"Double Dip Delight" 09.27.2008 - Take 3!

[pfishgirl]

How many of us are going to MNSHP on Friday?
We have 9 of us going

 

[anewmac]

Well maybe I can use your laptop Drea? WELCOME Home E! I love your signs. You should send everybody the last couple you made. I always crack up. You are so creative.

Ya if he gets one your more then welcome to.

Great idea.. ok I can only find 2 signs.. the other one is saved on a disk somewhere Hope you all get a good kick out them
OIF #2

OIF#3 I held this one over me

Oh my. If my oldest finds out your dh is delivering something, he may sit by the FE just waiting to pick his brain on Marine this and Marine that ..... I don't think we're ever going to get past the stage of wanting to talk Marine stuff 24/7 ........ Perhaps he will after Boot Camp......

Heck, we're trying to figure out how in the world we're going to get all of the stuff down to PC that we need to have with us.

Thank you!

OH E would love to talk "shop" he loved BS'ing about the Corps LOL So if your DS wants to pick his brain then by all means tell him to go for it!

My Fish Extender is made from Fabric from old boxers.



MY Pocket says "Millions Served"

LMAO Tears are rolling down my cheek, you "crack" me up
::note to self:: tell E to drop Chris's f/e gift off LMAO

Today is 1 Month, 1 Week, and 1 Day away from our departure!! AKA 39 days!

oh how lucky you all are! But that means I only have 4 more days after that LMAO woohoo

Criss, hope your feeling better! keep us posted if you feel up to it.

Stacey how awesome about the inside scoop you got!

I finished bagging the adult only cabin fish extender gifts up! WOOHOO! ... now to finish the rest LOL. Hopeing by the end of this week LMAO

 

[CrazyZeus1]

I thought I'd be the first poster for today, but I see Drea was up in the middle of the night....busy with anything fun All the sudden the dancing banana looks a little dirty I loved your signs & hope you're really, really enjoying having E home!

I'm sitting in the kitchen in the dark while 14yo gets ready for volleyball. It's too early to be awake. And I had a horrible dream about alien abduction (my biggest fear on earth) just as the alarm went off this morning. Glad I didn't see what happened....the aliens were right outside our front door, I could see the ship, & DH & I were huddled together on the couch with our eyes closed. Reese walked into the room & I was terrified they were going to take him. I hate those kinds of dreams. Guess it's good I had to wake up early. The alarm ended the dream for me!

One day closer to our Magic cruise!! yay!!!!!

 

[Buckeye Gal]

...... ok I can only find 2 signs.. the other one is saved on a disk somewhere Hope you all get a good kick out them

We'll assume he got an A+ on his execution of his To-Do List.

.....busy with anything fun All the sudden the dancing banana looks a little dirty
....And I had a horrible dream about alien abduction (my biggest fear on earth) just as the alarm went off this morning....

Awe....I hate horribly distrubing nightmares. It's a new day and you're back to home sweet reality.

 

[nenner1]

thanks! I have my associates in nursing, I need to take a health assessment thru the community college then 9 classes to get my BSN, seems worth it huh? The thought of paper writing it whats keeping me from going back...

Props to all you nurses....I went to school for my ASN too...got within one class...ONE CLASS- Advanced Med Surg- of finishing but fell 17 (yup. SEVENTEEN) papers behind. So I feel you on the paper hate.

OH .... top 2 pockets are mine and dh's. Marine pocket is my oldest's. The flames are for my middle child, and the princess pocket is for my youngest.

Lovin' the flames!

I went yesterday and he took some more blood to do a Thyroid index but that came back fine. I have an appt Thursday for an Echo. We will see from there. I have absolutely no appetite and my back is killing me. I am also still very tired. I am just falling apart. He said to have these tests done and we will go from there. We shall see.

Crissi

I'm glad it's not your thyroid...that is no fun. I hope they figure out what is wrong and get you feeling better right quick!

I'm sitting in the kitchen in the dark while 14yo gets ready for volleyball. It's too early to be awake. And I had a horrible dream about alien abduction (my biggest fear on earth) just as the alarm went off this morning.

I fell asleep on break this morning (upright in a chair..hope I wasn't snoring!) and I had a dream about the cruise. Nothing notable...just that we were on the boat. Somebody turned on a machine and scared the out of me. Nice.

Have ya'll noticed how many things are going on in WDW the day of our cruise (9/27)...
*Pleasure Island/Adventurers club closing
*Woody's Roundup thing (sorry don't know the real name of it) in MK discontinued
*Family Fun Parade in MK discontinued
*F & W starts (ok that is the day before but it counts!)
*A marathon of some sorts in Disney
I just find it interesting...all those big things happening on our big day.

I think I will order my FE gifts next week. Nothing like waiting til the last minute, right?

 

[Grandma4ever]

Just stopping by to say Hi. Got to go to work and I really don't want to but Oh Well it is for Disney. Lois

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

Just stopping by to say Hi. Got to go to work and I really don't want to but Oh Well it is for Disney. Lois

I second the part about not wanting to go to work...I'm sitting here bored because I'm at the front desk and I can't really do any work out here...so I'm going on the Dis! LOL!!!

Well...38 days until my DBF and I leave! I can't wait!!!! Even though I haven't even been back for one week from my last vacation, I'm ready for another one already!

I had a dream last night that involved, the Franklin Institute, my dance studio, New York City and the ACL reconstruction surgery I'm going to most likely have in January...it was quite strange!

 

[Magic3forme]

We will be at MnSSHP too. It is a blast.

We are renting a car to get to the port. (it is soo much cheaper than a taxi or Disneys transportation). we are flying in Thurs night and just using the hotels shuttle that night. the following day dh will just go to the airport to get our rental car( since we arriving so late it is not worth getting a car for a few hours.)

Arin are you still going to stay at the Port on Friday night?

our hotel is right by the airport.

 

[CrazyZeus1]

Awe....I hate horribly distrubing nightmares. It's a new day and you're back to home sweet reality.

Thanks Kimberly....I needed that

We will be at MnSSHP too. It is a blast.

We are renting a car to get to the port. (it is soo much cheaper than a taxi or Disneys transportation). we are flying in Thurs night and just using the hotels shuttle that night. the following day dh will just go to the airport to get our rental car( since we arriving so late it is not worth getting a car for a few hours.)

Arin are you still going to stay at the Port on Friday night?

our hotel is right by the airport.

If you don't mind me asking....how much cheaper is it to rent a car than to take a taxi? We've always done a town car service, because DH crunched the numbers and it's cheaper to do that than pay for a rental car and parking at the port. Are you leaving the rental car at the hotel?

We're taking a cruise in December (not Disney though ) and are trying to figure out if it makes more sense to come up before hand, stay at a hotel, & rent a car instead of have a town car service.

Hmmm.....

 

[skoi]

Glad to hear E is safe at home with you again. My countdown ticker is getting closer, but still a long ways to go.

We spent yesterday in the ER. Apparently, Alex's kidney stone may be on the move... He had periods of extreme, shrieking pain followed by normal behavior. After an ultrasound they told me what I already knew- it's the stone. But the renal doc said go to the ER, so we went.

To all you nurses. I started taking science classes towards a degree, but decided I wasn't nice enough to be a nurse. Loved the science, but not much for cleaning people up and being nice to them when they're miserable. Both my sisters are nurses, and always told me if I wanted to go to nursing school they'd break my legs. So I ended up with an almost Ph.D. in history. Real useful.

Alex is also developing severe separation anxiety. In most ways this is great, because it shows a secure attachment and good integration into the family. However, how will I leave him at the club. He'll be escaping and pressing his face against the window at Palo crying, or the spa, or wherever I try to escape.

Julie

 

[Fizzgig]

Glad to hear E is safe at home with you again. My countdown ticker is getting closer, but still a long ways to go.

We spent yesterday in the ER. Apparently, Alex's kidney stone may be on the move... He had periods of extreme, shrieking pain followed by normal behavior. After an ultrasound they told me what I already knew- it's the stone. But the renal doc said go to the ER, so we went.

To all you nurses. I started taking science classes towards a degree, but decided I wasn't nice enough to be a nurse. Loved the science, but not much for cleaning people up and being nice to them when they're miserable. Both my sisters are nurses, and always told me if I wanted to go to nursing school they'd break my legs. So I ended up with an almost Ph.D. in history. Real useful.

Alex is also developing severe separation anxiety. In most ways this is great, because it shows a secure attachment and good integration into the family. However, how will I leave him at the club. He'll be escaping and pressing his face against the window at Palo crying, or the spa, or wherever I try to escape.

Julie

Ooooh!!! Poor Alex!!! Between the kidney stone and the separation anxiety, I just wish I could hug that kid better! Are they going to try and pound that kidney stone into smaller pieces?

And HEY! History degrees are USEFUL! I'm using mine! (well, not really, but I'm the only techie I know that can write policy without flinching in mental pain).

Julie, how are you planning on working with Alex to help him through the separation anxiety? I'll call Hadley to see if she has any insight (I left her a VM). CrazyZeus1 was also a kindergarten teacher; maybe she can help, too.

That poor baby!!! Our pound puppy had separation anxiety and that was -horrible-, but Fiona rarely does. When she does cry as I leave, I can't bear it. Of course, stinker rarely does it for DH; she saves it for my leaving. Fiona tosses her morning goodbyes to him over her shoulder, as she's going to the breakfast table at day care, or running to play with "her friends."

 

[NHdisneylover]

Hey--Brandie I just got your voice mail. I was on the phone scheduling an optomitrist appointment for Marika so she can have new glasses for the vacation (she only wears them when watching a show, etc--as per the doctor--but there are a lot of shows to see so I want the most up to date perscription for her and also she really needs adult sized frames these days )

Julie--I am so sorry for poor little Alex. What I can tell you about seperation anxiety (I taught preschool and private kindergarten for years and am just fascinated by child development stuff so I read it all the time--which is, I guess, why Brandie thinks I am some sort of expert ) I am sure you have heard before, but I'll say it again for you:
*do NOT linger when you need to seperate. Doing so reinforces the fear the child has and makes him think that he must be correct because even Mommy is not too sure about this whole seperating thing. Force yourself to give a quick hug, say "you'll be okay and I will be back in an hour (or whatever the time frame is--better if you can say "after snacktime" or somehting very concrete for him)" and then get out quickly. I know it is torture to do this when your baby is crying and holdiong onto you for dear life--but I saw time and time again the kids' whose paretns did this got over their anxiety MUCH faster and more smoothly than other children.
*Never, ever sneak out while he is playing happily. It will make the dropping off easier for you but the fallout from it will be very hard on him and the teachers you are leaving him with (and it will make each subsequent drop off that much worse and he will likely turn into an ultra clingy kid all the time for fear that the minute he takes his eyes off you you will disapear).
*keep leaving him. Even if you do not need to it will help him a lot if you can leave him at least 2-3 times a week and he can begin to see that he can trust you always to return. You can make many of thes "learning" times short (half an hour or so) but he will get better if he can see that you consistently come back after leaving him with others.
*Give him some type of security item which works for him. If he has any sort of lovey--be sure he can take it to whereever hee is going. Marika had no lovey--but when she was havign sepration issues she wore a locket with a family photo in it. She would put it on right befire we dropped her and take it off right when we picked her up. I have seen many childrne slip a family photo in their pocket. Obviosly make sure nothing you use would be a choking hazzard for otehr kids in the child care situation (I am so sorry I cannot remember Alex's age).
*Let him know what will happen. On your way to wherever you are taking him (or while waiting for the sitter to come) tell him what to expect in the most concrete way possible. "We are going to Sunday school now. When we go in I will help you hang up your jacket and then give you a hug before I leave. Miss Smith will be your teacher and after everyoen plays for a few minutes you will have story time and then a snack. After snack you will play some more and then I will be back.)." Be very matter of fact about it but give him information which will help him know where he is in the process if possible.
Best of luck there.

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

Julie, I hope Alex feels better soon! I have two co-workers who've had kidney stones and it's painful from what they have told me. Hugs to you and your family!

Magic3forme - we're going to be at the MNSSHP that night too! My DBF and I are going to two MNSSHPs - one on Tuesday the 23 and then Friday the 26! I can't wait!!!

 

[Fizzgig]

Hadley: I've had one kid, and two much younger siblings. You've had two well-adjusted kids and a ton of young students. And one "D." Yup, I definitely bow down to your knowledge.

CrazyZeus1: I am blown away by great kindergarten teachers.

Yeah, the preschool kids are like sponges, I agree, but I'm at sea with the melding between toddler emotionalism and young kid individuality. I can't always figure out if I'm supposed to give Fiona time to figure out how to do it herself, or step in and do it for her because she's so frustrated. We're really struggling with discipline right now. She still has "the world revolves around me" mentality I expect, but she also has this amazing empathy for others. Other times she completely dismisses something I'm trying to teach her, and then she waits until my hands are completely full, there's something boiling on the stove, and she wants to learn her alphabet and read a book NOW, MOMMY. *arrrrgh* Then the mommy guilt of not having the hands of Shiva to assist descends on me! I can almost hear "Cats in the Cradle" playing in the background at those moments!

Anyway, team meeting is starting, so I'd better concentrate.

 

[NHdisneylover]

That last post was so long with just the one thing I decide to make a second post for everything else.
I am not sure what is going on with the DIS but only about 5 smileys are working for me today. Odd. (see I would put the confused smiley here but I can't!).

Crissi: I sure hope you feel better soon. If it is a one time thing and they do not find anything obvious then I think you can write it off as an anxiety attack and not worry. If it keeps happening, it could well be anxiety. However PLEASE really insist that they check out all other possibilties before setteling on an anxiety diagnosis. I had incraseing symptoms for 8 years (started with a tingling numbness in my finger tips and toes at times, or at times when my heart would race and I would get light headed for no apparent reason--progressed to lots of anxiety and anxiety attacks, still the tingling sometimes in the entire arm, cold feet, etc and eventually to panic attacks which finally became a near daily occurance). Over the first 6 years of this I saw 4 regular doctors and 2 specailists in 2 different states. They checked a couple of things (did an EKG once, every one of them checked thyroid and one checked lyme) buy not much and then said it was "just anxiety" I never wanted to take meds for that and always felt there had to be something else causing it. Also, once they decided I had anxiety any time I was sick at all they wrote it off as part of the anxiety and did not take me seriously. So, becuase of the not being taken seriously I did not mention it to my docotr here in NH until I got so desperate with the daily panic attacks I realized I had to take something to stop them wether I wanted to or not. This docotr was WONDERFUL. SO nice and not condescneding at all like the other 6 doctors had been. He gave me a perscription for Xanax to get me through a few weeks while he ran tests. He let me know it could be anxiety disorder and if so there was nothing wrong with that at all and it was treatable. BUT he also said MANY, MANY other diseases could cause anxiety like sysmptoms and he wanted to rule out ALL of those before he made the diagnosis. Well, one of the first things he checked was Pernicious Anemia (funny---I had EVERY classic symptom and had for years--but I am much younger than the typical patient so I guess no one else thoguht to do this simple blood test)--which it turns out I have. The treatment is ridiculously simple (I take megadoses of vit. B-12) and I feel 95% better (because I was not properly diagnosed for sooooo long I have some lingering nerve damage but nothing too major). All of that is my long way of saying--please push to have everything it could be checkd out before accepting a diagnosis of anxiety (as there is no test for it so it is the--well if this is nothing else it must be anxiety kinda thing). I really wish I had pushed more.

Drea--I am so happy for you having E home. What a wonderful thing for you both.

 

[LuvtheEars]

How many of us are going to MNSHP on Friday?
We have 9 of us going

We'll be there! I can't wait! And just because we needed another hotel to stay in Thursday night we just booked one night at the Nickelodeon Hotel to play at until check in time at the Contempoary (where we are staying Friday night)! I know it's not Disney, but I think the kids will have a blast and I've wanted to give it a try.

The kids do not know about either of these extra's before the cruise!

Crissi: I hope you get feeling better and find out what is going on!

Drea: I'm glad E is home safe and back in your arms! Love the signs!

Julie: I was also a K and 1st grade teacher and I totally agree with Hadley about dropping them off and leaving. I have had to do this with both Grady and Megan and expect Megan to give me some drop off problems at first on the ship. It also helps if there is a good teacher to take Alex into their arms and talk to them while you are leaving so you can get out the door. Whenever this happened with Grady or Megan the teacher told me they only cried for a few minutes and then went on to play.

I love the pillow case dress/shirt ideas and patterns! Now I have more things on my TO DO list! LOL

I went to a Sew Saturday this weekend at my church and had 12 hours of uninterupted sewing time to catch up on cruise projects! (By uninterupted time I mean - No kids! No DH! No distractions like ! I only had to stop to eat!) I started everything, but only finished a couple of things! But, I'm that much closer to having everything done in time!

Have a great day all! I was going to take the kids to the pool today, but it's raining and in the 60's!

Tiffany

 

[NHdisneylover]

Hadley: I've had one kid, and two much younger siblings. You've had two well-adjusted kids and a ton of young students. And one "D."

You may want to meet them in person before you decide they are well adjusted

 

[skoi]

Thanks for the tips Hadley.

The others didn't do that at all. Madalyn could care less who comes and goes. Sig never went anywhere with us. Sadie breezed through her stages. Alex is a whole 'nother story. Lots of issues with him. He'll be going to pre-school in the fall in a special early intervention program (only getting one hour of speech a week which is the entire reason I sent him for the eval, but they're saying he has all sorts of sensory issues- they really don't get the orphanage rebound thing at all, nor understand the delays being in that environment cause). They were horrified when they found out we homeschooled, horrified. Mad will also be going to half day preschool- mainly for my sanity. When dh is back, we'll all be back home again.

I'm wondering if they'll keep him in the club if he's crying for me. I'd assume not. Well that's what the grandparents are for. He seemed to do all right with them when he met them. But I have a strong suspicion I will not be hanging around with y'all at the adult pool drinking and playing cards. Seriously though- with his adoption as a late-age toddler, there are tons of issues surrounding attachment/bonding and separation that I have to take into account with all of this. We did a lot of reading before Madalyn, and she ended up being younger than we expected to adopt and bonded well. Alex, we're not sure about sometimes. He was very difficult at first, and we've heard stories about kids (usually older when adopted) who live well with their adoptive family but never quite view them as a family, just the "new staff" that takes care of them. We don't want that to happen.

Julie

 

[NHdisneylover]

Half the week has gone by and I am just now getting around to posting a Question of the Week sorry 'bout that Okay, so we previously did animation--but What is your favourite live action Disney flick? I am expecting to see a lot of POC.

This is another toughie where narrowing it down is impossible--so I just list a few that happen to pop onto my head at let it be (smiley's are working again)--so with taht in mind. . .

ME--Splash (not really Disney--they created the Touchstone lable for Splash because at the time they felt releasing it as Disney would alienate their audience beciase it was so "adult" Funny to me now seeing what they release under the Disney name), Ella Enchanted (can't remember if that was released under the Disney name either and I cannot find the DVD right now to check), Mary Poppins . . .

Marika--Camp Rock (OMG did Marika just give an answer that a typical tween girl would give????? ), The Rookie and the original Parent Trap.

I will post Rio (at dance camp) and Dave tonight.

 

[cyndifan]

Alex is a whole 'nother story. Lots of issues with him. He'll be going to pre-school in the fall in a special early intervention program (only getting one hour of speech a week which is the entire reason I sent him for the eval, but they're saying he has all sorts of sensory issues- they really don't get the orphanage rebound thing at all, nor understand the delays being in that environment cause). They were horrified when they found out we homeschooled, horrified. Mad will also be going to half day preschool- mainly for my sanity. When dh is back, we'll all be back home again.

I'm wondering if they'll keep him in the club if he's crying for me. I'd assume not. Well that's what the grandparents are for. He seemed to do all right with them when he met them. But I have a strong suspicion I will not be hanging around with y'all at the adult pool drinking and playing cards. Seriously though- with his adoption as a late-age toddler, there are tons of issues surrounding attachment/bonding and separation that I have to take into account with all of this. We did a lot of reading before Madalyn, and she ended up being younger than we expected to adopt and bonded well. Alex, we're not sure about sometimes. He was very difficult at first, and we've heard stories about kids (usually older when adopted) who live well with their adoptive family but never quite view them as a family, just the "new staff" that takes care of them. We don't want that to happen.

Julie

Hi, Julie.

When I read your post about Alex & separation issues, I was wondering about some of the other but similar things some adoptees go through. Are you reading again about this type of thing - bonding, sensory issues, etc? If not, I can get some recommendations on current reading from our very knowledgeable adoption community here in NC. If the evaluation/treatment folks you're using aren't aware of all the big issues that can come w/adoption, I'd seriously consider switching him to someone who IS aware of those things. Coming from an institution setting at a later age can carry huge things to deal with for him. Some can manifest early after bringing kids home, some don't come out for quite a while. The 'biggie' in reading your post though is to have someone working with you that is well-versed in all the issues that he may be bringing with him - the sensory stuff can just be a symptom of some underlying things. W/o treating the underlying stuff, the other doesn't really heal & other things can creap up. Again, I'm happy to query our community here for recommendations - I know there are specialists out there for this type of thing.

Emmie is now 5 & we haven't seen anything overt so we're hoping she's having 'normal kid' type behaviors. She's started this crying thing though whenever she doesn't get her way, is bored, gets corrected (even slightly). Oi ve'. During her 1 hr kindergarten orientation this morning, she had a mini-melt-down due to being bored - started crying. After there was something else to do.....(other than sit there while the teacher was speaking to the moms & dads), she was fine. Later, we talked about what she could do when she's bored like that other than cry (color some more on her picture, look at all the neat things in the new room, think about something really special to her, etc.).