Celebrating Birthdays at School

My Norah was born "right under the wire" when it comes to being able to celebrate birthdays during the school year with her classmates.

She's finishing up kindergarten now, in fact, next week is her last week of school.  Today, she officially turns 6 years old.  The teacher does a pretty cool thing to celebrate birthdays at school.  She has all the kids sit in a circle, she made a "pretend" cake out of 3 layers of circular boxes and uses candles powered by mini-batteries as the candles.  She hands the birthday girl a globe, the teacher pulls out the piece of paper that Jon and I wrote down at the beginning of the school year which tells all about the special things Norah did for each year of her life so far and shares it with the class.  Norah has to walk around the cake completely after each year of her life.  She then got to choose which birthday song she want the class to sing to her.  The teacher then asked Norah what she wished for and she responded with - "more Junie B. Jones books" to read.  Although she told me in the car later that she really wanted a pony but I was sitting there and she knew I couldn't afford a pony!

A fellow blogger and friend, Robyn blogged about a cool birthday cupcake idea that she used for her daughter's birthday.  Being so impressed by these unicorn cupcakes, I had to make Norah cupcakes made to resemble horses.  So I filed her pictures away and told Norah that if she wanted me to make such cupcakes for her for her birthday when it came around I would.

Norah never forgets a thing.  She has a mind like a steel trap!  So I knew I needed to make these cupcakes for her class.  Friday seemed like a reasonable day to bring them in since this coming week is her last week of school and a very busy fun filled schedule of events.

I made the cupcakes earlier in the day on Thursday and my friend Maryjo came over after the kids went to bed and helped me decorate 40 cupcakes!  I must say they turned out awesome!  I had to improvise from the way my friend Robyn made her cupcakes because I couldn't find white circus peanut candies, the store only had them in orange.  But I do like the way they turned out without the peanuts.  The kids loved them, the teacher thought it was clever!  So all around a good choice!

They were made totally from love - to Norah - from Me!

For those of you who were interested in how to make them they were simple but time consuming.  The neck and head are made from the icing layered wafer cookies.  I cut them in a diagonal to a get the neck portion and the remaining piece was the head portion and it was glued together by icing.  The eyes were made of raisins cut in half and the ears were chocolate chips.  The main was chocolate icing and the tail was chocolate Twizzlers!  I actually had to take to cookies and ice them together with icing because the ones I purchased were too "skinny".  Next time I would use the chocolate covered wafer cookies made by Keebler only because the humidity caused the wafer cookies were I did not ice together with my own homemade icing to separate.

So what have I been doing this Spring?

Lots and lots of home improvement projects.

What started out as fixing a broken kitchen faucet, finally decorating our dining room and the last kitchen appliance that needed to be "stainless steel" turned into a flurry of painting and decorating.

The dining room was our focus but after painting the dining room, the kitchen wall coloring swore horribly against the clean colors of the dining room.  So I had to paint the kitchen area so when looking into the dining room from the kitchen the kitchen didn't look so "blahhh".  Then of course, we may as well paint the morning room (since that's where our kitchen table is).

I was all done with painting for a while and Jon had to go and knock a shelf off of the family room wall that pulled the mollies right out of the wall.  So yep, may as well paint that room too.  The kitchen and family room are pretty much one great big room anyway, so may as well make it look like it belongs together!  Oh I must not forget to tell you that I did all the painting myself (ok, most of it - Jon may have painted a wall).

We added a backsplash and new morning room light fixture!  Two projects that Jon and I handled on our own.  After almost 9 years of marriage, we're finally getting better about co-working on home improvement projects!  Just a little bit of curse words slipped out this time around!

I must say I absolutely love how all the rooms turned out.  Thanks to Lowes, Ikea, World Market, JoAnn Fabrics, Home Depot, Crate & Barrel and CB2 - I love, love, love my house now!

Enjoy the pictures.

Norah's 6th Birthday Party ....

I wish I could be 6 years old again.

I am lucky to have a sweet 6 year old daughter as I live vicariously through her and her dreams.

Today we had the long awaited and much anticipated 6 year birthday party for Norah.  Several weeks ago I had the pleasure of speaking with Norah's teacher's Mom.  She already knew about Norah's undying desire to own a horse (or at least ride a horse) and knew we wanted to have a horse themed party.  As our conversation evolved she told me about this wonderful horse farm/stable in Avon called Holly Hill Farm.  She told me she thought that they offered birthday parties.  Low and behold, they do!  We booked her party and waited anxiously for this special birthday party day to arrive.

We had 11 kindergarten (almost 1st grader) girls who had the pleasure of realizing a dream of petting a horse, grooming a horse and riding a horse!  Oh the excitement!  I was a bit jealous myself that this party was just for the 11 girls' benefit and fun.

Before the party started, we met up with Norah's teacher's younger sister who owns a horse that resides at this farm/stables.  It was an unexpected surprise (wink, wink) that Norah's teacher's sister was going to be at the stables at the same time as the party!  She asked Norah if she wanted to help her walk her horse to the fenced in paddock so the horse could stretch his legs and exercise a bit.

As Norah walked away holding the reigns of this horse "Collin", I just knew today was going to be special.  She looks like a natural with the horse.  And I secretly wish that I could buy my daughter her very own horse!  When we walked into the stable earlier, I kid you not, all the horses were practically begging Norah to say hello and pet them.  She is a "horse whisper"!

If things couldn't be any better, one of the horses is name Peter Pan.

After all the girls arrived, the instructors told them all about horses and how to "groom" them.

They explained about all the equipment that is needed to put a saddle on the horses and showed them how to saddle up the horses for riding.

Then of course, the girls needed riding hats!  Safety first!!

Then each girl was given the opportunity to take a nice long walk with the horse of their choice and the instructor walked along side holding a reign.  Norah is riding Peter Pan, of course!

The smile on her face was enough to warm my heart and I know she's truly in her element.  We are going to have a hard time reigning her in about wanting her own horse.  I'm hoping our little puppy will do to squelch the undying desire to have her own pony!  Again, I secretly wish I could give her a pony!

The party ended with subway sandwiches and cake and beverages!  The girls were quite hungry after all the hard work they did with grooming and riding horses!

We were even blessed with a cameo appearance of Norah's teacher!  She just so happened to be at the stables today between 1-3pm (wink, wink).

I can't say enough about Holly Hill Farms.  They were perfect with the girls!

I am blessed that Norah has surrounded herself with such nice friends.  All the girls were polite, appreciative and well behaved!  Which makes doing something extra special like having a horseback riding birthday party all the more special to me!

Right before the party started and all the girls arrived, the words that will hold a special place in my Mommy heart is "Mom, today is the best day of my whole entire life!"

She might be a spoiled little bugger but she is always quick to be grateful for the extra special things her Daddy and I do for her!  Which makes it so easy to want to spoil her!

Although her birthday isn't until next week - I wish my Norah the best Birthday!  I'm so glad I was blessed to have her and to be her Mommy!

Love you so much Norah!
Mom

Cyber Bullying ...

Yesterday I opened an email that was a comment from an Anonymous reader of my blog that was quite hurtful.  Fortunately I have the "right" and "control" to read all comments first before accepting them and allowing them to be posted on my blog.

This cowardly Anonymous person who I'll refer to as the "Troll" wrote the following nasty comment in reference to my Mother's Day blog post.

"You r the wurst fukking mom ever! How can you say your son has moter skills issues? Deerrrrrrr. Ur insane. Get help! "

My first reaction was tears streaming down my face.  This hit me in the proverbial Achilles - leveling me for the whole day.  I ended up deactivating my blog for public viewing and I deactivated my Facebook account because I often attach a link of my blog postings on Facebook.

I talked to some friends about this and they were disgusted by how hurtful and inconsiderate a person could be and to hide behind an "Anonymous" tag was just a sign that this person is a cowardly cyber bully!

The comment was in reference to a drawing that my Donovan drew for me as his Mother's Day present to me.  My kids' gifts meant the world to me.  They were thoughtful gifts that they made for me with their own two hands and formulated these gifts with their own "brains".

What I'm guessing is that this Troll has no idea that my child has a genetic disorder.  A genetic disorder that manifests "issues" in many ways.  One of them being developmental issues.  My son has seen therapists since he was 7 months old.  I've made sure that he has kept up to speed developmentally with not only cognitive learning but his motor skills.  Had I not been "on the ball" with this, he might not be where he is today.  Right on the money with his gross motor skills and only needing some minor help with his fine motor skills.  His grip of a writing utensil is not perfect and his hands might be a little weaker than another child his age.  Which is not unheard of given his genetic disorder - Noonan Syndrome.  These are things I won't let slide because I want to make sure that he never falls behind his peers.  He's going to have enough struggle throughout his life, that if I can help him now avoid issues down the road I will do that.

Anyway, this picture he drew was of his new found favorite character Pocoyo.  Had this Troll seen his writing, coloring and drawing prior to this picture this Troll would have realized is that my son made a huge leap in his fine motor skills.  Also, my son had help from his older sister to fine tune the picture - so the artwork wasn't his own 100%.

My son has been assessed by our school system within the last month and the person doing the assessment did mention to me that Donovan could use a little extra work with his fine motor skills and she gave me some "advice and pointers" on how to help him.  His preschool teacher also mentioned that he is behind his peers (although he is the youngest in his class) when it comes to his fine motor skills.  So I'm not a whacko Mom who is insane and needs help!  I've had 3 separate development professionals concur that Donovan is a bit behind with his fine motor skills.  It is not something I conjured up on my own!

I shouldn't have to say all of this and defend myself .... and why am I letting this Troll get under my skin?

This Troll hurt the core of my heart by telling me that I am the worst "bleeping" mom ever.  This Troll probably doesn't know that I lost my first pregnancy to a miscarriage at 12 weeks.  A miscarriage that leveled me emotionally.  This Troll probably doesn't know that I had to go through fertility treatments to have my daughter, and that I lost my 3rd pregnancy to another miscarriage.  This Troll probably doesn't realize that I cried for weeks after finding out my son has a congenital heart issue and a genetic disorder that will be with him the rest of his life. 

My kids are gifts.  I feel blessed and lucky to have them.  I want nothing but the best for them and I want them to succeed in life.  My son will always have challenges to face.  Fortunately, he's a bright boy and even though he's small he is mighty!  He will be teased mercilessly for his height, for probably wearing glasses and whatever else kids tease other kids about.  He will always have health issues.  The list is long already and who knows when the list will stop.  My son has faced a lot of hurdles in his 3 1/2 years of life and I've watched him have bad days and very good days.  I will fight for him and I will arm him with whatever I can to make sure that life is good for him!  If that means that I worry about his fine motor skills and get him assessed or therapy or whatever I need to do, I will do that!  That does not make me "the wurst fukking mom ever!"  I think it makes me "THE BEST MOM EVER!"

My Mom's Day ...

Norah came up with a wonderful gift idea for me.  She came up with it all by herself too.  Last week Jon sent his Mom flowers for her birthday and for Mother's Day since we weren't going to be seeing her for either event.  The flowers he purchased online via ProFlowers were delivered "dead".  How horrible to receive flowers that were "dead", I'd be thinking is this a bad omen?  Anyway, Jon received a "credit" on his card and Jon's Mom managed to salvage a few "flowers" that managed to survive.  So not a complete loss but very disappointing to say the least.

Norah heard this conversation and decided that her gift to me would be flowers that never die!  Norah drew flowers (tulips -my favorite) colored them and had her Daddy cut them out.  They arranged them in a vase and put blue tissue paper in the vase to simulate water.  How very clever!  I loved this gift because Norah put so much thought into this gift.  I will cherish this gift and display it proudly forever!

My Eternal Flowers!

Donovan couldn't be out-done by Norah.  So he too drew me two pictures, his of course were of  Pocoyo (his new favorite character).  He had a little bit of help with the pictures from Norah.  He was so proud of himself.  He wanted so desperately to tell me what he made for me yesterday but I held him at bay so that I could be surprised this morning.  I loved his pictures because it came from his heart and because he drew them carefully for me.  He's not stellar with his fine motor skills so this was a huge gift for me to have him draw a picture from scratch!

We went to breakfast with Grandma and Poppa Klanac at our favorite breakfast place - The Original Pancake House.  The food is always good and they offer gluten free pancakes for Donovan.  

We decided that it would be nice after eating a huge breakfast to take a walk through our MetroParks.  We stumbled upon a path that we've never taken before and were able to enjoy some pretty cool "nature"!

This goose was actually quite friendly.  Not necessarily the case with most Canadian Geese, especially at this time of the year when they are "guarding" their nests.  I felt bad I didn't have any "food" to offer this goose.  He walked up to me and would have gladly accepted a "snack" had I been able to offer him one.

This picture doesn't do the view justice, but we came across this wetlands/meadow of yellow flowers.  It was breathtakingly beautiful.  I felt like I was given a little slice of Heaven on our walk.

The meadow was made up of thousands of these little flowers; below is one that I managed to capture an up-close and personal picture of.

And I just had to take a picture of these white mini-daisy like wildflowers.  They remind me of my childhood and the many years we spent at our summer home near Mount Vernon, Ohio.  When walking home from the dock after a long day out on the lake, swimming, boating and water-skiing, I would pick these flower and bring them to my Mom.  I loved these wildflowers so much, I actually had the florist put them in my wedding bouquet.

My kids actually enjoyed the hiking adventure - (1) because we would let them out of the wagon periodically and (2) because there were dogs everywhere.

Despite some frustrating moments when kids didn't want to cooperate, I've had a wonderful Mom's Day and feel blessed that I can celebrate the day with my Mom and my kids (and Jon too)!

Happy Mother's Day to all Moms!

About Mom's Day ...

My children never cease to amuse me.  I think that's one of my favorite things about them - they make me see life again in the eyes of a child and come up with "brilliant" ideas all the while amusing me endlessly.

Today while riding in the car, I asked Donovan what we should get Grandma for Mother's Day?  Without hesitation he says something "Woody - Buzz".  Now the whole imagery of my 78 year old Mom receiving a Buzz Lightyear toy for Mother's Day just made me giggle.  I asked him what she'd do with a Woody-Buzz toy? He said, "play with it"!  Duhh Mom - how could I be so "stupid".

A few minutes later, Donovan says to me very seriously, "Mom, I want Rocket Buzz for Mother's Day".

Now, why didn't I think of that?  My kid's getting gifts on Mother's Day.  They are the reason I am called a  Mom!  Without them, I'd just be Colleen, Jon's wife!  So I see Donovan's point, I already received my "gifts", they're called Norah and Donovan!  So because they were kind enough to be born to me, they should be given gifts!

Got to love how my little man thinks!

Life of a Mom with a Child having a Bleeding Disorder

Did you ever wonder what life is like for a Mom who has a child with a bleeding disorder?

Probably not, because bleeding disorders are so not a popular topic of conversation.

My Donovan has a non-descript platelet function disorder that pretty much manifests itself in peculiar ways.  So I'm always a bit on edge, with a fear that one bad fall and bump to the head could result in a huge medical problem.

Going to parks with play equipment is a bit stressful for me.  I try to let him explore and be a "dare-devil" but within reason.  I hate the fact that there could be dire consequences for him acting like a normal crazy little boy running around and climbing on things.  I hate having to put boundaries on the things he can do.

Just when I get a little comfortable because he knows his limitations/boundaries and because he's getting older and stronger - he goes and falls on Friday afternoon while we were at the speech therapists.  We were walking from the classroom to an office down the hall and Donovan managed to trip over my right foot.  It happened so fast that there was nothing I could do to stop the fall from happening.  It caught him off guard too because he managed to smack his forehead on the tiled concrete floor and I saw his head bounce up after the initial hit and it slammed down a second time.  Oh, the scream!  It resonated down the school hall and the piercing deafening sound he made, confirmed that he hit his head on the floor quite hard.

The teachers in the office immediately got him an ice pack to help minimize any swelling/bumps.  He wanted nothing to do with the ice pack.  I mentioned to the speech pathologist that he had a bleeding disorder and I could see the panic in her face.  He was acting a bit stunned and the speech therapist said to me "he's not acting normal."  And then she proceeded to say that she wasn't liking the idea that he didn't have a goose-egg emerging.  She didn't want to worry me but she really felt that I needed to call his doctor.

When I got to the car, I called Jon to get the number and proceeded to call the office.  After a couple of attempts I managed to get the right person and they wanted him to be seen ASAP and that I was to bring him to the nearest ER and I was not to let him fall asleep in the car.  I called Jon and he left work immediately and met me at the hospital.

We get to the hospital and they take him back, they do the usual triage and put us in a room.  He was seen by an absolutely wonderful 3rd year Pediatric ER Resident.  Knew what Noonan Syndrome was, knew about platelet function disorders and asked us the right questions.  He did a great job entertaining Donovan to the point that Donovan would let this doctor examine him with no issues.  Based on what he saw he didn't think Donovan was hurt badly.  He didn't think it was necessary to do a CATscan because the clinical review statistically either confirms a diagnosis better or the same as if a person was scanned.  He felt it wasn't necessary to put Donovan through the traumatic experience, plus I'm sure they'd have to sedate him in order to scan him anyway.  So he said he wanted to have Donovan sit and relax for a bit for further observation and the Attending Doctor would confirm or adjust his diagnosis.  The Resident left him with a parting gift "a single latex surgical glove".

My little Proctologist!

He loved the glove and wore it all the way home!

We waited for a little bit and the Attending took a quick look at him and confirmed what the Resident had diagnosed and his course of treatment - which was for Donovan to take it easy for a while.  For Mom and Dad to wake him up at least once in the middle of the night to make sure he had some semblance of coherency.  The Pediatric ER Nurse came in to give us our discharge papers and explained that the doctors even contacted Donovan's Hematologist and she was comfortable with him being discharged and carefully watched by Mom and Dad.

I'm happy to report that Donovan is perfectly fine! Crazy little boy who needs to slow down a little bit!

This will be our standard protocol for all serious bumps to the noggin!  Sigh!