficulties. He went from a class of 8 to a class of 20. He hated circle time at first but has figured out the routine and has the opportunity to play alone when he is feeling overwhelmed, which helps tremendously with socialization. We started him on some digestive enzymes this summer after I did some research on them (they were always too strong or the wrong ones before), and his digestion has improved immensely. He has improved so much from the use of enzymes that - dare I say it- he acts like a normal kid now. No more sensory issues, no more meltdowns for no reason, no more gross motor weakness. His speech has made some leaps, but still needs work, but I am happy to say he is only about 3-4 months behind what is developmentally appropriate right now.

May pics

April and May pics are posted on the website www.kodakgallery.com/katieanderic. I recently added some pics from April that I forgot on my camera.

So much going on here! Justin got his tubes the beginning of April and that went OK- it took him a long time to recover, not from the tubes, but from the ET tube (breathing tube) they put down his throat for general anesthesia. It stretched out his uvula and I couldn't get him to nurse for anything for at least 12 hours. After a few doses of pain meds and some breastmilk to the back of the throat he finally started nursing again, but not until after I had pumped a few times. Pumping is the pits! Anyway it helped his hearing a lot.

We started a music class at Loyola in February, and we went after he got his tubes, thinking it would be better b/c he would be able to actually hear the teacher's instructions. You know he's been bad when all the parents and the instructor roll their eyes when you walk in the door! He usually screams in class that he wants to leave and generally acts up, or nurses the whole time. Well the last time we went he was awful. I think it might be overstimulation for him or he can hear that much better that it really bothered him. He threw fits the whole class, tried to hit another child with the drum stick, and needed a time out in the middle of class. He screamed at me quite a few times and was just miserable. No more music class for him!

Cali Update

Hi guys.  We are still in the hotel.  Our furniture was supposed to be here last Friday but now it won't be here until Sunday.  It got bumped off the moving van b/c it was too full.  Yet another challenge we have to face.  Moving is never easy, is it?  I do have to say, Tiger is enjoying having the place to himself.  The complex has three pools, a spa, and tennis and basketball courts.  Y'all would be so proud of me... I am up to 25 laps in the pool.  I have been going every other day but I'm trying to work up to every day.  It was 95 here today and I thought it felt nice!  It has been 102-105 lately.  Eric and I had the last few days off so we drove up to the Santa Rosa mountains and took the highway through them.  It was a little scary but fun!  Palm Desert is between the little San Bernadino and Santa Rosa mountains.  We were 2000 feet up!  We are planning to go that way when we drive to see San Diego.

I got another job.  Eisenhower was not what I thought it would be.  The staff there didn't seem happy and the supervisor that interviewed me was disorganized.  She had a few projects in the works but seemed unable to follow through on them.  Anyway, I took a night job at JFK Memorial Hospital, 3 12's, and they offered me $2000 for relocation.  It is a Tenet hospital but they don't do those retarded rotating day and night shifts, and the lady that interviewed me seemed very much on the ball.  She has worked with Tenet for 15 years so she knows how to milk the system!  The hospital also seemed much less political and more pro-nursing.  They used to be the public hospital like Charity, and they still operate that way, so it will be a good chance for me to use my Spanish.  The hospital is in Indio where most of the Hispanic population lives.  Ah... plus the staff is a lot younger and more open to new people.  They seemed happy to be there.

Enough about that.  Eric is liking his job and his boss is very nice... about a month younger than him so they are on the same plane.  His fiance is nice and has invited me to hang out a few times.  I am anxious for visitors, though!  I want y'all to see this beautiful place.  I will write more later!

Hello!!

Hey y'all.  You would not believe this.  It actually rained today!  Poured!  I felt like I was home.  I saw a couple of rainbows up in the mountains on the way back to the hotel.  It was cool.

I didn't tell you about the ride here.  Texas took forever.  San Antonio was pretty, very hot even at night.  We went to dinner on the Riverwalk downtown and saw this huge hotel called El Maison that looked like a Spanish hacienda.  The only nice thing about El Paso was the mountains.  'Nuff said.  Phoenix was great.  The weather is dry and hot and there are these misters on the patios outside of every restaurant to keep it cool.  We ate at a great place called Roxsand.  The food was so good and I got a wine glass as a souvenir!  It took 4 hours to get here from Phoenix and the drive was pretty.  We went through Texas Canyon and I felt like the Roadrunner driving through cartoon rocks.  There actually is a huge boulder perched on top of a 4 foot wide rock.  You cross the Colorado River to get to Cali and it is nice and blue, but skinny.  Nothing like the Mississippi.  Palm Desert is about 1 1/2 hours past the border.  The valley gets its water from an underground lake and there are palm trees everywhere.  We are pretty much smack dab in the middle of the valley.  Palm Springs is Northwest of here and Indio is Southeast.  All the towns are next to each other, seven in all.  You can drive down Monterey Ave, and to the left you are in Palm Desert and to the right you are in Rancho Mirage (which is where the hospital is).  Tiger did fine, he whined the first hour every day but slept the rest of the way.

Anyway, we got our apartment keys today and it is nice!  Bigger than I thought but I don't think all the furniture will fit, we'll see.  We don't get the furniture until Monday.  It is a pain in the butt waiting.  We'll have to stay in the hotel a few more days.  Darn.  Well I will write more later!  Take care!

Hello from Cali!

Hi y'all!  It really is nice up here!  Sunny every day, and the mountains are beautiful.  We drove down the strip in Palm Springs Monday and it is nice, but Palm Desert has a lot to offer in itself.  It has a street called El Paseo which is supposed to be like Rodeo Drive, but I'm going to stay away from it for a while.  Everything here is definitely more expensive, so I'll be shopping at Target.  I feel like I'm in Texas b/c the speed limit on all the streets around here is 50, and people are not Sunday drivers.  It is also very hot and dry (hence the name Palm Desert), so I am storing water like a camel and getting nice and pruny.  Needless to say it is a change from what I'm used to but I love it!!  Will write more later.  Take care all!

Hi!  I just wanted to let you know that we are here and Cali is beautiful!  There are mountains everywhere, but not much water.  The average rainfall here is 5.5 inches per year!  It is sunny, needless to say.  I almost miss thunderstorms every day in the summer in New Orleans (not really :).  I got a job at Eisenhower hospital working day shift, 3 12's.  I am really excited b/c it's where I wanted to work and plus I have all kinds of free time!  I think you all have my address but if you don't let me know.  Write more later.

Hey guys just wanted to let you know that this place is beautiful!  There is little or no water here but plenty of mountains... quite a difference!  The Marriott resort rivals the one Eric and I went to for our honeymoon in Cancun... you must come see it!  I got a day job at Eisenhower hospital where I wanted to work, 3 12 hour shifts a week, so I'll have plenty of time to play!!  I miss all of you and can't wait to come home for Mardi Gras.  Call, write, or come visit soon!