Schooling at home

Recently I went touring a few of the Mother's Day out program and liked a few but with Derek coming home soon it's just not in our budget. So I decided to start looking for free teaching resources online, mainly Pinterest. Here are a few things we have done! Most of the stuff I already had here at home!

Pom Pom fun
Shapes with Popsicle sticks
Rubber band board (I made two and spent $1.99 at goodwill for the wood)
Made a frosty out of cotton balls
Made daddy valentine cards & decorated inside of box(pics later)

We are also subscribed (thanks to papa joe) to Turtle magazine for preschoolers! And I use a book from teaching store called totally twos!

Up until this point it was so hard to yeah Dreycin anything because of Bronson but he is getting older now and able to play on his own, and sometimes naps longer in the afternoon and we will do "homework"

We also started going back to library class, and gymnastics on Tuesday mornings! Each boy is in their own class!
They love it! And Abuela is generously paying their tuition! Helps that we get out more too!

Letting go

In oct '11 Bronson was 6 weeks old and began having blood in his stool, I went on a crazy dairy/soy free, hypoallergenic diet to continue breastfeeding. Every doctor we saw said I needed to put Bronson on formula and I refused, I knew what was best for my son. So finally at 5mos old they allergy tested him by blood and prick tests(meanwhile blood still occurring on and off, almost daily) and it came back that he was allergic to dairy,eggs,chicken, pork, and shellfish. His official diagnosis was food protein induced entercolitis(FPIE) in which for some reason young children can not properly digest food proteins, more commonly dairy.
This is where I'll add if you haven't seen forks over knives you need to, dairy is bad for humans! So after the testing I cut out chicken and eggs, (i was already not eating pork and fish) and decided vegan was the way to go not just for me but the entire family. Looking back at all the sacrifices I made and just can't believe that I had the strength to continue to fight all those doctors for what I believed in. I believed I could help my son heal with giving him the best through me. During all this in march '12 Dreycin began having breathholding spells, which mimics a seizure & tonic like movements....scariest event of my life to see my baby boy go through that. And in April '12 while we were at home and ate at Gloria's I accidentally had cheese which was in the beans and Bronson had a relapse of blood in his stools. My emotions for my both of my son's health have been a roller coaster since Oct '11. In June Dreycin had another episode, and we were finally referred to a neurologist. In July we saw her she ordered an MRI and an EEG. The EEG was normal, but the MRI wasn't scheduled until 2 weeks before Derek deployed, oh yeah my husband found out he was deploying at the end of July. The MRI was a brutal 1hr for Derek and I when Dreycin was put under anesthesia, and then a few days later the drs told us that we would have to put him under again for an MRA due to the absent flow of blood in the right vertebral artery. At this point I knew I would get a 2nd opinion in dallas. So basically Derek was like we are done, we aren't doing anything else and we hoped that he would outgrow the spells as the drs told us that is commonly what happens. I think he just didn't want me to have to go through anything by myself in dallas. Well I got to dallas, got referrals for both boys to allergy and neurology(in October, I knew it would take months to see specialists) Allergy came sooner, and our plan was to test Bronson mid January. Neurology was a wait, our appt was for jan 8th. So I had the boys Pappa k and Abuela come with us to the appointment to help me, so that I could focus on what the doctor said! The doctor was a godsend, he was thorough, kind, funny, caring, and also had a daughter with breathholding spells! He took the time to look at all 837 MRI images with my mom and I! He explained to us that Dreycin was born without a right vertebral artery due to a genetic malformation, prob runs on Derek or my side of the family. At this point the left vertebral artery is compensating the brain with enough blood and If it were not we would be seeing developmental delays or regress in Dreycin. So that was some great news that in some ways I wasn't expecting while Derek was gone. One less sorry I have to worry about :) and then came the allergy appointment Bronson was retested and the only thing that was positive was dog hair and dairy! Double yayyyyyyyyy!!!! And Dreycin isn't allergic to penicillin! So even if the move to dallas was hard, not paid for by the military, I got the absolute best news in January '13 that both my boys despite health issues were going to be fine. The relief my heart has overcome, and the amount of tears I have cried for joy and my own strength through all this is overwhelming. I wish my husband was here to share my emotions with, but instead I did it in spin class! Only 9 more weeks until my love, the father of my beautiful miracle healthy children will be home and we will be a family again.

On my mind

I have a few topics on my mind lately, and they just probably won't go away until I write about them!
1st is the war, last week NpR wrote an article about this last year the war in Afghanistan has had less casualties compared to the amount of veterans who committed suicide. If you know anything about me, you know that I'm an advocate for mental health, and have volunteered for 1800suicide for over a year in Dallas. When I read the article I was saddened deeply, that veterans aren't being given adequate mental health services after serving for our country. I don't know where to even begin about the gap of services, maybe I'll have more to say after my own husband comes home. I will say that after our last deployment there was a period where Derek just seemed angry, and I wasn't going to put up with it. So we went to couples counseling, and he went to an individual counselor for a while. The beauty of our counseling is that his command never found out, we went through a resource for active duty members called Military OneSource, they found us providers and an appointment within 3 days! But when I come into contact with new military families they rarely know about that resource. It's also how we do our taxes free every year! But anyways, I think a lot of military are afraid to go to their boss and say look I'm having problems for fear that it will go on their record, or I know the other problem is that some veterans get out of military and want no contact with the VA system. It took Derek's grandpa 60 years after fighting Korean War to go obtain services. These people fight for us, and we in the US of A continue to stigmatize mental health, and seeking help for it. This also goes for the recent school shooting at Sandy Hook. There is no doubt about it, mental health needs to be looked at closer in our society. Along with gun control, I myself own a gun(which 10years ago I swore off but I healed) but feel there is no need for assault rifles in the hands of ordinary people in society. My other theory is to use our military to guard every school, bring God back in our schools, send my kids to only schools on a military post, or home school. I hate to think of my precious children I brought into this world seeing these violent acts of evil happen year after year, causes me a lot of anxiety thinking about that soon my kids will be in school soon.
And lastly, breastfeeding. Today their was a nationwide nurse in, I'm in the car or I would have made every effort to be there! I love breastfeeding and cannot stand when people make a big deal about nursing in public. It's a baby eating. This year at the state fair I got see a camel nursing her baby. I also saw a kangaroo carrying her baby in a pouch nursing! It's natural not just for humans, but for all mammals!
I hope that Bronson and I continue as long as possible breastfeeding even if he is 3 years old!
Sorry for the all over the place rant, but it helps me sleep better at night!

2012 lookback

We had a really great year as a family, took lots of trips (mainly to get away from Agony, Ga) but overall spent alot of quality time together! We had a lot of firsts, Disneyworld, blackberry farm, first steps & bday of Bronson, first experience cleaning up our diet, first deployment. The first 3 months of this deployment has really flown by, and cant believe we only have 3 more months! I believe the hard part is over aka the holidays! it was truly not the same with Derek gone.A few updates with my beautiful, mischievious boys!Bronson says down, oh yeah, all done, milk, yeah(yes), NO(all the time, Aqua(water), uno(one), hola(hello), peppa(pepper), duggy(doggie)! Im sure im forgetting some, but he definitely understands so much of what we say! we have definitely already started seeing the benefit of having a spanish speaking nanny!He loves music and dancing, I can always see him in my rearview mirror bopping that head or swaying back and forth in his car seat! The one song he can sing along with is "If all of the raindrops" and its the Aah aah aah part! He is so happy with music. He loves trucks, playing basketball & kickball, blocks, and anything to do with animals. Earlier this year Bronson couldnt sit still to even be read 1 book, now he loves to be read to all the time. He is also a very good eater, loves rice and beans and will eat all his veggies and fruits. We are also still breastfeeding, going strong at 16months(longer than I did Dreycin!)Dreycin, well he is now 3 and talks all day everyday! He is fascinated with monster trucks(we see them everywhere in Texas), hauling/working trucks, playing in the dirt or anything to do with being outside, he loves playdoh, definitely still loves books and has even started to listen to books on cd, he is all boy! Loves to try and rough play with his baby brother which usually ends with Bronson on the floor biting his hand out of frustration with Dreycin! But they mostly have fun! He is really wanting to take naps, but I still need them so he will continue :) and getting him to sleep at night in his own bed....well that has only been an issue since we have been in Texas! He usually crawls into bed with me at some point in the night!
We are really looking forward to 2013, to see what the future holds for us and for Daddy to come home!!!!
My New Years resolution is to be even healthier than last year, that means more gym time, continuing our primarily plant-based diet, and loose more weight! I have maintained/struggled 155-158 ever since Derek left, resorted to quick meals from whole foods, sweets, and inconsistent workouts which is to be expected as a single/ish parent. And with these winter months it just seems like the boys catch anything going around, which means they can't go to gym daycare center :( or go outside because its to dang cold for even a walk! But anyways, things will be better in 2013. In just 1 week we finally see neurology specialists to follow up for Dreycin's MRI he had in September, and Bronson will undergo allergy testing to see if he still has same or less allergies to food. Praying for some really good news for my boys!!! We are ready for 2013!