Changes, again.

I've made a few changes on the blog.  Minor ones, that you may not notice right away.  But, if you have been here more than once, you might take a look around, and let me know what you think.

I plan to update the banner soon, with newer pictures and graphics.  Of course, things like that take time, and time is a precious commodity in our house these days.

I meet with my adviser this week to plan my schedule for next semester.  Some big changes are going to come with this meeting.  Depending on if I can work it out to take a certain class online, not too much will change.  But if I can't, I have to completely redo my schedule, including the work schedule.  Which means less work, less money and things will be even tighter.  And it means that we will likely have to put Miss Sunshine in some type of full time care, rather than the Mom's Day Out programs we have been able to utilize so far.   Which means things will be even tighter with money.  Fingers crossed that things work out the way I want them to.

It's nearly time for Christmas - and with Christmas comes birthdays!  Both of the kid's birthdays are fairly close to Christmas - so soon I will no longer have a 2 year old and a 6 year old - I will have a 3 year old and a 7 year old.

Miss Sunshine is now on yearly visits to Shriner's!  Hooray for progress!  I think one of the tubes that we just had replaced is blocked again, I will be taking Miss Sunshine in for a hearing test soon to see what is going on there.  We had our first local dentist visit, and Miss Sunshine does have a pronounced under bite - not unusual in a child with cleft palate.  We did expect this, as her palate is likely growth-restricted due to the scar tissue from her palate repair.  It should grow somewhat normally, but most children who have palatoplasty (palate repair) have a pronounced under bite due to a smaller palate and roof of their mouth.  What this will mean in the future, we aren't for sure.  Obviously we are talking palate expansion.  Whether they will be able to do this with orthodontic devices or whether it will require additional surgery we just won't know until she gets older.  She is still missing the right upper canine - her left one finally decided to make an appearance last month.  She does not have all of her two year molars yet, so there is still hope that her canine will eventually show up.  They tried to take xrays to see what was going on, but she just couldn't hold still enough.  We will try again in March when we go back.

We had parent teacher conferences for Monster Boy - and he's doing GREAT!  He is reading at a third grade level (he is in first grade this year) and is ahead of his class in both math and science.  We are having some issues with fidgeting, talking out of turn and not fully listening to instructions, but we have put a plan in to place we hope will help with some of these things.  I think, and his teacher agrees, that a lot of the attention issues are due to the fact that he is just so far ahead of the rest of the class.  So, when he finishes work up early (which according to his teacher is pretty much daily), he will get another worksheet on the topic they are studying, to hopefully allow the rest of the class to finish before he hits the "bored stage" where he starts messing around.  He lost tooth number four this weekend, and was super excited that he pulled it out all by himself (this is the first one he pulled on his own!).  It's funny, when your kids start losing teeth, their baby teeth seem so small in their mouths, and yet, when the adult teeth start coming in, they seem so HUGE!  My baby boy is growing up so fast, I wish I could just freeze time some days.

Daddy Mac is doing well.  He fell down the stairs on Thursday, moving a table, and hurt his back.  Not badly enough to warrant a trip to the doctor, or so he says, but enough that it's causing him discomfort and he's having a hard time sleeping in our bed because it's too soft.  He slept most of the night last night on the couch after falling asleep during a movie (I didn't have the heart to wake him) and said that it felt a bit better today.  Hopefully he is telling the truth and not just saying that to, *ahem*, get me off his back.  (Okay, okay, bad pun, I know.  I just couldn't resist.)

I hadn't really intended to write a novel tonight.  But, I guess it was time to catch you up on life in the Mac household.  Hopefully I will be able to post a bit more once the holiday break gets here (although, as a mom, it seems like the phrase "holiday break" is an oxymoron - anyone else feel that way?).  And, if my schedule works as I hope it to (again, all dependent on one class and whether or not my adviser will allow me to enroll in it as I am missing one prerequisite) then I will actually be taking fewer hours next semester, and should have more time on my hands.  We will keep our fingers crossed that things work out the way I'm hoping for!