Glad you all had a great day. Things went well here. I was shocked that Haley didn't wake up a 3am like she normally does. My oldest actually ended up waking her up after 8am because she couldn't stand it anymore. LOL!!!
We had a very small Christmas in terms of gifts but they all seemed happy with what they received. I was proud of Haley this year because she didn't throw a fit like she has every year in the past. She did really well.
Normally there is so much chaos on Christmas with everyone getting up early, the scrambling to get to the presents, being tired and cranky... she just can't handle it well but I think she is finally getting a handle on it. Whew!!
Our Christmas was AWESOME!!! Adam totally "got it" this year with the gifts. He actually wanted the abstact toys vs the video game stuff---------go figure. He has speech therepy today and he's cousins are coming over in an hr from Boston---1st time meeting--nervous cuz they don't know about his dx....will post ya'll later on that one. LOL
I was incredibly spoiled---guess DH feels guilty for the sh*t he put me thru the past few weeks. Sparkly diamonds always work for me LOL
Glad to hear everyone else so far had a good holiday.
I was reminded again why I don't much like my nephews. Despite the fact that they are now 7-10 years old (with 2 smaller ones 4-5) there is no expectation for appropriate behavior. The stories would make your hair curl. Look at it this way; 2 of them were trying to pull up Emily's dress and look at her underwear and when I caught them and scolded them it just bounced off like "no big deal". WTF? They were rude, out of control, hyper beasties.
AND of course this makes my kids buggy. Mike gets anxious, stuck on rules then angry then explosive. Dave thinks since the other kids are doing it he should be able to do it as well. Emily and Cait both get grumpy, whiny or since all the other kids are demanding so much attention they try to get away with stuff they normally wouldn't. Particularly since my MIL loves to let them do things behind my back after I said no. I can have more kids in my house with a variety of special needs and neuro-behavioral disorders and have better behavior than this. Actually, I often do like right now (babysitting friends 5 kids)I can actually type online without a problem.
At home the kids did well. Mike is off because of too much cousin time. We got a 37" flat screen TV for the family and that was a BIG hit. The boys got new bikes and the girls music stuff and all got clothes but no new toys actually. They were fine with that. This is our first lego free christmas in a very very long time.
I got a new digital camera! I am a happy mommy. So I guess I got the toy! LOL>
Ours went really well (except for the part where I didn't go to sleep until 1:30 christmas eve and the kids woke up all bouncing off the walls at 4;30 lol.)
We didn't have to leave until 12 for Tony's sisters house so the kids could spend more time with there stuff.
We had a wonderful time - we had 6 guests stay over a few days, so the house was very full and slightly chaotic and the dishwasher was in perma-mode, but Euan coped amazingly well, and his siblings adored having their cousins and aunties and grandparents to play with. We managed to fit in a trip to a pantomine for Euan, and he absolutely loved it, which was a real first (usually he gets sensory overload in theatres but he seems to finally be able to cope with it). The living room looked like an explosion in a toy factory, and we definately spent far too much money and ate too much, but it was so worth it because we all had a great time. Now I just need to not look at my credit card statements and dig out my loose pants!
Kirsty mum to Euan (9, Asperger's) Rohan (4) and Maeve (2)
We had a lovely Christmas, for once we did not over indulge our children, and we did not overeat.
We stayed in SC for Christmas. The only really difficult time was Christmas Eve church, thankfully, #1 DS Warren's choir sang in the early service so Dh and Weston went early, were the first ones in the sanctuary, claimed 1/2 a pew for our family and sat-- this gave Weston time to adjust to the people coming in (it was and always is standing room only for that service) and we had enough room for all of us. Weston sat between DH and I and that made him feel safer (we also knew the family sitting directly behind us-- that helped too). DH(choir) and Amelia (acolyte) had to stay for the 2nd service (got over about 10pm) so the other kids and I came home, made ready for Santa, read the Christmas story again from the Bible, generally just wound down.
All children slept until 7am-- DH had to wake up Warren, Weston and Owen (don't know why but the boys in this house do NOT get excited about these things)-- it was 8am before we went downstairs. We have specific rules about gift opening, DH craves order and rules, so we do not have a mad opening brawl (that's how it was in DH's family and he hated the chaos), each child opens a present in turn (I have to be sure that they each have the same #-- price doesn't matter so much an # of presents). They really only got a few toys between them, but Dh really made out!-- DH got the LOTR extended version DVDs and the complete Starwars DVDs. I got several cooking/baking things I'd asked for and some jewelry-- pearls which are lovely and very ME.
Weston got the digital camera he wanted and a huge memory card-- so far he's made video of light saber duels between his brothers and bear fights between his 'buildabear' and Owen, also he's taken about a 100 pictures. He only had one disappointment and that was that his legos (yes, I did cave) were bionicles and his brother, Owen, got the starwars legos. But he didn't melt and he has handled it quite well (knowing that gma was sending $$ and probably there will be $$ forth coming from aunts and uncles in the next week or so) then "I can pick my own so nobody gives me something I don't appreciate". LOL!
It was a very calm and peaceful day. I always miss my family, I love hanging out w/ my parents, brothers and sisters. But I realize that it makes my children crazy to have to be away from home, so it's better all the way around to just stay home-- but I'm still sad. (since my family isn't doing Christmas until next weekend, my mother hung wallpaper on Christmas Eve and Christmas day-- I would have been put to work there. LOL!)
I had toe surgery today-- so I'm not feeling so hot, but it was a lovely Christmas Day.
Kids have generally done well. 9yo AS ds has had a few rough moments, but even he's done pretty good. AS dh, however, took the week off work to spend time with family, and we're about ready to send him back. He's either "helping" in ways that drive everyone insane but which he feels compelled to do because it makes him FEEL like he's helping, or else he's off pouting (including in front of company) 'cus things didn't happen the way he thinks they should.
Still, we've generally had a good time, and the kids have been quieter than usual playing with their stuff, and they've been getting along better while playing with each other. I guess I should have gotten them more electronic stuff before now, huh?!
The boys and I went to a friend's house for Christmas Eve, while DH was at work. That was a little exhausting and a bit of a tease, because there were many missed opportunities for adult conversation while I was tending to the kiddos. (The younger guy did eventually fall asleep.) But still, it was better than being home alone. My children would do a lot better if I had the festivities at my house, but 1) I usually work that day; when would I get the party ready, and 2) my friend loves being the hostess.
I got home exhausted, and all three of us crashed in our clothes in my bedroom at about 11:30. Not a high point of my parenting! I had planned on getting out of bed when DH arrived at about 12:45, but I couldn't! DH put out the presents that were not already out. He mixed up the stockings, and put gifts that were meant for stockings under the tree, and gifts labeled from us in the stocking. My older son figured that the elves were playing tricks on us.
This was my younger guy's first "real" Christmas, since he was so sick last year he slept through it. It took him a while to get into the presents, but he was so pleasantly surprized by some of them, he started loving it! Many of his presents were car models, and he lined them up on one side of the living room, and drove them one at a time to another line at the other side.
Renee, you had me nodding away over here. My nieces came in from Boston----HOLY TERRORS
OMG............my tree was abused, my carpet is speckled with chocolate milk, I found pizza on my china closet, and the parents didn't say a thing!!!!
Adam held up ok, my one niece is 3 and Adam is 4 1/2 and she is so over the top bold, Adam didn't have a choice.................He did fine.
After our 3 hr visit, we agreed to meet at McDonald's Friday for one more visit before they leave..........my nerves were DONE by the time they left.............No wonder their mom (my other niece, the little ones are my great nieces) is a basket case when she calls me for parental advise.
Pages
Glad you all had a great day. Things went well here. I was shocked that Haley didn't wake up a 3am like she normally does. My oldest actually ended up waking her up after 8am because she couldn't stand it anymore. LOL!!!
We had a very small Christmas in terms of gifts but they all seemed happy with what they received. I was proud of Haley this year because she didn't throw a fit like she has every year in the past. She did really well.
Normally there is so much chaos on Christmas with everyone getting up early, the scrambling to get to the presents, being tired and cranky... she just can't handle it well but I think she is finally getting a handle on it. Whew!!
Mom to Erin (19) and Haley (10yo Aspie)
Mom to Erin (19) and Haley (10yo Asp
Christmas was pretty good.
Our Christmas was AWESOME!!! Adam totally "got it" this year with the gifts. He actually wanted the abstact toys vs the video game stuff---------go figure. He has speech therepy today and he's cousins are coming over in an hr from Boston---1st time meeting--nervous cuz they don't know about his dx....will post ya'll later on that one. LOL
I was incredibly spoiled---guess DH feels guilty for the sh*t he put me thru the past few weeks. Sparkly diamonds always work for me LOL
Glad to hear everyone else so far had a good holiday.
Take Care
Nora
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s225/irishwildrose/pp2.jpg
Well I did post but I guess it got eaten.
I was reminded again why I don't much like my nephews. Despite the fact that they are now 7-10 years old (with 2 smaller ones 4-5) there is no expectation for appropriate behavior. The stories would make your hair curl. Look at it this way; 2 of them were trying to pull up Emily's dress and look at her underwear and when I caught them and scolded them it just bounced off like "no big deal". WTF? They were rude, out of control, hyper beasties.
AND of course this makes my kids buggy. Mike gets anxious, stuck on rules then angry then explosive. Dave thinks since the other kids are doing it he should be able to do it as well. Emily and Cait both get grumpy, whiny or since all the other kids are demanding so much attention they try to get away with stuff they normally wouldn't. Particularly since my MIL loves to let them do things behind my back after I said no. I can have more kids in my house with a variety of special needs and neuro-behavioral disorders and have better behavior than this. Actually, I often do like right now (babysitting friends 5 kids)I can actually type online without a problem.
At home the kids did well. Mike is off because of too much cousin time. We got a 37" flat screen TV for the family and that was a BIG hit. The boys got new bikes and the girls music stuff and all got clothes but no new toys actually. They were fine with that. This is our first lego free christmas in a very very long time.
I got a new digital camera! I am a happy mommy. So I guess I got the toy! LOL>
Ours went really well (except for the part where I didn't go to sleep until 1:30 christmas eve and the kids woke up all bouncing off the walls at 4;30 lol.)
We didn't have to leave until 12 for Tony's sisters house so the kids could spend more time with there stuff.
We had a wonderful time - we had 6 guests stay over a few days, so the house was very full and slightly chaotic and the dishwasher was in perma-mode, but Euan coped amazingly well, and his siblings adored having their cousins and aunties and grandparents to play with. We managed to fit in a trip to a pantomine for Euan, and he absolutely loved it, which was a real first (usually he gets sensory overload in theatres but he seems to finally be able to cope with it). The living room looked like an explosion in a toy factory, and we definately spent far too much money and ate too much, but it was so worth it because we all had a great time. Now I just need to not look at my credit card statements and dig out my loose pants!
Kirsty
mum to Euan (9, Asperger's) Rohan (4) and Maeve (2)
We had a lovely Christmas, for once we did not over indulge our children, and we did not overeat.
We stayed in SC for Christmas. The only really difficult time was Christmas Eve church, thankfully, #1 DS Warren's choir sang in the early service so Dh and Weston went early, were the first ones in the sanctuary, claimed 1/2 a pew for our family and sat-- this gave Weston time to adjust to the people coming in (it was and always is standing room only for that service) and we had enough room for all of us. Weston sat between DH and I and that made him feel safer (we also knew the family sitting directly behind us-- that helped too). DH(choir) and Amelia (acolyte) had to stay for the 2nd service (got over about 10pm) so the other kids and I came home, made ready for Santa, read the Christmas story again from the Bible, generally just wound down.
All children slept until 7am-- DH had to wake up Warren, Weston and Owen (don't know why but the boys in this house do NOT get excited about these things)-- it was 8am before we went downstairs. We have specific rules about gift opening, DH craves order and rules, so we do not have a mad opening brawl (that's how it was in DH's family and he hated the chaos), each child opens a present in turn (I have to be sure that they each have the same #-- price doesn't matter so much an # of presents). They really only got a few toys between them, but Dh really made out!-- DH got the LOTR extended version DVDs and the complete Starwars DVDs. I got several cooking/baking things I'd asked for and some jewelry-- pearls which are lovely and very ME.
Weston got the digital camera he wanted and a huge memory card-- so far he's made video of light saber duels between his brothers and bear fights between his 'buildabear' and Owen, also he's taken about a 100 pictures. He only had one disappointment and that was that his legos (yes, I did cave) were bionicles and his brother, Owen, got the starwars legos. But he didn't melt and he has handled it quite well (knowing that gma was sending $$ and probably there will be $$ forth coming from aunts and uncles in the next week or so) then "I can pick my own so nobody gives me something I don't appreciate". LOL!
It was a very calm and peaceful day. I always miss my family, I love hanging out w/ my parents, brothers and sisters. But I realize that it makes my children crazy to have to be away from home, so it's better all the way around to just stay home-- but I'm still sad. (since my family isn't doing Christmas until next weekend, my mother hung wallpaper on Christmas Eve and Christmas day-- I would have been put to work there. LOL!)
I had toe surgery today-- so I'm not feeling so hot, but it was a lovely Christmas Day.
Kids have generally done well. 9yo AS ds has had a few rough moments, but even he's done pretty good. AS dh, however, took the week off work to spend time with family, and we're about ready to send him back. He's either "helping" in ways that drive everyone insane but which he feels compelled to do because it makes him FEEL like he's helping, or else he's off pouting (including in front of company) 'cus things didn't happen the way he thinks they should.
Still, we've generally had a good time, and the kids have been quieter than usual playing with their stuff, and they've been getting along better while playing with each other. I guess I should have gotten them more electronic stuff before now, huh?!
We had a fun Christmas!
The boys and I went to a friend's house for Christmas Eve, while DH was at work. That was a little exhausting and a bit of a tease, because there were many missed opportunities for adult conversation while I was tending to the kiddos. (The younger guy did eventually fall asleep.) But still, it was better than being home alone. My children would do a lot better if I had the festivities at my house, but 1) I usually work that day; when would I get the party ready, and 2) my friend loves being the hostess.
I got home exhausted, and all three of us crashed in our clothes in my bedroom at about 11:30. Not a high point of my parenting! I had planned on getting out of bed when DH arrived at about 12:45, but I couldn't! DH put out the presents that were not already out. He mixed up the stockings, and put gifts that were meant for stockings under the tree, and gifts labeled from us in the stocking. My older son figured that the elves were playing tricks on us.
This was my younger guy's first "real" Christmas, since he was so sick last year he slept through it. It took him a while to get into the presents, but he was so pleasantly surprized by some of them, he started loving it! Many of his presents were car models, and he lined them up on one side of the living room, and drove them one at a time to another line at the other side.
Renee, you had me nodding away over here. My nieces came in from Boston----HOLY TERRORS
OMG............my tree was abused, my carpet is speckled with chocolate milk, I found pizza on my china closet, and the parents didn't say a thing!!!!
Adam held up ok, my one niece is 3 and Adam is 4 1/2 and she is so over the top bold, Adam didn't have a choice.................He did fine.
After our 3 hr visit, we agreed to meet at McDonald's Friday for one more visit before they leave..........my nerves were DONE by the time they left.............No wonder their mom (my other niece, the little ones are my great nieces) is a basket case when she calls me for parental advise.
Sigh, Happy Holidays
Nora
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s225/irishwildrose/pp2.jpg
Pages