Still....here!!!!

This is a boring post b/c I have elevendy billion things I must do while the girls are at daycare for the next several hours, but long story short, we had an AMAZING time in WI with family and friends - so much so that we stayed an extra day. We all "survived" late (fun) nights, generous/thoughtful/perfect gifts given and received, and then a fall down the stairs for Hadley when we got home. More on all this fun later but for now, I'm going to be a fiend about cleaning the house before meeting Adam for a lunch "date" since we couldn't find a sitter for tonight. Happy New Year if I don't get back for a bit!

Snow Day!

And the Blizzard of 2012 is upon us. We went 290 days here without snow and then BAM, blizzard. Fine by me! I'm using the entire day to get ready for WI so tonight I won't be sweating bullets trying to get an entire family ready for an 8-day trip in 3 hours - I'll just be putting final touches on everything and maybe *gasp* sitting down?! Unheard of the night before a trip to WI! Yippee! Last load of laundry in the washer, girls 90% packed, I'm 83% packed, and Adam can do his own. :) Most gifts are already in WI, the roads should be good by tomorrow late afternoon (as far as I can figure), and I think we're ready to go for Hadley's birthday party Saturday evening.

Adam thought I was nuts when I went to bed with my phone last night, but at 4:30am when I got a phone call saying that Muscatine was closed, it was pure bliss when I told him to turn off my alarm before I rolled over and went back to sleep. Morgan was up by 6:30am, Hadley around 7, and we took our time having breakfast and getting dressed. I sent the girls to Mary's around 8:30 so I could get things done/pack and then go sign refinancing paperwork at the bank without really hauling them out in this weather.

It finally turned from rain to snow around 9:45 and within an hour and a half, we had 3" of snow. It's still snowing and the screens are so full of snow, you can't see out the windows. I don't think this is going to be the biggest snowfall ever, but the blowing is bad and it's hard to see anywhere. Either way, I'm thankful for the snow day and am having good time alternating between getting things done and playing with the girls (who I picked up at noon).

Speaking of playing, last night I let the dogs out the basement door and saw the plastic sports ladder/slide toy that Morgan LOVED her second winter that we kept in the house. We'd forgotten to bring it in when it was dry, so we laid down blankets and brought it in. After I picked up the girls, we went downstairs, Morgan found it immediately (hard to miss, it's sort of huge) and after cleaning it up, it had a new obsessor - Hadley. Oh my goodness, the look of glee on her face after climbing the steps alone (supervised) and then going down the slide was priceless. I'm exhausted from keeping her from falling off/down and she' exhausted from going all over. Want to see her instantly become behavioral and instantly tantrum? Tell her she has to use the steps instead of going up the slide when she doesn't want to.

I'm not so sure how much (if any) I'll be able to blog while I'm in WI but if I don't get to it, Merry Christmas. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Blessings from our home to yours, and have a happy holiday.

Hold them tight

Last night, I hardly let my girls out of my sight. I cried the whole way home from work and hugged them with a ferocity that I typically reserve for those I haven't seen in ages (think brother coming home from a deployment and being thankful he's there in one piece to hug). I kissed them 100 times and then 100 times more. The unspeakable events that happened in Connecticut yesterday left me shaken and beside myself. Babies. They were all babies and even the "big ones" were somebody's babies, and now heroes. School is a safe place. Especially an elementary school. I don't know the people who were hurt or affected. I don't know anyone that lives in the state or region, really. But to think of the pain those parents, family members, and community went through yesterday and are still dealing with today shatters my heart. I saw a quote from Savannah Guthrie on the Today Show and she said, "If you are lucky enough to love a child, you cannot shield your heart from how much this hurts." It rings so true as I still found myself crying in bits and pieces today thinking about it. If that happened to us...our community. It's unspeakable. There aren't words. You're not supposed to lay babies to rest.

We haven't watched TV really at all today. It hurts too much to turn it on and Morgan is too intuitive for us to have it on around her. If we can shield her from that sort of pain for just a little longer...we'll do it. She's too little to really understand and her life right now doesn't lend her to just hearing about it on the fly somewhere, really.

Hug your kids tight. Morgan sort of got away with a little murder last night because I was so thankful that I had her there with me to be a little sassy around the edges. Pray for those affected. Unspeakable tragedy. There are no words. :'-(

A post from my Speech Room

I guess I don't often talk about work on here unless I'm struggling with something or annoyed with someone or paperwork or what have you...but work is going well lately so I have to say a few praises about my job b/c truthfully, at the end of the day and all the junk that keeps getting added to our plates as SLPs in Iowa, I love my job and the work I do with my students. Be careful - you are in this for a long haul if you make it to the bottom. :)

Why don't we get the subject of paperwork out of the way? I hate it. What?! you say? You thought this was a positive post?! Well, it is, which is why I'm going to END on positive things and begin with the super crappy ones. See? I have good logic, no? Well, you can always move on to the next blog on your list if you disagree. So anyway, paperwork. What a huge pain the @$$ designed to make us see kids less and do more work frantically outside of the school day. And meetings. And the like. So paperwork, you can suck it. I know it's there to keep us in check, keep things legal, all that jazz, and really, I don't mind some. However, we seem to keep getting more/new/revised-to-be-much-more-difficult-to-write paperwork and I'm just about tired of it. So instead, I will whine about it to my fellow SLPs who get it and complete it all anyway b/c it's part of a deadline and I rarely miss one of those. :) You can call me "Super SLP" anytime now.

Articulation kids. You know, the ones who don't "sound right" as so many of my teachers come up to me and say? "What sounds are they missing," I ask. "IDK, they just talk funny" or "IDK, shouldn't they have /r/ by now (about their Kindergarten student - NONONO btw)"...that sort of thing. I get it that my ear is SUPER trained to a fault and I can diagnose someone with an artic disorder from about 2.4 miles away if the wind is just right. All that said, I love my artic kids. Many SLPs don't care for this part of our job, but I love it (95% of the time) b/c I can SEE/HEAR progress, it's easy to measure, and typically, these kids graduate from speech and it's obvious when this is to happen. Plus, I love the looks on their faces when they can say something correctly they've never said and sound just like their friends. Or their own name correctly. Priceless.

Language kids. These kids often hide under the radar unless they're super obvious and are frequently missed by teachers for referrals b/c they don't realize I work on expressive (talking) and receptive (understanding) language. No problem. They surface eventually. I don't often drum up business, guys. I have plenty. That all said, this group of kids (which make up a fair amount of my caseload) is my Everest. Wait - my thisclosetofirst Everest. I have a different one. Or two. Oh boy. I digress. Language. Yes. Last week I went to this conference by Laura Justice (who wouldn't have even COME to our agency this year if I hadn't strongly suggested we TRY to get her in even though our supervisor was sure we wouldn't be able to get her until 2 years from now) about vocabulary and how to help these kids with low language skills improve. You guys, I was doing some of the things she said already - but it was nice to have confirmation that I'm not the suckiest SLP out there (which I know isn't true, but some days it sure feels like it). However, I feel like I took a TON away from that conference and have been having the BEST time trying these new techniques with my language kiddos. I feel like they're grasping their vocabulary words better and I'm doing a much better job helping to develop their lexicons (brain maps) so this stuff sticks with them. I've been having tons of fun with this group now and am eager to keep trying more things that I haven't even touched on yet b/c my brain was too full for the time being.

Fluency...geez.You guys, fluency/stuttering can be the hardest to treat ever. And sometimes the most fun....at times. It depends on the kiddo and the one I have right now is great when we're working together...and then it's gone after that. I wish I was more of an expert on that but since this takes up such a small amount of my caseload typically, it's hard to get really good at it. Dear Speech Fairies - that does not mean I would like 5 more fluency cases to pop up at my schools, please. Love, Melissa

Nonverbal/Level 3 kids. Here's my other Everest. These kids can be SO hard from an SLP's perspective. I love mine dearly. They have been making nice gains, love those who work with them (typically...), and I just want to help them as much as I can but again, this is where I feel my expertise is a bit low and I feel like I don't get it right a lot of the time. These students make me SO VERY THANKFUL for my fellow SLPs who I network with every day (truly. every. single. day.) who know so much and help me be more effective with my tough kiddos. We've all got tough kids we work with in education. I only wish I could do more.

There are other kids who don't fit in these categories. I have just really been enjoying my students lately (between all the awful paperwork) and felt the need to just say how much they make my worker-bee life totally worth it.

Something I must say is this if you're still with me - TALK TO YOUR KIDS. As soon as they're born, flood their little ears FULL of words. I don't care if you're talking about the fact that your baby's socks are green and red striped and they're constantly falling off and why can't your toes stay in and where is the other one now? Talk to your kids. They don't have to be babies. Talk about what you see out the car window. Ask what color plate they want. Talk talk talk. I won't bore you with research but ::stands higher on soapbox:: there is SO MUCH research out there to state that you're going to give your kid a leg up on LIFE, essentially, by flooding their brains full of words...they don't even have to be big words. Really. So talk to your kids - best gift you could give them ever.*

And I will end (I heard you sigh relief, those of you silly ones who've stuck with me) with these great stories from Preschool this week. Again - I love my job this week. LOVE my job. :)

Story #1: I was at the private preK re-screening a kiddo yesterday and as I was leaving a different kid all but grabbed my arm from his chair and said this –

Kid: “Hey! Hey!!!”

Me: “Yes?”

Kid with the straightest face I’ve ever seen: “I love you.”

Me: laughs, “You do?”

Kid: “YES. I love you.”

Which of course brings ‘I love yous’ from almost every kid in earshot

Kid, loudly: “BUT I LOVE YOU THE BESTEST!!!”

 

Story #2 – Today, walk-in PreK student who just turned 4, smart little guy but with pretty messed up articulation…

We decided at the end of his session to practice the word TOYS since he says KOYS and it’s going to be Christmas in 2 minutes and KOYS makes no sense unless you're a SLP which still doesn't mean anything b/c his mom had to tell me what he said. So I’m drilling him and drilling him and breaking the word, different vowels, imitate imitate imitate and it’s toys toys COYs toys toys COYS all over the place and finally I said, “t- t- TOYS” and he stopped, looked at me, and said…“HOLA.” Hola!?!?!? A non-spanish-speaking little guy. I took that as “I’m done, crazy lady” and we laughed like mad (mom and I) and he was done for the day. Hola. What?!!? Sometimes I love preschoolers.

*Disclaimer - by talk, I don't mean yelling at them for being little sassipants kids (like I do on a regular basis in my perfect household ha ha ha...) - there's a whole other body of research on that but since I've filled your brains full of GOO already, we'll leave that for another day.

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY, HADLEY!

Say WHAT?! Our baby is ONE?! Oh Hadley, what a great year it has been and how complete you makes our family. We had a great night and went out to Applebee's so I didn't have to cook to celebrate. Highlights and pictures (oh no! no pictures yet - apparently I'm over my picture quota and need to figure it out before I can post anymore. DANG) to commence. You're such a joy to our family and we love you to pieces and pieces!

• She's a walker. She's maybe even a week or two ahead of where Morgan was at 1 year. Either way, it's a FAVORITE thing of hers to do and if there are two adults in the room, she wants to walk from one to the other 10,000x.
• Hadley is a hot/cold eater. Some weeks she eats like a champ. Others, it's a battle for a week. She's struggling to figure out that it's OK to drink milk from a sippy and she's almost 100% switched over to whole milk. We're just finishing up whatever open formula we have left with 2oz mixed with whatever sized bottle she needs for that bottle. 
• Speaking of bottle, again, we're ready to transition her and she's going to work on it at daycare, but hopefully she'll be done with bottles by the time we leave for WI next Friday. I am SO OVER washing bottles and just dealing with them in general. That said, what a huge step away from being my baby if she's not taking bottles... :-/
• Her 1 year well check is tomorrow afternoon so I'll be sure to post her stats then. I'm guessing she's around 22-23lbs, and no idea on height - shorter than Morgan at 1 year - for sure. Head circumference? Huge, I'm sure. 
• Hadley. LOVES. Babies. She is almost constantly playing with and hugging on one and is just very lovey in general. She's perfected a GREAT hug for a kid her age and I never pass one up if she's dishing them out. 
• She's so pretty!! Everyone's baby is perfect/pretty/etc...but Hadley is so pretty. I just love her face.
• She doesn't say too many words reliably yet but I'm pretty sure she can say hi and dada, but definitely signs the following: go, waves hi/bye, more, please, all done, ball. And babbles like a crazy person. And has been enjoying making /sh/ and /s/ noises imitatively all over the place. And yelling and talking....whenever her sister isn't getting a word in edgewise. 
• Speaking of balls, Hadley LOVES balls as well. Good thing her daddy found her some for her birthday...in case there weren't enough around here already. ;-D
• Her birthday party with family will be next Saturday when we're back in WI for the holidays. We're having it right away before Christmas so hopefully there's a little separation...
• Hadley's done really well with new sitters lately. Woo! Either we're in a lull between stranger danger phases or she's done! I'm going to guess lull...but this time it really helps having Morgan around - she's always got a friend!

I'll think on it and see if I have more and if I can get more storage for pictures without paying. I'm exhausted (which stinks b/c we slept AWESOME last night) so who knows. We're just so thankful for these girls and our baby one who I am not ready to admit is now.......a toddler. Happy 1st birthday, sweet pea!

Lily Anna

I have to tell the long story about this doll that Morgan will be receiving for Christmas this year. A few months ago after Morgan's birthday, I was trying to drum up ideas for her Christmas list b/c I knew people would be asking and I didn't want to be clueless when those questions came. I asked her if she would want a doll that looked just like her. She said yeah. I thought "American girl doll!"b/c you can customize them and whatnot so they actually look like your kid. This part of the story short, I was just about to let her grandma purchase it for her (first we were, then they were, then we were, finally they were) but I could NOT click "buy" b/c it was an obscene amount of money to spend on a doll for a 3 year old, I don't care how great she is (she being interchangeable b/w the kid and the doll).

So the search began - I'd already told a whole bunch of people that 18" doll accessories/clothes would make a great gift b/c Morgan would be getting this doll...so we had to find another not scary there are so many scary dolls out there doll. Then, I found it. Our Generation Doll. Specifically Lily Anna. See? Isn't she pretty? Straight blonde hair, blue eyes, no bangs. Looks just like Morgan except her hair's a little long.

So my search to actually acquire the doll began. I quickly realized she was only available at Target, was cheap ($32ish with two outfits and some book about how she rides horses), and was out of stock online. I started calling around (as did Sherri up in WI) to any Target I'd be willing to drive to should this doll actually exist in the store like the website said it did. Between Sherri and I, I think we had 6 Targets to cover. We started calling daily b/c they got trucks daily. I figured out that one of mine got a truck at 4am so I could call at 8am when they opened. Another one had trucks at another time, you get the idea.

So nothing. For days. For a week. Then two weeks. Still not available online unless you bought it on Amazon for MORE THAN TWICE what it cost on/at Target.

Fast-forward to yesterday, Saturday. Adam was hunting and we got a sitter so I could still go on my super fun I'm so glad I went shopping trip with some of my work friends in Iowa City. On my way I got bored, so I called the Target there to see if they had it. Shocker, they didn't but the girl in toys said that she'd seen, specifically, Lily Anna about 2 weeks ago at the store. I was shocked but she took my name/number and said she'd try but since there were so many workers who rotated in/out of the dept in a given day/week, it was doubtful that anyone would call. I was grateful she took my info - they don't usually do that at Target. Woo!

So drive drive drive...wait. If she saw one 2 weeks ago, what are the odds that it's back in stock online? I preface this next part with full realization/admission that I'm a moron and should have pulled over but I was running barely on time and maybe a few minutes late so I made sure to work on straight-aways and proceeded to immediately order the doll on my phone. I couldn't believe it! I got the confirmation email and did a happy squeal dance in my car. I got to my friend's house and could hardly contain myself. I called Sherri and we were both so excited!! It seriously felt like I won the three year old's lottery. :) Mostly I just can't wait to see the look on her face when she gets it b/c she's been stopping at all big (18") dolls lately in stores and just loving on them big time. And Cinderella. Which reminds me I need to get that movie for her yet (even though she won't watch it til she's 5).

Fast-forward to today. My sister-in-law texted me to say that she wanted to get a similar doll for my niece and actually found them much cheaper/on sale at Target today when she went. I checked online and sure enough - 25% off! What!? So I got right on the 800 line and so, to top it all off, I got the doll yesterday, it's being mailed to my in-laws so I don't have to deal with hiding/not breaking it on the way home in two weeks, and I got it for $8 less than I had planned. I am so excited. If she hates it, I'm keeping it and putting it out for display. ;-) But I know that won't be the case and I know she's going to love it. Woo!

PS. One year ago at this time, I was breathing through contractions and wandering all over my house while waiting for my dad to come visit. And in 4 hours, we were headed to the hospital to welcome our second baby girl into our family. Awww....that was a fast year. More on that tomorrow. :)

Bad poster. BAD poster!

Can you tell it's the holidays? That I'm swamped at work, home, and life in all aspects of it? Hence the lack of posts lately telling you the oh-so-important things about what's going on in the choas Schmidt household. Lucky you. I get to bore you with more details. :) A fairy tale, SchmidtFamilyStyle.

Once upon a time, two little girls ruled the House of Schmidt. The mommy did everything she could to make their happy little lives wonderful and the daddy did everything HE could do keep that mommy sane and in check right before she lost it (yet again).

On Dec. 6th, Princess Hadley had 7 teeth. As of the past weekend, PH's mouth decided to try to push through THREE MORE stupid TEETH and turned PH into a raging mess of "I don't WANT to eat" and "I don't WANT to drink, especially since you're mixing my formula with whole milk - I CAN TELL" and general "Don't put me down or I'll scream in your FACE after I climb up your leg in a dangerous fashion." When Princess Hadley wasn't doing those things, she was really motoring along with her walking and getting better every day. When not fussing, she was laughing and giggling at her sister while they created choas/havoc fun together. She had a few nighttime parties and then decided it wasn't fair to mommy and daddy (HA HA HA we can't call them queen/king b/c really - the princesses ruled the house. C'mon, Captain Obvious.) So on Princess Hadley went, being adorable, loving her family and babies, and being a general cutie-pah-tootie. Who sometimes fussed too much for her mommy's liking. And could eat a little better so her mommy didn't worry she'd be a tiny little picky eater.

Not to be forgotten, Princess Morgan also had fun things to share. This morning, St. Nick came and brought her way too many goodies/toys. She was especially fond of the Jake and the Neverland Pirate toothpaste he brought her and turned into a hormonal mess when she was not allowed to open it - NOTE: she had the EXACT SAME TUBE (kind) of toothpaste open already and it was still half full. Princess Morgan is also learning to use her attitude a little less but we can quickly tell what her models at daycare were like on any given day as she tends to channel some of that sassiness energy and use it at home if she's seen it all day. When not channeling energy, PM is enjoying her toys, writing letters like a champ (she can easily write her name, but when I told her how to spell 'Santa' on the front of her Christmas list/letter to him, she shocked me when she wrote the letters all by herself! This is how she learned!) She also is playing with Hadley and teaching her naughty new things. Princess Morgan loved to help out and cook anything with mommy when she wasn't too interested in something else. She's been playing more and watching TV less which makes TV that much more interesting when mommy needs a break they have a chance to watch it. She continued growing into a lovely big girl.

The mommy and daddy of this story decided that since PH and PM were doing fairly well, they needed to get back into the swing of things and do more "just us stuff." Last night, the M&D decided to play Scrabble (real life kind! where you touched real wood pieces and spun a real plastic board to take turns! not back and forth on iDevices! what!?) and in the entire history of the world, it was the first time that the D beat the M. The poor mommy couldn't believe it but secretly had let him win. And that's her story she's sticking with.

The D was sad but he had to travel next week right between hunting weeks. Thankfully, the D will be home on Monday for Princess Hadley's 1st birthday before flying out on Tuesday. The mommy let go of her new babysitter issues (she's a little nervous to leave the girls with people she doesn't know) and will be enjoying some much-needed friend time and shopping on Saturday while the D is hunting deer. Woo! PS. Sorry, Morgan, for you will be missing yet another swimming lesson grandparentspleasemovehereandlivenextdoor b/c I'm a lazy mom who wants to have fun.

Princess Hadley, Princess Morgan, the mommy, and the daddy all continued to live the life they dreamed. Sometimes the mommy needed more breaks than others and the daddy needed more golf time than others, but they lived happily ever after watching their girls get big and more awesome each day. The end.