I'm so excited and I just can't hide it!

*I realize some of you are reading just to check up on Nolen, so I will seperate my blog by headings so that you can skip to Nolen's updates if you like!*
 
The girls are going to be here, at my house around 3pm tomorrow! As crazy as it sounds, I am just so pumped to have all of my family, once again under the same roof! I feel like we've spent far to much time spread across the globe/map for my liking.

I am a bit nervous about the added work load of two little people who will be needing my attention. Not to mention that we will be kick starting our Home school year.

Homeschool
I've decided to go with Horizon's Math and I think we are going to try our hand at Explode the Code for phonics/early reading. It's cheap enough that if I don't see Kaelyn liking or responding well to the system that I won't sweat the investment and can try a different program. I had originally hoped to do Calvert School, but after talking it over with Ryan I don't really NEED all the assistance (but I really WANTED to be lazy and let someone else do all the work for me) that Calvert offers but just needed help in planning Math and teaching Reading. Also, Calvert school is a larger financial investment when I'm still not sure how Kaelyn would respond to it.

Our plans for the first week are to work out our daily schedule (I have a rough idea of what it should look like, but now that I'm adding in Nolen's extra care, therapy, and doctors appointments I'm going to have to adjust accordingly) and to establish a Morning routine of Calander time.

Our Calander Time:
-Say the Pledge


-Work on the Weather/Season: (weather for Anna, Season's for Kaelyn)
-Sing the Days of the Week song (for Anna, but also to help Kaelyn be able to tell me what today is, tomorrow will be, and yesterday was)
-Sing the Month's of the Year song (complete with a dance :) because that's just how you should start your day, by dancing!)
-Work on our monthly binder where Kaelyn traces the number of the day and colors the pattern.
For example, Today is September the 25. Kaelyn would trace the number 25, and color the square on her calander pink because our pattern is White-Pink-White-Pink. I'm also considering having her count up to the date (so 1-25) to help reinforce her concept of numbers.

Normally, at breakfast I tell the girls what we have planned for the day as well as read a poem/story from our children's Bible. I am considering making a weekly calander so that Kaelyn can SEE what we have to do that day and the rest of the week. In addition to that, I would also like to make a daily schedule with times (Breakfast, School, Lunch, Nap, Dinner, Bedtime), so that she can start telling me what's next by using the clock and the schedule together.

Nolen

We had our first meeting with Early Intervention    on Thursday of this week and Nolen qualifies. That's both a praise and a bit alarming. To qualify your child must be delayed by 25% in two or more areas or 33% in one. Nolen was evaluated at Newborn or less in most areas. I think we expected it to some extent, but it was still hard to hear from someone else's mouth that your once "on track/slightly advanced 6 weeker" has regressed to being "severely delayed". I also think it was a little bit harder for me because our Pediatrician had commented how it was very difficult for babies so young to get into the program unless it was extremely severe due to the variation in what is "normal" for this age. She had cautioned me that she thought Nolen needed some therapy but NOT to expect the state to let him in until he was older. It's a praise because we have heard amazing things about this program and the therapist in it! I'm very excited to start therapy and learn new techniques to help Nolen get back his strength quickly.

   We meet with our team to start setting goals for Nolen on the 5th of October and then we will start having therapy sessions regularly after that initial meeting. In the mean time, they have given us a few tips of things to do with Nolen. The first is to encourage as much movement as possible by playing music/talking to him/moving his arms and legs/bathtime/etc. In addition to that, they also suggested using one of the gel packs (yes, like the kind you put in your lunch) underneath his head to help him be able to keep looking forward while laid on his back. That will help his head go back to a normal shape as well as encourage those muscles to strengthen. They are concerned about his hearing since he doesn't react to noises well, but there isn't much we can do for that other than wait.

 Our pediatrician has also advised us to keep both the therapist through the state Early intervention program as well as the therapist through our insurance. (I won't lie, I was secretly hoping she would say, "Oh, you qualified for the state program that will come into your house and make your life much easier than having to drive all over NJ for therapy appointments with three small children, don't worry about the insurance approved therapy!". But she didn't.) So, this next week is going to be a busy one for Nolen, he has his first appointment with Speech Therapy through CHOPS and we start the process of getting him into physical therapy through CHOPS. CHOPS aka Children's Hospital of Philadelphia generally has a 2 year waiting list, but because we went through their hospital Nolen has somehow magically bypassed that waiting list and gotten in for Speech. I'm not sure yet if he will be able to get in with physical therapy, but the referral is already written and should I encounter a long wait list, I will happily find another suitable physical therapy company to work with! He will also be meeting with his feeding team, a GI Doctor and a couple of other additional individuals on Thursday.