The past few days have actually been pretty quiet. The twins just started Spring Break this week and they are happy to have a few days where they get to sleep in and stay up later. Noah is still having several tantrums a day but he is slowly learning that we are not going to give in and most of the time he is able to get himself calmed down.
I am going to have to speak with his doctor as I am starting to wonder if his Abilify is making him crave carbs like his Risperdal did. He seems to be hungry all the time. We have had to resort to locking the pantry again so he is not grazing all day long. We have stopped buying any junk food except for one box of snacks a week. We have a fridge filled with fruit and veggies and they are allowed free access to healthy snacks. He is not gaining any weight, his weight is steady right now which is good. He gained 29lbs in one year on the risperdal which is a side effect of those types of meds. Technically he is overweight right now, but we are not making a huge deal about it. Since his weight has stabilized and he is neither gaining or losing we are hopeful he will grow into his current weight.
We don't make a huge deal about weight as I have enough weight issues for all of us. :) We talk about eating better and getting healthy. So we offer healthy snacks such as apples and oranges and carrots and low fat cheese for them to snack on. I am lucky that I got kids who love fruits and veggies.
As far as behavior we are having some minor issues with Noah but I think they will pass. Abby is maturing a bit faster than he is and she finally hit that time period where she wants to play by herself sometimes and have some privacy. Noah does not understand this, and thus they get into fights because he expects her to entertain him. He does not have proper social skills to let us know he is frustrated and does not really know how to play alone yet. So they are arguing alot these days. Basically the "he's touching me" phase that all kids hit. She is pulling away from him a bit and wants to be independent and he is not sure what to do now as she has always been his playmate. This is a normal kid thing, but given Noah's issues he does not know how to deal with it. So we are getting a lot of crying and begging Abby to play with him.
We are working hard to support Abby in her independence, and I never require a child to play with somebody when they don't want to. So we are working with Noah to find him some things that he can do alone and excel at. Larry and I are also making an effort to do things with Noah that he enjoys such as 30 minutes of EQII and make sure to give him loads of praise when he deals with Abby in a positive manner. Don't get me wrong, we are still dealing with probably at least 3-4 tantrums a day, but he is no longer throwing things as much. We have already told them if they are good this week, we will go see a movie this weekend. They actually do quite well at the movies given it's something that interests them. We are probably gonna see How to Train your Dragon.
On to Me. I got my CPAP machine yesterday and last night was the first night using it. It was heavenly. I slept so well I didn't want to get up this morning. But it's almost 11 and I don't feel that constant tiredness as much today. My doctor said it will take about a month for me to get caught up on all my sleep debt. Larry was amazed. He said he woke up and had to make sure I was still breathing LOL. I was laying so still he could not believe it. Usually I toss and turn all night long. It said it was nice to not sleep with a "fish flopping around on his bed" lol. My machine has a built in humidifier and for the first time in about forever I woke up with out a stuffy nose. I was amazed. I thought CPAP would be hard for me to get used to, but I am taking to it quite well. Most people have trouble getting used to it, but I think I was so sleep deprived I was willing to try anything. I was nervous before I first tried it at the sleep lab but once I realized I was not gonna feel like I as trapped in the mask I was fine. I am not even nervous any more, Just happy.
I have to give a shout out to my works insurance. They are awesome in providing us with good insurance for a reasonable cost. The insurance company covered all my sleep studies and my CPAP machine 100% with no copay or deductible. Thanks to them I am able to get a good nights sleep so I feel better. I realize how much trouble some people have with their insurance and I feel I have to give credit to my work for providing good insurance for their employees and their families at a reasonable cost.
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