Fontenot Family Update...

There have been quite a few things that have gone on since the last update. I'll start from today and work backwards because my scatter brained self will forget something if I don't do it this way...
So, today we had Jackson's and Sydney's cardiologist appointments. Both were follow ups- Jackson's from his bout with Kowasaki Disease and Sydney's from that aortopulmonary collateral that was still open from birth. We are happy to report great news on both issues. Jackson's arteries are completely back to normal. They looked great. He can stop taking the baby Asprin and come back for a repeat scan in 6 months! Yea!
Sydney still has her collateral. It unfortunately has not closed and is still the same size. But, it looks as though its small enough that it probably will not need surgery to close it! It can just stay open and the way it is. It shouldn't cause her any problems.
The actual appointment was the usual circus. I had the youngest five kids with me and four of them were not particularly well behaved despite the bag of snacks, full juice cups and endless rounds of The Itsy Bitsy Spider and the Barney Song. Since the appointment was at 2:00 and I'd had to leave the house at 12:15 to make sure we had time to stop for gas, stop to sign Jack out of school and get downtown, park and fumble our way up to the clinic, none of the babies had been able to take a nap and boy was it evident. They were cranky, whiny, clingy and restless. I had brought grahm crackers for snack but Isaiah decided that he only wanted to bite off of Alexandria's grahm crackers and that he'd just hold onto his until later. This was at first amusing to Alex, but soon she realized the implications of this little scenario and began yelling at him "Stop" and "No" each time he leaned over with his mouth open. He got tired of hearing her yell at him and slapped her. She then pulled his hair. It went on and on like this. Thankfully, when Albert got off of work at 2:3o he joined us and things got much easier. Funny how that happens.
After the appointments, it was football pictures for Brandon. Albert had to leave straight from the cardiologist appts to go to his second job so again I was on my own. Not that Albert's side of the coin (working two jobs back to back) was any more fun than mine. Pics were scheduled for 6:30 so I had just enough time at home to cook a gormet dinner of hot dogs and mexican corn (don't ask), help out with homework, make a couple important phone calls, change a dirty diaper, and head back out the door. Amazingly, Drew was finished with all his homework for the night and was able to watch the three babies, who would have surely melted down numerous times during pictures. I moved their bedtime up to 7:00 given their lack of naps so Drew didn't really have them awake for very long. Plus, I fed them before I left so it was a pretty easy gig for him. Essentially he had to change diapers and put on PJ's and lay each baby in the proper crib. Emanuel came with me to serve as the "Football Gear Handler" so that he could adjust padding, do football uniform buckles and straps and all the crap I am clueless about. He agreed to come with me, but only grudingly, as he was miffed that we won't let him go to the high school homecomming game by himself (this decision was reached after he was overheard telling his brothers that he planned to "Make Out" with his girlfriend at the game. Looks like he'll be spending Friday night watching "What Not To Wear" with me! Oh Joy!) Pictures went fairly well and we were out by 7:15.
Last Friday was the Fall Festival at the kids elementary school. It was loads of fun. The kids got to play games, try to dunk their principal in the dunk tank, go on a bungee jumping ride, hay rides, and got popcorn, pizza and soda. We brought the whole family(except Manny who had been invited to a sleep over) and had a blast. I wish we'd brought our camera but alas, we'd run out of batteries and didn't have enough time to stop for more.
The next day, Saturday was Brandon's football game. He did pretty well, even stopping an extra point! Sadly, he was also flagged for two face mask calls. Oops. We'd better work on that! This Saturday he plays again in Troy. He practiced hard last night...hope it pays off!
I think thats all the new news. The twins will be two on the 29th. We were planning to go apple picking to celebrate on the 28th but now Albert has to work so we'll have to look at the calander and see when the best time will be. I can't wait to celebrate their day with them! I can't beleive they are going to be two! They aren't babies anymore!!!!
Oh yeah, there is one more bit of news. Sure enough, Isaiah qualified for speech services. Alexandria did not. No suprise there. They said they'll need to see Isaiah "In a room away from his siblings and away from excess noise." Uhhh, sorry, no such room exsists...not at our house anyway! If it did...wouldn't I already be there?