CHILDREN IN A MESSED UP WORLD

My revised blog on parenting children in a lousy and messed up world can be found here:

Happy Reading!

http://www.urbanmoms.ca/eight_is_enough/2012/07/children-in-a-messed-up-world.html

PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSST! I’ve got a secret!

Do you have a mommy secret? I do!

http://www.urbanmoms.ca/eight_is_enough/2012/01/psssssssssssst-ive-got-a-secret.html

Laundry tips and you could win!

Got some laundry tips to share?  Hop over to Urbanmoms and win 6 months of ARM & HAMMER Cold water Laundry detergent free!

http://www.urbanmoms.ca/eight_is_enough/2011/11/finding-the-time—tips-and-tricks.html

A MOTHER’S INSTINCT

While in NICU the twins received the standard hearing screen tests as do all newborns.  They passed, they continued to thrive, they came home, I moved on best I could as a mom to 8  children.  As the twins were premature I  didn’t expect milestones to come at the typical time and so I was patient.  But by the time my little guys were 8 months  (6.5) corrected I was concerned about Tanner.

Tanner was always happy and smiling but something wasn’t  right.  He didn’t always respond when I  called his name, and sometimes when he was upset he didn’t seemed to be calmed  by my voice that much.  Thatcher was  happy as well, and had begun to really babble.  If I spoke to him he tried to “Talk” back – Tanner didn’t – again he  would just smile his adorable smile that melts my heart.

Everyone kept saying they thought he was fine and I was  probably just worried about nothing.  A  few weeks later he still wasn’t really babbling much so I decided to talk to  our Paediatrician.  When I explained my  concerns he didn’t hesitate.  Within a  week Tanner was having his hearing tested.

I knew what the result would be before it was  completed.  I was right.  Tanner was hearing nothing in his right ear.  This explained so much, and I actually felt  relief in the fact that my instinct was correct.  He will now see an Audiologist in the next  few weeks to determine if he is deaf in his right ear, or if there is some  other medical problem that has caused him to lose his hearing in that ear.

Us busy mama’s seem to always have the correct instinct when  it comes to our children and we are seldom wrong.  We know when something isn’t right even if  everyone believes otherwise.  If you  think there is a problem with your baby’s development do not hesitate to speak  to your Doctor even if you think your concern is silly – because chances are  you are most likely right.

Until next time,

Chantel, momof8crazymonkeys

ARE YOU A WITCH OR A PROSTITUTE FOR HALLOWEEN?

Is there a difference? Check out my newest over at Urbanmoms

http://www.urbanmoms.ca/eight_is_enough/2011/10/are-you-a-witch-or-a-prostitute-for-halloween-is-there-a-difference.html

 

Living on the Spectrum and the benefits of individual sports

How do team sports affect children on the spectrum? You might be suprised.  Hop over to Urbanmoms to  read my newest article……

http://www.urbanmoms.ca/eight_is_enough/2011/09/living-on-the-spectrum-and-the-benefits-of-individual-sports.html

TREEHOUSE & VAMPIRES? WTH?

The other day I had my 5yr old and 6yr old home from school in the afternoon. They had some lunch and I put on Treehouse for them to watch while I went upstairs to put the twins down for a nap. Next thing you know, I hear my 6yr old son screaming at his brother to change the station.  My 6yr. Old has Aspergers and I knew the sound of his screams meant something was scary. Big time scary.

I quickly ran downstairs and asked them what was going on.  Zachary was hiding in the kitchen and kept screaming at Ryley to change the
station.  I looked over at the TV and saw an interview happening with Donald Sutherland it then jumped to an interview with John Carpenter, we then saw clips from the movie “Lost Boys” – Vampires and all.  I figured Ryley had switched the station so I asked him to please put it back on Treehouse.  He looked at me confused. “It is on Treehouse mommy. Look.” He pointed to the corner of the TV where sure enough was the red
Treehouse symbol.

WTH? Vampires on Treehouse? Well let me assure you this interview / clips of various horror flicks displaying blood, gore, and a joker at the end laughing a creepy laugh and saying “Ha, ha I’m gonna kill you!” continued for Ten minutes! I tried calling the Network but got a voice message (of course) so I sent an email not really expecting any response.  This was unbelievable! I could not believe what I had just seen on Treehouse!
Although Zachary had run upstairs to his room, his rocking was my indicator that, even though he only saw a few minutes of it, he was terrified.  Ryley on the other hand pretended to be a big shot and claim it didn’t scare him, however he still keeps talking about the “scary joker.”

Later that night I opened my email and surprised to see a response from Treehouse.

Dear Mrs. K.

Thank you for taking the time to contact us with your concerns regarding this afternoon’s broadcast.

Be assured that the segment you viewed was never intended to air on Treehouse TV. We recognize we have a responsibility to provide a safe
television environment to our young viewers and remain committed to providing high-quality programming for Canadian preschoolers.

To this end and in response to a previous incident, we recently implemented two systems to protect against inappropriate content airing on
Treehouse. From our preliminary investigation of this incident, it appears there was a human error and a recent system upgrade resulted in an automated safeguard being overridden. As a result, the content in question was not rejected for broadcast as it should have been.

Moving forward, in addition to the current protocols, we’ve implemented an additional safeguard as a precautionary measure and the Treehouse
programming schedule will now be manually reviewed by two distinct departments before the signal goes to air.

We apologize for this error and can assure you that we are dedicated to improving our service and value your continued viewership.

Sincerely,

Treehouse Viewer Relations Department

Well what do you think of that? Have you had a similar experience and if so what did you do about it?

Until next time,

Chantel momof8crazymonkeys

101 Tasks In 1001 Days

So with the new school year starting I’ve decided to join forces with some other bloggers and participate in

The Challenge:

To set oneself 101 tasks, each to be completed over a period of 1001 days. Tasks should be realistically achievable and yet demanding! The list should be clear and unambiguous.

My Reasons:

I saw this idea on another blog and felt it to be the perfect challenge for me because being a stay-at-home mum of eight, it’s easy to let the years roll by, concentrating, for the most part on just the children and the husband, and in the process losing sight of oneself

My List (the first 10) Start date: September 1 2011

• Plan weekly dinners for last two weeks of September
• Get out once a week without the children during the month of September
• Re-organize the children’s rooms by the end of September.
• Return library books ON TIME
• Plan Halloween costumes, party by the beginning of October.
• To not raise my voice when speaking to the children – in other words no yelling at them (Sept 1 – 7)
• Not to buy / allow fast food mor ethan three times in September
• Ensure children’s IEP’s are completed by their schools by the third week of September
• Read a book that is not child focused
• See a movie that isn’t a children’s film.

Top 5 hate list for the beginning of school.

With school starting in just a few more days I have been shedding a few tears – of joy that is.  Oh you know I love my kiddies but seriously they have been driving me a bit batty this summer! It didn’t help that the hubby had to have 2 surgery’s which really screwed up some
plans that we had.  He is still recuperating but he is a bit better – thanks for asking 🙂 Anyhow as much as I do the happy dance on the first day of school there are some things that happen during the first few weeks of school that really irritate me even more than my children can.

1. School supplies! Holy crap! Whatever happened to the days of needing a pencil, a ruler and an eraser?  The cost for school supplies for
   6 children is just crazy.  What really bugs me though is how some schools have the balls to request that you purchase “name brand supplies, such as Crayola.” Perhaps some school board employees should walk through the aisles of a store and see how much “brand name supplies” actually cost!
2. Indoor and outdoor shoes. HELLO! Do our children’s shoes that they walked to school in (and then there are those who are on a bus or in a car) REALLY make such a mess on he schools floors? Hmmm six children times 2 pairs of shoes each = A LOT OF DAMN MONEY!  Again maybe the school board should purchase the “Indoor shoes” if they are so worried.
3. All the permission forms they send home the first few days of school – FOR EACH CHILD! With 6 in school this year that is a lot of signing which isn’t very nice for my arthritis.  I did try just sending back one with each of my child’s initials but they didn’t really go for
   that.  My solution now is to sign my name on one form, write in the last name, fill in any required information, and then photocopy 5 more. I then have to just fill in the children’s name on each form.
4. Money for agenda’s.  Okay at least my children’s elementary school has a set price of $25 for families with 3 or more children.
   I also have 2 in middle school this year, so I will have to fork out money for theirs.
5. Re-organization day.  This is the most ridiculous of them all.  So let’s get the children all settled in to their new classes and two
   weeks later CHANGE IT ALL!  Surely there must be a more simplified method. I recognize that some changes may be deemed necessary, but the majority of times it seems to affect almost every single class! I feel so bad for those poor grade one’s who are trying to adjust to being there full day and then they get wacked with things such as friends leaving to go to another class or themselves being changed to another class, or a totally new teacher coming in.

Personally, I like what the specialized schools do such as the Regional Arts school my daughter is in.  Parents pay a set fee of $150 dollars.  This fee covers the agenda, art supplies required, workshops, fieldtrips and anything else that is art related.  I never have to worry about
a memo coming home one day wanting payment for a field trip within the next few days.  I hate that! Most schools have their field trips planned out at the beginning of the year so why can’t this be done in the elementary schools? Obviously it wouldn’t coast as much as the
specialized schools and it would be so much easier to know ahead of time what types of costs are going to be incurred way before it is actually due.

So you tell me – what things do you hate about the beginning of school?

Until next time

momof8crazymonkeys

Forking out the dough

Is the cost of enrolling your children into various activities stressing you out?

http://www.urbanmoms.ca/eight_is_enough/2011/08/forking-out-the-recently.html