I miss the group and want to come back!

[gk12]

I hope you'll have me. I'm on summer break and home with both girls all day.

Mirabelle turned four and is still as active, imaginative, and talkative as ever. She is slowly starting to use silverware instead of fingers and has a love/hate relationship with her baby sister Eleanor aka Ellie.



Ellie is 14 months old and continues to have bowel issues. She requires oral meds and enemas to poop. She also just qualified as delayed in communication, social/emotional, cognitive and adaptive. Ellie now wears glasses as she has severe vision issues. We are still going to specialists and will see a geneticist in Sept.

So I'm struggling to balance the needs of both girls. I try to do special things with Mirabelle but it's rare that I can leave Ellie with someone. DH has been working a ton bc I had to take FMLA time and got no pay for most of the school year.

Any advice is appreciated and I look forward to catching up on how everyone is doing!

[vanessalc]

WELCOME BACK!!!
Your ladies are beautiful! Their glasses are adorable.

[sarahandeddie]

Could you do something after your little goes to bed? Even just an extra half hour of snuggle time goes a long way. I don't have much good advice otherwise. It's hard to make special time for both of my kids too. I can only imagine how much more difficult it is in your situation.

[traceyt07]

Welcome back! Your girls are absolutely adorable.

[nursedesi]

Welcome back. I'm sorry you are still having issues with ellie. Shes so cute in her glasses!

[somethingcleverer]

Your girls are such cuties! I like sarahandeddie's idea of doing something after bedtime. Maybe a treat like an ice cream sundae after Ellie is asleep would be a special surprise. Or next time your H is off could you take just Mirabelle to do errands with you? Manicures during Ellue's nap time? Those are all my ideas.
I'm so glad you are back!

[cbear]

Welcome back!! Your girls are just beautiful!

[xanthepants]

gk12, welcome back! I've wondered how you and the girls were. I'm sorry things are still a bit of a struggle with Ellie but OMG that face! She is beyond adorable. Anything we can do to support, we will. I second,third the idea of after bedtime or during naps trying to sneak some one on one time in with Mirabelle. Or what about leaving her little love notes/post its in her room with something special that you love about just her. Then it's a reminder to her to catch you and you get to chat about it once a day/ week. Or can you have a special task that just you two do together once a day, carving out even 5 sacred minutes that she gets 100% of your attention?

[roo1582]

Of course you are always welcome here! Your girls are both beautiful! I'm sorry you are still having some issues with Ellie. I hope the trip to the geneticist will give you some answers.

As for spending some time with Mirabelle, I also suggest doing something after bedtime if possible. You could always do a special movie night, where Mirabelle can stay up a bit later, and you can snuggle on the couch, watch a movie and eat popcorn. You can also do a game night, where you just play board games together for a bit after Ellie goes to bed.

[jennmm]

Welcome back!

[gk12]

Thanks Laides!! Mira and Ellie currently go to bed at the same time but I always go into Mira's room after I nurse Ellie and I read her one book and cuddle. During Ellie's nap we've been going outside and collecting berries. I like the game/movie night idea.

I'm worrying more bc Ellie's going to be getting services here at the house and I'm not sure what to do for Mira during that time.

[roo1582]

Aug 8, 2016 7:04:34 GMT -5 gk12 said:

Thanks Laides!! Mira and Ellie currently go to bed at the same time but I always go into Mira's room after I nurse Ellie and I read her one book and cuddle. During Ellie's nap we've been going outside and collecting berries. I like the game/movie night idea.

I'm worrying more bc Ellie's going to be getting services here at the house and I'm not sure what to do for Mira during that time.

Is there anything that keeps her occupied for periods of time?  For us, Kayleigh could play with an hour straight with Playdoh.  If she likes Playdoh, maybe buy a special playset that she can pull out during Ellie's appointments.  Other ideas might be those reuseable sticker/cling books, painting set, puzzles, small craft set.

[summergirl1211]

Hi lady and welcome back! You're always welcome here, friend! First of all, your girls are beyond adorable. I'm so sorry you've been having trouble with Ellie, but I'm glad she's getting the help she needs. I also hope the geneticist gives you some information too. I think the ladies have given you some great ideas, and I think doing special things during Ellie's nap time is great. I agree with finding something special that will keep her attention during Ellie's appointments. If it's tv or the ipad or a special toy then keep that one item just for those sessions so she a) doesn't get bored and b) feels like it's something special.

Sending you and your family lots of hugs girl. We're here for you!

[trixi282]

Aug 8, 2016 7:04:34 GMT -5 gk12 said:

Thanks Laides!! Mira and Ellie currently go to bed at the same time but I always go into Mira's room after I nurse Ellie and I read her one book and cuddle. During Ellie's nap we've been going outside and collecting berries. I like the game/movie night idea.

I'm worrying more bc Ellie's going to be getting services here at the house and I'm not sure what to do for Mira during that time.

Hey lady, welcome back.  I took a bit of a break myself, and recently started posting again.  The girls are adorable!  I'm so sorry to hear Ellie is still having issues, and that it seems to extended beyond the GI situation.  

Are the services she's getting through the Early Intervention with your school district?  We qualified for that with Emme due to her feeding tube.  We started her therapies though focusing on her motor skills since she was behind in most of those areas, and we had private feeding therapy occurring weekly.  

We had someone come to the house 2x a month and it was usually early morning, so J would either be just waking up, or she would just be lounging in her pajamas.  My H actually does most of them, after the first few months, since I had gone back full time and no longer have Friday's off.   But when I did have both girls, or when he does we usually let J watch a show while we were in another room doing therapy.  Sometimes she will interrupt, or want to sit with us, but we always reminded her that this was E's time to work and that she could watch quietly, but please don't get in the way unless we ask for help.

She's been pretty good about it, but with that, and the addition of weekly feeding therapy, and all of the other doctors appointments we've had over the last year, I do try to make sure that J and I have some one on one time to cuddle and do soemthing special together.   I will say things are harder now since she's a fierce 4 year old - but she does still like to cuddle to watch a show while E naps on saturdays - or we paint our nails together, cuddle and read books, or play outside.  I am sometimes tempted to just let her do something while I clean (since I work full time) but I remind myself she needs that time, and dishes or picking up toys can wait.... 

Sorry if I got rambly.... but I know how hard juggling some of that can be.  I hope you get some answers, and that the therapy services help her.  E has made huge strides since her services began.  She went from being 2-3 months behind to being average to above average in a lot of areas just recently.  I really do contribute a lot of that to her therapies.  We're still struggling with the feeding issues, but the other things have come so far for her.  I hope you experience the same.  Regardless though, she's adorable, and looks like she's just as sweet as can be! 

[starfishy]

Hello! Welcome back!

Both of your girls are just beautiful. I love their glasses. I'm sorry to hear that there have been struggles. I hope that the geneticist will help with Ellie and that you can carve out some time with Mira. I think everyone gave some good ideas. Even if you can just do reading time before bed etc that would be good.

[USCgirl]

gk12, I don't think any of us really considered you gone. Haha! If you are like most if us, your time online is probably pretty limited with two to look after. Your girls are so cute!! By chance, do you have any family that might be able to give you a hand once a month for a couple hours, so you can spend some one on one with Mirabelle? I know what it feels like to have a toddler who wants your attention every second and a baby who us high needs. Hang in there. I don't know if you use Facebook, but our page is pretty active and a lot of ladies for support.

[gk12]

So the only thing that really keeps Mira busy these days is being outside. She's never really been into coloring, stickers or playdough. I have a ton of all of the above so I'm thinking I'll make some special activity buckets for her and she can pick one to do during Ellie's therapy.

trixi282 Ellie's services are through Children's Integrated Services which serves the birth to three population here. They won't give her speech therapy bc she just got the glasses and they only do direct services for language starting at 18 months. Since I'm a speech pathologist I've been doing what I can and she's just started pointing so I'm encouraged by that.

She actually walks pretty well considering she has no depth perception. The therapy she'll get will be to address her cognitive delays, sensory issues and vision issues. She's going to be assessed by a vision specialist and may end up working with a teacher of the visually impaired.

She's still sleeping in a swing and I'm really hoping one of the specialists can help with that bc it seems to be a sensory issue with laying flat

I'm so glad Emme is doing great!!

I appreciate everyone's ideas and wish I had come back sooner. I got all teary eyed knowing I'm not the only one having a hard time balancing two kiddos needs. Oh and how do I find the Facebook group?

[trixi282]

I'm kind of hard to find on FB because of my privacy settings. But are you friend with any of the J12 mom's on FB? I'd so, most are in the group and can add you.

[somethingcleverer]

gk12 I tried to pm you the group page. Let me know it works.

[mrsrek10]

Aug 8, 2016 7:04:34 GMT -5 gk12 said:

Thanks Laides!! Mira and Ellie currently go to bed at the same time but I always go into Mira's room after I nurse Ellie and I read her one book and cuddle. During Ellie's nap we've been going outside and collecting berries. I like the game/movie night idea.

I'm worrying more bc Ellie's going to be getting services here at the house and I'm not sure what to do for Mira during that time.

Good to "see you" back!

I sometimes provide in home services for kids with Autism or Developmental Disabilities and often a sibling is home too. I try to incorporate the sibling into my activities for at least part of the time. In some cases, I use them as a model and they get to participate the whole time. It is hard as a service provider to know they want attention too. Hopefully your provider will be aware and try to give Mira some attention too while providing services to Ellie.