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May 28, 2010

Day #19 Of Early Intervention

And I think that we may be at the end of our journey with Early Intervention. There is only so much they can teach her/me and I think they've done a great job, but it's time to move on. We should be getting her AFO's within the week and then we'll be seeing Dr. M., her Pediatric Orthopedic, and he'll monitor her progress from now on. But how do you "break up" with EI? She has her evaluation in a few weeks, do I do it then? I hate doing it, but I think it's time. So we'll see what they say. I just hope it goes well. I mean, they may put up a fight. Who wouldn't want to see this face all. the. time?!?!


HAH!!!!





May 25, 2010

I'm Pretty Sure My WHOLE Neighborhood Thinks We're Dysfunctional

Yesterday was one of those days. It started off at 6 a.m. and went down hill from there. The night before I didn't get much sleep due to the fact that I was up till 11:30 p.m. watching LOST. Hey, it was the finale!!! And I LOVE that show, so I stayed up. Let me tell ya something....I need 8 hours of sleep. NEED!! So yeah, I was pretty much exhausted when I dragged myself out of bed. Got up, made breakfast, dropped, spilled and broke everything I touched, Lola woke up screaming, Lex wasn't listening and I was exhausted. Did I mention I was exhausted? Well I WAS!! Finally I just said..."Snap out of it, Nina! You have things to do!!!" That is exactly what I did, too. I put a smile on my face, fed the kids, cleaned the kitchen, folded clothes, put said clothing away, made beds....etc....etc! 8 a.m. rolled around and it was time to take the dogs out. At this point I'm feeling pretty confident in my abilities and thought it would be a good idea to get the kids dressed and take them out with me. I put Lola on my shoulders (O_O) and reminded Lex to not kick/chase the dogs and off we went! Of course I had to repeatedly yell "Lex stop chasing the dogs! Don't kick Lucy! Leave them alone, they're trying to potty!!!" and so on and so forth. My poor dogs. I feel so bad for them. :( They take it in stride, or is it take it and ruuuuuuuun! They are always running from Lex. At least they're getting exercise, right? Anyway. We're out there, me with Lola on my shoulders and Lex chasing the dogs, I'm picking up poo and yelling every few seconds and I just know my neighbors are like..."That woman yells too much!" Finally everyone was done "doin' their business" and I was ready to herd them all back inside when it happened.......the mail lady showed up. Oh my goodness the drama!!! Dogs barking, chasing the mail lady, Lex screaming chasing the dogs and me dropping the pooper scooper and running after them with Lola on my shoulders and me yelling "SH*T! SH*T! No PUPPIES!! LEX NO!!!" then it happened.....Lola joined in and started yelling "SH*T! SH*T! PUPPIES COME BACK!!!" O_O "NO, LOLA! NO!! Don't say that!" is all I kept yelling and she just kept on. By time I caught up to the dogs, Lex and the mail lady I was done. I was hot, sweaty, tired and ready for a nap. I chatted with the mail lady for a second, got everyone to head for the house and as I was walking in the door I happened to look up at my neighbors' yard and there they were, Mary & Phil trying very hard not to laugh out loud at the ridiculousness that they had just witnessed. Needless to say......I think they think we're either dysfunctional or hilarious. Probably both. I'll just add this to the "Embarrassing Mommy Moments" book I plan on writing.

May 21, 2010

Is It Creepy.......

That I take pictures of my neighbors' back yard?


You see, the birds love Phil and Mary's (our neighbors) yard. They have all different kinds of birds show up there daily, and well, I'm a bit jealous.


They are out there every day working on their yard. Adding flowers and bushes and filling their feeders and so on and so forth, while I'm busy watching them and taking pictures of the birds. LOL!!


BUT! I have my OWN little creatures who love to visit my yard.......



Isn't that the cutest thing ever?! I love him (could be a her, but I'm saying HIM!). It is at my feeder everyday collecting the seeds that drop. I'm going to start buying squirrel food and putting it in a bowl out there for him. 

I have just one goal for this Summer......and that is to get a good picture of of at least one hummingbird. That's all I want, just one picture. :) And so it begins....

Sweet Shot Day

May 19, 2010

I Need A Maid

STAT! This house cleaing thing is getting old. I miss doing laundry though. I've always loved doing laundry. Before we moved into our house we lived in an apartment that was 3 bedrooms, huge kitchen with washer/dryer hookups right in there! So I was able to wash, dry, fold and put away all while I cooked/cleaned/cared for children and small animals. I loved it! My house always smelled good, it was warm and inviting and doing laundry was a stress reliever. Cleaning wasn't as much fun. When we started looking for a house I kinda stopped worrying about how clean the apartment was. Seriously, I did. I still did the everyday pickup, dust, sweep, mopping business, but scrubbing was off the list!!! Once we had a move date I was all like.."I'm outta here!! See ya later!" and focused my Domestic Goddessness on the new, beautiful house. I cleaned and I loved it! I loved having the laundry room in the basement away from the rest of the house. Loved it! I would go down there, do some laundry, come back up, put said clean laundry away and continue on with my daily cleaning. Our house is big. 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, huge livingroom, diningroomm kitchen, mudroom and then there's the deck and farmer's porch. Lots of cleaning. Never a dull moment for The Domestic Goddess.  :D So went my days and I was happy. Then it happened. I went to the basement to switch out the loads and I was attacked by the biggest, ugliest, meanest spider ever. Ok, well, maybe not all that, but it was still a spider that dropped onto my face and I could not get it off of me!! Flashbacks of my childhood came flooding in.....me waiting to run through my Mother's freshly washed kitchen floor only to be greeted with a line of fake, plastic spiders. Yes, my Mother lined up HUGE fake plastic spiders to stop me in my tracks, and it worked. A little too good, because I am terrified of spiders now. You can imgine how traumatized I was that day in the basement. Horrible! Needless to say, my husband now does the laundry. I flat out refuse to go down there anymore. It's scary.

Now, I do all the cleaning myself and he does the laundry. Let me just point out that there is a lot of cleaning to do. Almost every other day I'm doing some kind of major cleaning. It may be the windows, the floors, polishing the wood, making beds, cleaning bathrooms and so on and so on. You know what I'm talking about! It's work! I told my husband that for Mother's Day next year (still waiting on my present for this year!) I want a cleaning crew to come in, clean my house from top to bottom while I'm at the spa. That sounds so nice, coming home to a clean house. I don't know what that's like. Usually when I work I come home to a sink full of dishes, the dogs' bowls are empty, the bathroom is a mess and there's a basket of laundry sitting in the livingroom.  The laundry I don't mind so much, everything else is a pain. Sick of it. I need a maid. Or a family that picks up after themselves. ((sigh)) Wouldn't that be nice? I'm just exhausted. Exhausted and kind of fed up with all the house work I do. I feel like a maid and that is not what I am. I'm a Mother, Me and a wife (most days) :D I know, I know......with that comes the whole package deal, right? Sure, sure, fine. But would it be asking too much to have people pick up after themselves? No one puts the hairdryer away, they leave it on the trash can. -_- No one rinses the shower after they're done, the leave that grossness for me to clean up. And I'm not talking about the 2 little ones either! The bottom line is this....I used to love cleaning and doing laundry, now it feels like a chore. I don't feel appreciated and it's wearing on me. Yes, I'm whining, but whatever. I'm allowed. Something has got to give. And soon or Mommy is going to lose it. Either that of I'm hiring a maid.


May 13, 2010

4

4 is wonderful......

4 is sweet.......

4 is HAPPY..........

4 is WILD..........

4 is exhausting.......

And 2....well, 2 is just 2......





May 12, 2010

What Is Happening To Our Teenage Girls?!?!?!

The other day I went to the mall to pick up a few things. While I was there I saw a lot of things that really surprised me and all of it had to do with teenage girls. First thing I saw was a young girl, no more than 16, walking down the mall clutching on to some teenage boy wearing a school jersey (jock) and she was wearing a pair of shorts that were so small they rode up her butt. She was a hefty girl, big all over, so I'm sure anything would have been tight on her, but I think she meant for those shorts to look like that. I think she wanted them to ride up her rear end to show off her "goods". And show off her goods, she did! I literally sat there with my mouth wide open staring at her. Now, she was young, so her skin was flawless, no bumps or dimples, so I'm sure she thought it was ok to dress like that. All I kept thinking was "Where is her Mother?!?!?!?!" I couldn't believe her Mother would let her walk out of the house like that but then again, maybe she doesn't even know. At any rate, all I wanted to do was pull her aside and shake her! Why do young girls feel the need to expose themselves in this way? I'll never understand.

About 20 minutes later I find myself staring at the rear end of another teenage girls, this one was no more than 14, and her shorts read "JUICY". WTF?!?!?! JUICY?!?!?! What's juicy? The shorts? The bottle of whatever she's drinking? Oh, right.....her arse is supposed to be juicy. So, she wants people to look at her bottom and think..."Oh wow. Look at that juicy arse!" I know, I know....she doesn't really get it yet, she thinks those shorts are cute/funny. Well they are not. I completely disagree with young girls advertising anything on their bottoms. It's just wrong. There are enough perverts out there, we don't need to encourage them.

I'm lucky to have a daughter who hates being naked. She wears t-shirts under her t-shirts. In the Summer time she wears shorts, but she hates it when they're too short, so she wears her bathing suit bottoms under them. Don't ask me why she feels more comfortable that way, she just does. She's a modest girl and I'm happy about that. I would never, ever let her buy clothes that I felt was exposing too much of herself or had something inappropriate written on it. I try to teach her self respect in hopes that she takes that with her where ever she goes.

May 5, 2010

The Great Pre-School Hunt.....Or, Why I Might Be Homeschooling

I'm not gonna lie, I kinda don't want to spend $200 a month on pre-school for my son. Not just because I'm cheap, but because I feel I can do just as good of a job teaching him as they can. But on the other hand, I feel that there are things they can teach him that he'll learn better from them because they aren't me. Does that make sense? Kids act differently with people who aren't their parents. It's a fact! :) And since I plan on sending him to Kindergarten I feel that getting him used to a setting that isn't his home and being away from us is probably a good thing. BUT! We have a problem. A few weeks ago we took him to see one of the 4 pre-schools in our town. Yes, we live in a small town. :) It was in the basement of a church. Not huge, but just big enough. 4 teachers, 24 students. Class pets, gold fish. A kitchen. Lots of activities and everyone was very nice. Lex loved it. Kevin loved it. I loved it. Everyone loved it! We left there with the paperwork and every intention of going back there this week and getting everything set. Then it happened. Mommy Intuition kicked in. I had a horrible dream that there was a fire in the pre-school, there was only one exit and Lex was trapped, dying. I woke up almost in a panic and thought to myself...."My GAWD! There is only one exit!!!!!" And there is only one exit. Mommy Intuition must have noticed it when my eyes didn't. So that one is out! There is no way I'm sending my son, my baby, to a place that has only one exit and a kitchen. Sorry peeps. You're out! The next one I called was already full. Probably a good thing since that school takes on almost all kids with learning disabilities. There's nothing wrong with Lex, let that place be for someone who really needs it. The third place I called wanted $400 a month and they have this policy where the child must get out of the car themselves, walk to the door without the parent, "to build self esteem." Yeah, whatever. Again.....no way I'm sending my son, my baby, to a place that won't let me walk him to the door, or let alone go in. Forget that! Bye bye! Our last option is actually in a very nice church located right smack in the center of town. It's gorgeous!! We're going to look at it tomorrow around Noon. BUT! Isn't there always a "but"? They only have 1 opening and it's Monday, Wednesday & Friday from 9-1. That seems a little long to me. I don't want to be away from him that long. Not at first. ((sigh))

Did you see that? Do you see what I'm doing? I'm trying to talk myself out of it. Can you blame me? He's my son, my baby. Letting go is harder on us than it is on them. I'm looking forward to him making new friends at school, doing activities, going on field trips and just being a kid. I really am. Does he really need to go now? Does he really need pre-school if I'm at home and not working? I'm torn. I've already been looking for homeschooling resources here in MA, and I've found quite a few. I've joined the Yahoo! group for my area, talked with other homeschooling Mommies, so I think I have my bases covered, if it comes down to that. I've been looking at books as well and found this one.....
















Right up my alley!!! LOL!!! Free = good. I sound cheap, don't I? Oh well. :D

You know, I never thought I would even consider homeschooling. I thought that kinda stuff was for crunchy Mommies, Mommies who were homeschooled themselves, Mommies who know what they're doing!!! I have no idea what I'm doing. I flunked Math every year of my school life!! I'm not homeschooling/teacher material! Geesh! But for my kids, I'd do anything. :) I'll let you know how things go tomorrow and if I'll be needing lots and lots of help come September. o_O

May 4, 2010

Day #18 Of Early Intervention, Laser Appointment And Ortho Appointment

Oh, Lola!! She fills our calendar up with more appointments than anyone else in the house. :) First.....Early Intervention. What a waste that was!! That was the day she got sick, but I had no idea she was sick. So the whole hour was spent watching her lay on the floor throwing fits. Poor Patty. o_O Poor Lola!!! She was sick and I didn't even know it till after she got up from her nap later that afternoon. We're hoping to have a better session this week. :D

She had her laser appointment in Boston last week. The first one in many months. Last time we went it was snowing!! It was beautiful out so of course Kevin just had to go, too. Not that I don't like being around him and Lex, but these appointments are in Boston and it gives me a chance to be alone with Lola, and I look forward to that. Anyway. It went well. Her doctor says that her Hemangioma is looking better and better!! YAY! We're going to see if our insurance company will give up 6 more visits.  They're tough though, so we'll see. :D

And last but not least.......the orthopedic appointment. Besides waiting for over an hour with a very cranky toddler, it went well!! -_- Dr. M came in and immediately started talking about braces. ((sigh)) I knew he was going to say that. I actually don't mind, whatever works is my motto!! And if she needs braces, then she needs braces. Period. And no, they won't look like Forest Gump's leg braces!!! LOL!! Although that is the first thing Kevin said when I told him. -_- I'm hoping we can get her some with butterflies or flowers on them. :D My niece had to wear braces and hers were cute! She has an appointment next week to get fitted for them. Lots of pictures!! Now, Dr. M  told me something that really made me nervous. He said...."You're lucky she can use her legs at all". Apparently he sees this a lot in children who have had strange fevers with no diagnoses as to what caused it. He thinks she had Meningitis and that's what caused her to stop everything she had learned as far as gross motor skills go. He asked if she could move her legs at all after the fever and you know what, I don't think she could. As a matter of fact, I don't think I saw her move for a very long time after that. :( My poor baby!!!! Luckily though, I pushed to get her into Early Intervention when I did, or else she may have been worse off. When Dr. M was examining her he could move her feet in every direction and she didn't even bat an eye! No muscle whatsoever in her time little feet. And he pointed out that since she's not using them, they're not growing like they should be. ((sigh)) The sooner we get those braces on, the sooner she starts building some muscle tone and sooner they straighten out. So here we go. Braces it is! :D