That's Life

Ah, life as a nearly single parent while taking care of your 85 year old grandmother. It the bees-knees for sure I promise you. It's so funny how life's timing has played out since I've been living with the 'rents. Mom takes off for Missouri to work for two months or as I've called it from the beginning she'll be there two years, ha! Dad has been gone for two weeks to Massachusetts with the exception of Saturday and Sunday. Tom has been put on a dumb schedule (2nd shift) of 10 days on and 4 days off which makes the 10 days on feel like a very long time. Needless to say I haven't made much progress with the house, this is my number one priority this weekend.

Carter has been doing SO good in school. He's super excited about it and loves to go everyday. I'm pretty sure if I let him live there he would. Today in school from what I could gather from my father in law and Carter someone hit him or did something to him. I couldn't get a clear story as it seemed to keep changing and I can't always understand Carter's words. None the less he doesn't seem to be phased by it which is good, kids are kids. He has a special education aide on Monday and Friday and a speech therapist on Wednesday to help him out. Both ladies always give me good reports so hopefully he continues to have a good year.

Hannah discovered yesterday that she's "different." It was so funny to watch her tell me how she's the only girl (in her class of all girls) that uses her left hand. Thankfully Amelia is also a lefty so I shared with her that Amelia uses her left hand as does Aunt Karly and Aunt Emily. A short list of folks that I know, but it seemed to make her feel better. She's been working on vowels and "blends" (ta, bu, mi) in school...the first couple days were rough. Today was a little better so hopefully our nightly review combined with her daily school work will make it easier on her and she'll be reading in no time!

Miss Amelia Bedelia...also known as mean baby or monkey do. She is the funniest, most hard headed-ornery butt. Copies EVERYTHING Carter does, EVERYTHING. She talks up a storm and is very clear with her words. If you aren't paying enough attention to her, she'll hit you or someone to get said attention. For the most part she's stopped hitting her immediate family but will gladly wallop her cousins or a child in nursery. She does all of her hitting and not listening with the sweetest smile which makes it almost comical to watch. We're definitely in the terrible two's with my little chickie...hopefully it passes quickly.

Granny, my adopted child, is hilarious. Week one she was messing with her medicine and overdosed. Week two she took too little. Week three she had a prescription refill and she couldn't understand why the doctor called her in new medicine. Me and my mom both tried to tell her on different occasions that it was just a refill of what she already had. Hopefully it clicked. Granny has a tendency to follow Tom and I around the house. If we are in the living room or kitchen she comes out and stares at us or stands in the way in which we're trying to walk. At first I thought maybe she didn't trust us and felt the need to watch us. But I've now decided that she just may want some company or to see if she can help with the kids or whatever is going on. She can't really do much but she still has the desire to do everything that she used to do.

My favorite moment of the day:
Granny: I couldn't get that Neapolitan ice cream open earlier today
Me: Awe, that stinks Granny
G: There is ice cream cones in there
Me: Do you want me to make you an ice cream cone?
BLANK STARE...I get up and walk closer
Me: Do you want me to make you an ice cream cone, it's no trouble?
G: Oh yeah...just chocolate and while you're in there make yourself one

Mind you she just had a chocolate frosty from Wendy's not 30 minutes earlier. I tried to hide my laughter and dutifully made her an ice cream cone, with just the chocolate ice cream of course.

I've decided I don't want to grow old it has to be so insanely frustrating. I'll keep my cyanide pills at the ready for when time comes.

It's School Time/Progress

Hannah started Kindergarten and wears a UNIFORM.  This feels like craziness, why is she growing so much. Carter started preschool today and is gone all day and carries a lunch box and book bag...how can this be?!!?! He did really well today on his first day of preschool. I'm so proud of him and happy that he wants to go and enjoys it. He has speech therapy tomorrow so hopefully he does well with that. Hannah of course loves school AND homework. She's a strange child, just like me when I was a kid :)

The house is coming along. We moved out with the exception of furniture and a large portion of our stuff and have started painting and cleaning....and cleaning and cleaning. We meet with the realtor on Saturday so hopefully we'll have this puppy on the market pretty soon.

Here We Go!

This weekend we will officially start taking steps to move to Missouri, yay! We are cleaning and repairing so that we can get this house on the market. Hoping to have it done and on the market within the next week or two. Fingers crossed.

My Dad has been cracking me up over the potential relocation. Rest assured he has given me a minimum of five lectures on the topic and I'm sure they'll be many more in my future.Without him I would have never known that I need a job, benefits and MONEY to move...who'd a thunk it. Here I am hoping to live in a van down by the river, eating berries and small animals to survive.

In case anyone out there is wondering why we want to move (a few have asked), let's count the ways shall we (in no particular order):

1. Houses in DE are too expensive
2. We need a four bedroom house
3. The school district we live in sucks
4. Private school is crazy expensive
5. Tom and I both love Missouri
6. I need wide open spaces
7. No offense to my fellow Delawarean but quite a lot of you act very ghetto. Sorry/Not Sorry, learn manners
8. We've both worked at our current jobs for ten years...this is crazy talk and we need change
9. We are only 30 and 28 life is to be enjoyed in a place you will enjoy it best
10. I'd like to try living closer to the rest of my family for a change

I don't know where we'll work, I don't know what town we'll live in but we'll have all that hammered out before we pack up three kids, three cats and a dog to head west.

So there you have it. It's starting; let's see what the next year and a half brings...good Lord willing of course.

my brain hurts

A few updates on Carter:

Tom and I finally heard back from the speech and development screening the school district performed in March. A couple of weeks ago we met with a group of folks who went over everything with us. Carter has an IEP in place for the coming school year. He will initially have an aide/therapist (what do you call this person?) working with him one day a week. We had him registered for two half days a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) and are now looking to see if we can bump that up to five full days a week. The school district advised it best to keep him in private school but to increase his time there during the week. They seem very confident we will see improvements with his speech, etc. This all seems well and good so I'm excited this part of life seems to be under control.

The behavior clinics we've been attending are starting to feel like a joke. Recent advice has included letting Carter punch a pillow when he gets angry or to squeeze a squeeze toy when he is going to pinch. I don't see either of these suggestions happening in my future. The solution to him not going to bed is to increase his bed time to a later time!?!?!? Tom and I both left there feeling like these recommendations would just worsen the current issues. I think I'll just figure my own game plan out at this rate.

Other news:

Hannah's last week of preschool is this coming week and she'll be a kindergartner!!! I'm so excited for her!

Amelia is a crazy smart baby and a little sweetie. I can't believe she'll be two in November. I cradled her in my arms like a baby the other day and thought she was way to big already :(

My Granny has not been doing so well for about a month now. She was in the hospital for about a week and had moved today to a rehabilitation facility. She has Parkinson's/Dementia issues going on and had recently seemed like she was going absolutely crazy. The doctors said that it could be her Parkinson's medicine making her that way in combination with her thyroid levels being completely out of whack. To top it all off she developed a UTI so it was the perfect storm of things going on that her body couldn't quite handle. We are still not quite sure what may come in the long run but she is starting to seem more like her old self so we're hoping she'll recover and leave the rehabilitation center after some therapy...her weight has dropped to 88 pounds.

I was hired for a new job within my current company and will no longer be a supervisor and to tell the truth, I'm excited. My new venture will begin this coming Monday :)

Missouri Bound? Maybe, Eventually

This weekend Tom had off of work, hooray! I threw it out to him that I really hate living in Delaware and want to move to "The Promised Land" (as my Dad calls it). Tom said lets go for it.

So here we are again planning how we can escape this life in Delaware for a new one in Missouri. I plan on phasing out our stay here in DE.

• Phase 1 sell our house
• Phase 2 pay off debt and save money
• Phase three find jobs and a new house

Sounds crazy, but good Lord willing it will happen. So any of you Missouri folks have any tips on jobs that are in need or good places to live...let us know :)

the not yet diagnosed, diagnosis

Tom and I had our parent conference for Carter with the psychologists today.

He is currently not diagnosed with really anything substantial in my opinion. He was technically diagnosed with "Disruptive Behavior Disorder." I'm pretty sure that's the diagnosis they give so insurance covers the bill.

He did have average to above average ratings in certain areas of development and would have scored higher for some of the average ratings if he would have said what the word of an item was instead of what that item does; IE hammer is nail-nail. In other things like aggression, ability to make friends, socialization, odd play behavior, etc he scored very poor. Which made the doctors concerned, hence the above diagnosis. They did say he is at a high potential for being on the autism spectrum because of some of the things he currently displays. That diagnosis was not made because he's on the cusp of normal and not normal behavior. I think they need more input besides Tom and I's opinions and of course from what they observed. We were left as a wait and see on that issue. If school finds issue or we grow more concerned in time (like a year or so) then we will go back and have him checked out again. They did say they would then make an addendum to the original diagnosis and go from there if it was warranted.

We haven't received our official report; that will be ready Friday and will include their findings, recommendations etc. They would like him to socialize a lot more and with consistent peers so that he is able to make friends.  The sooner the better because if we wait until Fall we will have lost five months.

The irony of him possibly being on the spectrum and that it's "Autism Awareness Day" is not lost on me.

red again, amongst other things

Sheesh, so we're still doing our Friday appointments with Carter with the exception of last Friday because work has been a mother and I couldn't get away. The Friday before that we took Amelia with us for the first time. The appointment went pretty well I thought. He did have a time out for throwing toys but recovered quickly. Other than that no great changes, good or bad, in behavior. The over abundance of praising was mentioned again. This time in the form of keeping a little chart on an index card that you take with you to the store and give him a star every time he does something well. I must have less brain cells then other Moms out there because I have a hard time paying attention to all three kids while shopping for food and also remembering to praise my child for sitting still. Maybe with practice.

Carter's face is red again, I could just say a thousand cusses. I noticed it did look a little red and thought it could be strawberries because I hadn't bought them in a little while. Then I gave him watermelon and bumps appeared. At first I wonder to myself, "really? how much more must this child endure?" And then I'm like "settle down sailor, this ain't the end of the world." So I sucked up my frustration and scheduled him to have allergy testing again. I never really cared for his last allergist and felt they did the testing too soon to the time that we gave Carter benadryl. We'll be visiting the new allergist in May and avoiding red fruits until then.

Amelia is a comical little child. She's like a little quiet observer and just when you think you've got everyone entertained and occupied you notice her trying to scale the dining room table. Clearly climbing furniture is much more fun than any toy we can supply. She would also make an excellent homeless person as she is in the dig-through-trash-and-eat-what-she-can-find stage. Mmm, yum! Yesterday, she was enthralled with a sight book with different pictures of just about everything and was pointing and talking to herself. I wish I would have recorded her because it was too cute.

Hannah-banana is my little sidekick, I can't believe she's five and going to be in kindergarten next year. Where have these years gone? She is addicted to using sharpies and recently asked for an entire set of them from Staples, I'm sure to rue this purchase ;) Han really loves school and learning about God. I think we had a 20 minute or more discussion about Jesus dying on the cross. Not quite sure she understands it completely but baby steps, the seeds are being planted.

I recently received a call back to schedule the results of Carter psych evaluation. They offered this past 22nd of March or April 2nd or 5th. I was ready to jump on the 22nd but knew with Tom's firm work schedule there may not be enough room to budge with a 2:00 appointment. This week is my attempt at patience, I'm trying not to be antsy but wanting desperately to know what the doctors have to say. April 2nd at 2:00 Tom and I will meet with the doctors and hear what's going on with our boy.

I feel Tom and I are doing the best for our children and have had a few friends, family and even doctors tell us we are doing the right thing and that it's good we started now. Then you have the one conversation with your dearest, oldest friend right there in the middle of the Whole Foods cheese department where you are both in tears because she is just SO proud of you as a Mom and thinks you're doing a great job. Those are the reassuring moments you need most. That touched my heart so deeply that I cry now just reliving it in my mind.

Well that the highlights of our lives right at this second, folks. Let's please pray for Carter and all that is going on and maybe for me to have continued patience and understanding with everything being thrown our way ;)