Go!

We have made two trips to a 'beach' about an hour away at J Percy Priest Lake. Last weekend we went with my friend Beth and her family and had an awesome time! Here are a few pics of the little ones:

That's pretty much what they do the whole time there... Audrey swims like a fish in her arm floaties, and JT tries to throw all the sand into the water. Hilarious!

Today we had our first speech therapy session. JT loves his new friend, Lisa. She is really sweet, and I am glad to have a new ally in this! Our behavioral therapist, Laura, comes Monday, and the developmental therapist will be coming next week - although we haven't set a date yet. Mr. Rob, the occupational therapist, will be here either next week or the week after - I can't remember when he said he would be back from vacation. Definitely starting to get busy around here!!!

Evie is still improving, slowly but surely. She is less yellow, and is eating and drinking on her own. Of course, I have to 'trick' her into drinking by giving her tuna with water... But the point is, I'm not shoving anything down her throat or sticking her with needles anymore! Yay, Evie! She is now begging for food... Soft kitty food or people food (turkey or tuna). Every time I go in the kitchen she follows me yelling... Which is awesome!

Audrey is reading! She decided to start all on her own. Our funny story about that is she was reading a package in the car the other day... "Ta-ta-ta....Ih....Guh, guh...Er..." - "Tigger!" "and..." "Puh...OOO...Hah"... "Tigger and Poo-ha?"... "Momma, they spelleded 'Pooh' wrong... It's not Poo-ha!"... So, she's reading correctly... And the makers of Pooh DID spell Pooh with an unnecessary H at the end. She can also sound out almost any word now. We're currently working on CH and SH and their respective 'noises'. She has figured those out pretty much, she learns SO fast!

I sprained my ankle. Doing a workout video. Jillian Michael's 30-day Shred. In case you're wondering, the video rocks. If you're looking for a hard workout DVD, buy it. It's VERY tough, but an awesome workout. Anyway, Audrey likes to do it with me. And it requires hand weights. Well, after much arguing about her not being able to use MY weights, she decided to use blocks for her weights. Well, she left her block out after we progressed to cardio, and during high knees, it reached out and grabbed my foot. Okay, so I landed on it, and in the most un-Audreyful way possible, fell on my backside, completely flipping my foot upside-down and hearing a loud 'POP' in the process. Now, it's odd, because my foot ONLY hurts when I try to twist it, but walking, running, etc is fine. It's swollen and bruised, but only slightly.

The Hubs is enjoying his job still. Crazy court dates for employee theft, and very busy days. But, he's good at what he does. He has also dropped about 30 pounds since starting at the stores, so it's an added benefit!

That's about it for the Duzan family... Just truckin along!

Father's Day

For Father's Day, The Hubs wanted to go to the Nashville Zoo...

We all had a blast!

Happy Father's Day to the two best dads I know - The Hubs, and of course... My dad. The best dad a girl could get :0)

Here's another cute JTmy pic...

Updates on JT and Evie

I got JT's occupational and speech evaluations back yesterday. I hate getting evaluations back... It's so easy to go day to day and see progress, and be so proud, and completely forget that he's not 'developmentally appropriate' age-wise.

So, it's never an easy day when I get the evaluations back. Even though they have always been so sweet... Saying what a supportive family he has, what a cutie he is, how sweet he is... It's hard.

These were new evals - so the third type of evals of each - that JT has been through. I start wondering exactly how many different evals they have for kids, and why they don't standardize them... But, that's a whole different story.

To simplify, JT scored at a 3 month equivalent for receptive language. Folks, that's a 90 percent delay. That hurt. His expressive came in at a whopping 7 month equivalent, which is between a 70-80 percent delay. Ouch. Overall, his language delay is around 80 percent (a combo of the two). Occupational was not that much of a delay - but keep in mind most of his 'occupational' issues are sensory - not delay - related. I think he scored around 17 and 20 months for those... And he's 30 months now. So, enough to be considered delayed, but nothing like the speech. Of course, the therapist noted that JT was sensory seeking (jumping off things, running into things, etc), and that he has a VERY short attention span. New from this report - JT has low muscle tone. Weird. He was explaining it to me during the eval - hypotonia is VERY common in autistic kids. Basically, JT's body doesn't know how to idle - his proprioceptive sense is 'off'. So, he's either going ninety to nothing or sleeping pretty much! The occupational evaluator - Rob - is going to be our therapist. He is so awesome - he gave me great ideas that The Hubs and I have been using with JT... Putting his hands on our face to get his attention, signing important words as we talk... I really look forward to working with him. JT loved him, too, which is the most important part! Hopefully therapy will start soon - I'm assuming in the next few weeks. I can't wait for him to start getting the help he needs, and to get ideas to help him here at home. He is so smart, I know that once someone who knows what they're doing starts working with him, he will respond so well!

On to the kitty... Evie is progressing, albeit slowly. She is eating very small amounts on her own (turkey, her favorite, and high in protein, which she needs). I am still syringe feeding her, and she really hates it now. I get yelled at every time the syringe comes out - or she smells the food. 'Mee-yah, mee-yah' while she's eating... Kind of comical, actually. She doesn't want to drink on her own, so I'm still giving her the sub-q fluids. She follows me in bed when I go to sleep, so she can get under the covers and snuggle. Jumping on the bed on her own... She is awake more now, so I assume the jaundice has the sleepy effect on her that it has on infants (both mine were jaundiced at birth, so they slept their first few days!). She is vomiting much much less, keeping down over 90% of her food! The only times she's thrown up is when I stuck her two days ago, and when I fed her too much yesterday... Oops. So, stress and too much food - which would make me cringe, too. She is much more vocal, back to her old 'yelling' at anyone and everyone. The Hubs is already complaining about how spoiled she is now... And he has noticed her acting much better also! So, still yellow, but yelling...

We are going back to the zoo on Sunday for Father's Day - The Hubs's choice of activity for the day! We LOVE the Nashville Zoo, it will be fun :0)

Hope all is well with everyone!

My Kitty!!!

Evie is VERY sick. She spent Thursday through Saturday at the vet 'hospital', and after seeing improvement the first day, she wasn't doing so well Saturday morning.
She has hepatic lipidosis - 'fatty liver'. Cats aren't made to metabolize their body fat for energy. If a cat stops eating (for any reason), their liver gets clogged with their body fat, effectively making it stop working.
Her bloodwork today was not better, but not worse. However, I have seen an improvement in her mood since we've been home... She's been acting more like Evie. Sleeping in our bed instead of hiding, protesting more when she doesn't want to do something... She also hadn't lost any more weight as of this morning... So I brought her home.
I am giving her IV fluids sub-q (in the fat on her back) 1-2x a day, along with syringe feeding her food, since she has no appetite. She is tolerating the food much better than she was at first, so not near as much vomiting.
She is REALLY yellow...
Anyway, Evie is my precious sweet kitty, and I'm hoping that she starts showing signs of improvement soon...
Keep her in your thoughts and prayers... We need a big miracle... But neither one of us is ready to give up just yet.

Evals Galore

Today JT had his speech eval (yes, on a Saturday), and Monday night is his behavioral eval.

The speech evals are always really hard. It's heartbreaking to have to answer 'No' so many times... And there's no way around that. Plus, the observation when she's trying to talk to him, get him to do things... And he just won't. Or can't. It is so difficult to watch your child fail a test... Even if it's not a pass/fail type deal - it just means more services. It's still hard.

I am having a harder time with this now... I guess because I'm having to actually deal with therapies and services and all that... Before, the waiting to move kind of saved me... I didn't really have to deal with it all that much. On top of the fact that we've had so many evaluations, and he doesn't score in the 'normal' range for any of them...

Today was the first time I've ever cried during one of his assessments. I don't know why it hit me so suddenly. I HATE crying in front of people, and this sweet lady is telling me it's okay, that I'm a wonderful mom, that my son is doing so great... And I just couldn't keep a straight face. I am so not the type to cry, but for some reason, it happened.

We had our first visit to the Williamson County Medical Center Emergency Room two days ago... JT has a sprained right ankle/foot and a jammed toe that is black and swollen. Poor kid - he just is so wild he always hurts himself. I don't even know what happened... He was sitting on our bed holding his foot when he started crying... And he can't tell me what happened, so I just assume he jumped off the bed and hurt it.

We are still loving it out here... I'm doing a duathlon (the DuRunRun in Nashville) on Father's Day. I'm pretty excited .

Anyway, I hope everyone else is doing well... Hopefully the therapies will start soon... We have one more eval we have to go through (Occupational Therapy) before they're all over. And it's an ugly one... Little Weedoh has major sensory issues.

I have been reading all these awful stories about teachers and how they treat the special education kids... And realizing my son will be one of them, it is just gut-wrenching. I hope that all my parent friends teach their children to respect all people, even if they are different... Because they are all important... And they have feelings, too.

Love to everyone,

Kate

Momma on a Mission

I just read the most heartbreaking, horrid story ever.

http://www.wptv.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=5f442343-a5ac-4903-b598-9f777910ab79

I just cannot believe that a teacher would do this. It absolutely terrifies me.

My son is indeed 'trying' at times... Putting it nicely. I am certain that he will lose his temper at school, and I am prepared to deal with some parent teacher meetings and even possibly meetings with the principal. What I will not accept is a teacher mentally abusing my child, using his peers as a weapon. How unbelievably cruel and vile this woman is.

What in the hell was this woman doing teaching? Your job as a teacher is to control your class, but above all to CONTROL YOURSELF. If you can't do that, you are in the wrong field.

I hope that mom sues that school district (aka the state) for all they are worth and then some. How shameful they would hire someone who would do this to a child, no matter how much they were tested.

The scary part? That little boy has made it 5 years without a diagnosis... So odds are he has Asperger's Syndrome, which is milder than Autism. They integrate special needs kids nowadays, so my son may very well be in a 'regular' classroom even if he is special needs. And he's NOT a mild case (although I know that may change, you get my point... This kid was not the worst that woman - no, b*tch - would come across).

So, on my latest 'what's wrong with the world today' rant, and how we abuse and take advantage of our weakest members in society, I give you this.

The teacher has also been 'reassigned'. Great, so she's torment some other kids... How about FIRE HER!!!

Please please please - go to this link and sign the petition. The people 'higher up' have GOT TO KNOW THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!!!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Fire-teacher-for-unprofessional-conduct



Just in case you couldn't click the link above, here's the story:

PORT ST. LUCIE, FL -- A Port St. Lucie mother says her five-year-old son with special needs was voted out of his classroom by his peers at the behest of the teacher, who has since been reassigned.
Five-year-old Alex Barton will be starting his summer vacation early. His mother doesn't want him to to return to school after what allegedly happened in class at Morningside Elementary Wednesday afternoon.
"I'll never be able to send him to school again without worrying if something is going to happen," says Melissa Barton, Alex's mother.
She admits he's had behavior problems, and can be difficult at times.
She says he's undergoing tests to determine if he suffers from Autism and other disorders.
But, she claims a Wednesday incident pushed the lines of discipline into the realm of abuse.
"(She) took him and stood him in front of his classmates this week, asked every single child to tell Alex why we don't like him... in his words, tell Alex why we hate him," she explains.
After having each child ridicule the boy, she says the teacher continued belittling him.
"Then they had a vote on if he deserved to stay in the class or not," says Barton.
Like a twisted reality show, Barton says in a 14-2 vote, his classmates voted the five-year-old out of the classroom.
"I never thought she would subject my child to such mental abuse," says Barton.
Barton filed complaints with the Department of Children and Families and police. She says the teacher overstepped her bounds.
After conferring with the State Attorney's office, police found no grounds for charges, but the school district is investigating the incident and these teaching practices. Barton suspects other students may have suffered as well.
"If other parents who have this teacher or have had this teacher, come forward talk to your kids because this is wrong," says Barton.
The St. Lucie County school district is investigating the incident and released a statement Tuesday afternoon that reads:"The St. Lucie County School District received a complaint about a kindergarten teacher, and is investigating the incident to determine if there is any violation of policies, procedures or ethics. The teacher has been reassigned outside of the classroom at the district offices until further action is determined."

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our 6th anniversary! I can't believe it's been 6 years since we got married...

So many memories...
1 proposal.
2 babies.
3 different cities.
4 different cars.
5 different houses.
6 wonderful years.

Marriage is a wonderful, crazy thing.

Lucky I found my perfect match...

Love to everyone!