Westin's sleep study

Westin had his sleep study last night to evaluate the apnea he had during his adenoid surgery. We purposely wore him out by going out to the land and hiking for two hours so he would cooperate and be easier for him to go to sleep with all the stuff on. We had a great time hiking around with the two dogs, it was Molly's first time going out to the land. It was a really nice family day.
So when we got home I headed up to the medical building with Westin which just happened to be the same building he goes to OT. I had explained to him what we were going to be doing so when we got there Mr Mike, his tech, let us in and Westin said. "man, where is my bed." so he was ready to get going. Kevin and Grace came right after us and brought chinese for dinner. we had to be there at 6:30pm and Westin doesn't eat well any earlier, so we just brought dinner and ate while they got the paperwork and everything set up.
It took about an hour to put all the wires on him, he was so tired he sat still in a chair and watched G-Force. Towards the end he was asking to go to bed. To he had 13 EEG wires glued to his head, three chin wires, two chest EKG wires, chest and abdomen strap to record breathing, 4 wires on his legs to record leg movement and nasal cannula to record air flow, CO2 and administer oxygen if needed. I knew sleep studies record a lot, but I was very impressed with all that they can figure out from all these wires. As you can see Westin was wrapped up like a mummie and looked like he had a brain injury. So once everything was set up I layed down with him and he was alseep within 10min, which is fast for him. I then went out and Mr Mike let me see Westin's trackings on the computer and explained things to me, so that was pretty neat. Then I attempted to sleep on a pull out chair bed, it was okay. They actually had amazingly nice sheets and pillows and Westin's bed was very comfy. He was so tired he only moved a few inches from this position all night, which is rare for him also. We were woke up at 5am and Westin woke easy and calm, helped pull the tape off. In fact he ribbed the nasal cannula and tegaderm off his cheeks, so now his face is red from take burn. We got home by 5:30am and went back to bed and he actually slept until 7:45. So all in all it was a calm and fairly easy experience and Westin did amazing, only one crying episode and no fussing or whining. Mr Mike did say that he "didn't see anything during the study, but the Dr will read it." So this is good news and sounds like he didn't have any apnea, but we will wait for the official report.
So, today we have just been hanging out at home resting. Westin is really tired and took a 3hr nap. Gramcee, papatee and nucle Ryan are headed over for dinner.
Yeah for a great weekend, clean house, hike with the fam, good sleep study, and restful sunday. Couldn't get much better.

What a Wonderful Site

I came home to two kids in an amazing mood who were playing in the same room with two different toys and NOT fighting. It was so awesome to watch we let them stay up a little later. They even played with one toy together for a few minutes. It was so nice to hear they were in a great mood today and have fun playing outside and painting with Ms Erica (their monday babysitter). And even more wonderful to see them playing along side each other without a problem, this is something that is a huge struggle for us. They want to do whatever the other one is doing and then end up fighting so no one ends of playing. We spend more time breaking up fights then they ever do playing. We are trying to teach them to play with separate toys in the same room without bugging each other. I am planning on a good week with them feeling better and doing so well today. I am renewed and feel better about last week, although I am very stressed about finding a preschool for Westin. Here's to a good day at gymnastics and music drum class tomorrow.

Stares, Snears............ and Frustration.

I am going to start with AGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!! Had to get that off my chest. This past week has been rough. Kevin got home on wednesday okay and everyone has been fussy ever since and have colds. Westin has been doing a lot of seeking behaviors and Grace copies him. At home this is usually okay but he has been wild in public lately. Since he is older and getting tall people are not as forgiving as they used to be when he does these things. The breaking point for me this past week was at a Dr apt for Westin. I decided to take both kids, which I rarely do, but it was just a quick follow up not needing much discussion. Well, even quick turns into 45min and way to long for them. They did well for about 20min, then Westin decided he needed to be wild. While the ladies at the front desk were taking their sweet time checking me out Westin took a chair and was pushing it around the waiting room and guess who was right behind him, Grace. She would never do these things without his example. He does things so fast I have a hard time stopping him before it starts and to get him to stop I have to go to him, get down on his level, try to get his attention and looking me in the eyes and tell him to stop. So he did and promptly starting doing his seeking dance with his loud zzzzzz noise. So now the receptionist are thoroughly annoyed with them (b/c Grace is doing it too) and tell him he has to be quite so they can hear on the phone. I am embarrassed and frustrated by this behavior and hate the feeling I get from people when this happens. Because Grace copies him it looks like I have two wild horribly behaved kids instead of one, or one with a problem. Because his problem is mild and it isn't obvious he has a disorder people just assume he is not disciplined. Anyway, this just brought back so many memories of when this happened every day before we started OT. So it is better and this was the worst it has been for awhile. I am very glad this doesn't happen everyday anymore, but very frustrated at the wildness in the past 5 days. Hopefully soon he will get out of this funk, maybe we need to brush him again or do his compression vest. So, just one event in our day and I was exhausted after this appointment and still had 7hrs until Kevin got home. So we headed to McDonalds for lunch and to burn off some steam in the playplace where I could sit and relax a bit. (ordering food and keeping him near me is a whole other post, certainly not an easy task.)

Kevin out of town

Kevin left yest (sun am) to go to Texas to his aunt's funeral to support his mom, cousins and pay his respects. I am glad he was able to find a cheap enough plan ticket and didn't have a lot of meetings at work, but it is very hard for me, the kids and my parents when he is gone. I had to work Sunday and normally he spends the day with the kids but luckily my parents were able to watch them at the last minute. It is a very long day for everyone. The kids love being with my parents but they miss us and it is hard for them. We had a good day today, I was able to get some sleep this am, Erica came over to watch them for a bit, I took Grace grocery shopping and to lunch, just her and I and Westin got to play with Erica one on one. Any time I have only one kid it is a treat and they behave so much better and are so much more fun. We had a nice dinner and played a new game they got for x-mas. But they keep asking me where daddy is. Kevin was gone a week ago to go hunting with his brother in Kansas so I think him being gone so close together is why they keep asking me so much where he is. It is hard for me too because he does so much for us as a family and I am always so tired anyway it really wears me out to have him gone, but this time it is easier since the kids are getting older and doing better. But I certainly appreciate that he isn't gone very often, I don't know how I would ever do it if he was gone a lot. Kevin we miss you, glad you got to go, and are sooooooooooo glad you do not travel for work.

Preschool Worries

I went to a school fair last Saturday to get information about local preschools and see the response when I asked about Westin needing extra attention. I came away pretty discouraged. I liked the program and ideas of a few of them, but of course they don't have special Ed services but did say they would be willing to work with us and Westin and see how it goes. But the going theme was potty training. He has to be totally potty trained and this means being able to go to the bathroom completely by himself and clean up any accidents and change his clothes. Well, currently he can get himself undressed if wearing loose enough clothes, has minimal interest in potty training and can not get dressed much less clean up a mess and change his clothes, especially socks. He can put his shoes on, if they are his police car light up shoes. It does seem a little crazy to worry about this now and we do have 7months for his to accomplish all this. But it is a huge amount of learning. He has come a long way in the past 5months, but I have a hard time imagining him being able to do all this. It would be awesome if he could learn all this and more in the next 7months and gives us some specific things to work on. I was encouraged tonight because he got totally undressed and agreed to go potty and did pee a decent amount. So we have been telling him that when he turns 3 1/2 then no more diapers. So we are going to hit potty training hard pretty soon and see how it goes. I also am worried about him being to disruptive at a preschool that they won't want him to stay. I guess if that happens we will try for an IEP and special ed preschool. But we were already denied this once so don;t have much hope they will qualify him later since he is learning so much and getting better. So, I guess we will work with him as hard as we can and if he seems ready we will try preschool and if it doesn't work out keep him home and do some homeschooling with my mom until we can try school again. Just something Kevin and I had to think about and face once I talked to the different schools.

Kids Conversations

The kids have been having some pretty funny conversations in the van while driving. Today it went like this:

Westin: Grace when you were a little bitty baby girl you were in mommies tummy.
Kisa: yes that is right and when you were a little baby you were in mommies tummy too.
Westin: No, I was in daddy's tummy.

Yesterday it went like this (beware it is a little racy, although normal for their age).

W: Grace boys have a penis.
G: oh, I have a penis too.
W: no, only boys have a penis.
G:oh
W: when my penis goes down you can get one too.
G: okay, I get a penis and mommy get one too.
Kisa: w and G boys have a penis and girls have a vagina. Westin, daddy, papatee, grandpa are boys. Mommy, grace, gramcee are girls.
G: I have a gina.
W: (repeats many times) when my penis goes down you can get one too.
G: okay,I get one too.
This went on back and forth for the whole 15min drive to my parents house. It was pretty funny and interesting. They were just talking back and forth.

This conversation was a few months ago but sticks in my mind. We were headed to get pizza:
W:Grace do you want pizza.
G: mmm, that sounds good.
W: I going with daddy you stay here, I be right back. I big and carry pizza.
G: okay.
it was just so cute to me how she said, mmm that sounds good.

Well, i know there are lots more but I can;t remember most of them, that is one reason I am starting this blog. So hopefully more funny conversations to come as they are talking more and more and playing together.

x-mas 2009

Here are the kids in front of my parents x-mas tree and the beloved "german train" which is all Westin cares about at their house since he spent 3hrs putting it together with my dad one on one. He LOVES the train. It is very special, is 60yrs old and was bought in Germany by my dad's aunt friend. This pic was taken after the x-mas eve service we went to at New Life Church, they really like the show especially the drums and candlelight at the end.

New Year Resolutions

Hi,
I have been wanting to keep track of all the funny, hard, sad, wonderful things my family has experienced in the past 4years since becoming pregnant with our son and I did for awhile in a notebook, but it got away from me and I don't have much written down in the past 1.5yrs (most of my dtrs life :( ). So one of my two new years resolutions is to start a blog as I believe it will be easier for me to keep family events written down. This blog is mostly for my family to have a written account of our life. It will also be to keep friends and family updated on what we are up too.
My second resolution is to get healthy, loose weight, get my blood sugars back under control. I mean I have had the resolution to loose weight before but it WILL happen this time, my health and future greatly depends on it and I have a great Dr in denver helping me.
So, here goes a toast to a great year of health, life, happiness, and blogging. Happy New Year everyone hope today finds 2010 starting off great with hope and optimism.
Kisa :)