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 |  Being a stay at home mom is never as cut and dry as you think it is. |
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Originally my pregnancy blog, now continuing on as the life of a mom and her two wacky kiddos thing till I don't want to write in it anymore  . So come on in and see what's going on in my world for a bit if you like...Be careful where you step, as the kids have all their Pokemon cards out! Feel free to hug a Hello Kitty plush! Come join in the fun, Super Mario Bros. and Hello Kitty style!![Merit Badge in Parenting
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Congratulations on your pregnancy*^*Smile*^*. You already are a wonderful mom to your son and I know this baby will be very blessed also
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In the midst of how you are feeling right now, know that it can be fixed & I'm proud of you for writing the poem that reflects how you feel. The love of your children clearly shines through. *^*Heart*^*](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/genre-Family-584.gif) ![Merit Badge in Journaling
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I'm so glad to be back blogging and reading yours. The kids have grown so much! I'm so glad that you, myself and T are still here journaling together!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/type-Journaling-2180.gif) the wonderful badges my "Sister", silversara, graced me with. Thanks Sis, I  you! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Thanks to all of you for your support, your comments, your love, your generosity and your time! Never met a greater bunch of people then on here! Besides, who else would want to listen to a rambling crazy mom, both during and especially after pregnancy?
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| Ack, so busy... These last two weeks have been just...wow. Journey started occupational therapy at the end of January, so I've been taking her twice a week to her appointments since then. I've also had a lot of appointments myself these last few days, so it's like I have something going on every other day if not every day. On top of cookie runs every couple of days, I've been going going going. Non-stop. The next two weeks are going to be much of the same; lots of cookie running, her occupational therapist appointments, etc. No appointments for me right now thank goodness. We have booths starting this Sunday, then next Saturday. We have a third booth just in case we need one, but hopefully we won't need it. The parents don't seem to want to sign up for them really...which isn't good. We'll figure something out. Even the experienced Daisy hasn't signed up for another booth than the first one. Seriously, the mom I talked to that said this stuff was easy was a liar. This is some of the most stressful work I've ever done. It's not hard, and it's not messed up, it's fairly straightforward and you have to keep on task for the duration of it. You need lots of stamina and focus. I'm not used to going into a job that requires so much stamina and focus. It's a learning process. Everything has to add up correctly, so it's kinda stressful having to count a lot of times, and hold out things, and add up things, and manage the budget of it along with the cookie count. Whew. Hopefully after this is all said and done, I'll look back at it fondly, and think of what a great time I had. Right now, I'm looking at it like this amazing mountain that I keep attempting to scale. I hope I make it to the top in one piece. |
| Took the kids to get their annual pictures on Monday. For the most part, they came out great! I can't wait to get the CD and pictures to post online for everyone to see. We took some of Ryan with his clarinet, which I was thrilled about. I wanted to take some of Journey with her Girl Scout uniform, but we didn't have time for a 3 outfit change session. I'll just have to schedule another session with her in her Daisy vest. Everyone's gotten over the bug, so we're back to healthy now. The kids have been back in school since last week, so no more episodes of rowdiness from them. We're cleaning up for an inspection that's happening tomorrow. I hope she finds it more to her liking this time around than last time. I really need Don to help me, but he's being such a bum, which sucks, because I need his help to get this done. I wish I could train him too on top of training the kids. The good news is, I got some organizational stuff to help out with the house, and I find it a lot less cluttered that way. I have a giant shoe rack in my stoop that houses all our current shoes, so no more giant pile of shoes on the stoop where someone can trip over them. I love that shoe rack, because it takes up such little space, it does it's purpose well, and it makes my stairs look so much nicer and neater. My best friend Jenn is going to come during March to help me get my stuff organized so my house looks put together and is clean. My ultimate goal is to be able to have Ryan and Journey's friends over to play and visit. I want a clean house in order to do that. Thank God for Jenn! She's fantastic! She helps me focus on what needs to be done. Without her input, I would be overwhelmed and worthless. Oh, Ryan was told that he wasn't able to join honor band. Apparently his band teacher got a good talking to for trying to allow two 4th graders into honor band in the first place. So Ryan was told, no honor band this year. It's good to know that he's good enough to go this year though, and that means for sure that next year he should be in honor band. He's fantastic at the clarinet. I hope we can buy him one of his own. Yesterday when I was volunteering for Journey's class, a little girl asked me why Journey loved me so much. I wasn't sure what to say to it, other than "because I'm her mom and we're very close". Journey and I have a wonderful relationship, and we love each other very much. She is very attached to me, as I am to her. We get along splendidly, which was something I was hoping for, but scared would never happen. I love the way she loves me, and I hope she knows how much I adore her. She loves to snuggle me, and I love snuggling her. She's so wonderful! Ryan's been such a great help to me lately getting the house cleaned up. I love that boy like no other. My kids are fantastic. |
| So, over the weekend, Journey had a stomach bug. She threw up a few times, and hasn't been eating very well. It seems though, that she's getting over whatever it was that was causing her issue...however, it seems to supposedly hit Ryan now. Journey was going to go into school, but had an accident this morning. I was worried that she was going to be sick at school, so I kept her out. Ryan complained of stomach pain, and advised that he had woken up in the middle of the night to throw up. Not wanting to chance that happening at school, I called him out as well. Don't I look the fool though. I had to run a couple of errands today, and knowing that I had to take them with me, got them ready for the day to go out with me. While we were out, they caused hijinx. First store we went to wasn't that bad, but the second store, they were wily little creatures, making me regret letting them stay home, and wishing I had sent them in. They bickered in the store, Journey kept jumping on and off the cart in the middle of the isles with people trying to come and go, and then, THEN Ryan told me he had to use the restroom. Since he's almost 10, I allowed him to go by himself while I held our place in the line to check out. The bathrooms are right in front of the check out registers, so it wasn't that far of a way to let him go. Finally, it was our turn to check out, and Journey was very unhelpful, as she kept trying to snatch the roses I bought from the checker, then the basket, and not giving me much room to grab our things and move along. After all that was said and done, I couldn't find Ryan ANYWHERE. I checked the bathroom, called in there, no response. I started to panic. Walmart is a big store, and anything could happen to a 9 year old boy. Frantic, I walked over to the customer service desk and asked them to page him. He walked non-nonchalantly to the service area with a grin on his face. "Don't grin at me mister," I said sternly. "You NEVER walk off on your own like that again. I didn't know where you were, something could've happened to you, for all I know you could've been taken." "I just walked out to the car to see if you were there! You weren't, so I was coming back in to look for you," He explained. "Ryan, that's REALLY NOT a good idea. You don't go wandering off on your own like that. Next time you need to go to the bathroom and I'm in the check out line, you need to either sit at the bench by the bathroom and wait for me until I come and get you, or you go to the customer service desk and wait for me there. You NEVER go out to the car by yourself, or go looking for me throughout the store by yourself, do you understand me?" *Sigh.* Needless to say, regardless of their condition tomorrow, I'm sending them in. If one of them happens to get sick at school, I will come pick them up then, but since today was such a hassle, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be sending them in tomorrow for sure. |
| We had Daisies today, so as usual, Ryan meets me at the old computer lab where we all gather to do Daisy meetings. This afternoon, he had a surprise for me, and he handed me a pink folder. "You're never going to guess what," He started. I looked at him puzzled. "I made all county Honor Band," he said excitedly. My jaw DROPPED. "Seriously?" I asked him. He nodded and handed me the file folder with the permission slip, practice schedule and Honor Band sheet music. "RYAN I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!!!" I yelled and hugged him. He grinned sheepishly, and looked on while I checked out the practice schedule. I am so proud of him! He and his friend Zach are the only two 4th graders that made it to Honor Band. The rest are all 5th graders. This is a BIG accomplishment! Ryan just started playing the clarinet in September. To know that in only less than 5 months time he's good enough to make Honor Band is just phenomenal! He's never had any lessons outside of school, or anything like that. He just started playing when he got the clarinet, and he's been playing ever since. He's just naturally really good at it, it comes natural to him. Not to say that he doesn't work hard at it, because he puts in plenty of practice time, but he's just a natural talent for it. I'm so glad his friend Zach talked him into band, and he found he was good at it! It was definitely worth it to get him into band! The only tough part is, he might have to miss some soccer practices for Honor Band practices.We'll let the coach know though, and hopefully they'll understand. This is such a great accomplishment! He's one of the best clarinetists in the county in elementary school! My son!! It's so amazing to me! |
| So, been keeping busy doing stuff here and there. Last weekend, Journey and I went to a cookie rally for Girl Scouts, and had a wonderful time. Journey tried a different cookie than she normally would, and ended up liking it so much she voted for it. She won at bingo as well! It was a great little rally, lots of fun for the girls, and I think they enjoyed every bit of it. We're going to be having our first Daisy meeting in two weeks here tomorrow. I've got a lot of things to bring to Jenn tomorrow. Cookie booths will be starting up next month. We're going to be going to get the cookies for initial order on the 21st of February. We're going to dole them out that Saturday to all the girls, and hopefully we'll get some money back. Only two girls are fully paid off. The rest need to get their money in as soon as possible for me to make a deposit. Very exciting times! We signed Ryan up for spring soccer again. We're going to have to see if he needs new shin guards, but I know he needs new socks. He doesn't need need cleats, as Don bought him a pair for Christmas. He doesn't need new shorts, and the club provides him with a jersey, so he won't need to purchase one. I don't think he needs a new ball either, because I think they still use the same size ball for his age group that they used last year. Good news for us though, as we won't be needing to buy a lot of gear for the season. We got our tax money back already. Most of it went into savings, and we're slowly dwindling down from what we have left. I'm waiting for state to come in before we do any more major spending. $1000 of it went towards paying our car insurance for the year, so that went quick. At least we paid and bought what needs to be paid and bought! Journey's been going to occupational therapy appointments, which I'm really glad about. It was so hard finding a pediatric occupational therapist that took our insurance. It just happened from luck that there was a card for one through the hospital. I called the number, asked if they took my insurance, they said they did, and I set up appointments for her. This after calling 4 different occupational therapists to find that they either didn't take kids, or they didn't take our insurance. I'm glad I got that card from the emergency care when I was sick with the ear infection! Journey loves her occupational therapist, she helps her out so much! We've only had 3 appointments so far, but I can see that things are going to improve for her. Now we just need to work on Journey's math skills. The kids report cards came out a few days ago. Journey's math is the grade that's most suffering, and I've talked with her teacher to see if I can't help her here at home to understand the concepts that she's being taught. Ryan came home with A's in almost every subject but one, in which he got a B. He was very downhearted about it, but I told him B's are nothing to be ashamed of, and as long as he tried his best, then that's what mattered most. He's very hard on himself though, he expects to get A's all the time. However, he did a project just recently that got a big, fat F on it, and I'm not impressed. I'm hoping that he can get some sort of recovery from it with his teacher, but I don't know if that's the case. We'll find out. Other than that, not much else new around here. We're always off doing something on the weekends, there's a birthday party, or we're visiting friends, or we have errands to run, shopping to do, etc. Life stays pretty stable and busy. |
It snowed a good 4-5 inches here two nights ago, and the kids have had school off yesterday and today because of it. It's a nice little break, although they only had school 2 days this week. I'm not too sad about it; I don't mind the kids being home at all. Don took yesterday off to take me to an appointment since I don't drive in snow, but the appointment got canceled, so he basically had the day off for no reason. It was nice to have him around the house as well. I've always said, if I could keep Don and the kids home with me all the time, I would. The only three people in this world that I never get sick of, or who get sick of me. We're a happy little family.  All this time off has us able to work on some projects that are due at school. Journey and I have to tear through some magazines to see if we can find things that match the three states of matter, and Ryan has an inventor project that's due at the end of the month. So much stuff going on. At least we have time to work on it though, which I'm glad about. Got our taxes done last weekend, which won't go to the IRS until probably the 30th. But all in all, it's done, and hopefully we'll get our taxes back soon. We have just enough to go on vacation to Ocean City in the spring again, as well as pay off a few bills. The kids are very excited about going back to Ocean City. We're going to try to save up to go back to visit Colorado again next year. Other than that, not much going on. Hope everyone is doing well! |
| Yesterday was my 32nd birthday. I had a pretty good day. I used to hate my birthdays before Don and the kids came along. No one seemed to remember or care, and it was very upsetting to me. I'd ignore my birthday and pretend like it didn't happen, so no one would be any the wiser. Then Don came into the picture, and made it a mission to make my day as happy as possible. Ever since then, I've enjoyed my birthday. The kids being here has made it even better. Yesterday started out another normal day. Don had the day off and offered to take the kids into school for me. Journey came bounding into my room with a big grin on her face. "Happy birthday Mom!" she cried out. Then she proceeded to call Ryan upstairs to make him say happy birthday as well, and then had Don say it to me again, just for good measure. That little girl is so special to me. She must think the world of me to make sure that her brother and father make my day as special as possible! She was very excited the rest of the day, even though she had to go to school. I love her so much. Don and I had made plans since last Friday to go out to lunch on my birthday at Red Robin, which gave me a free birthday sandwich. I chose the crispy chicken, which is one of my favorites, and enjoyed having a free birthday burger. My parents wired me $40, so I went to get my eyebrows waxed (which I haven't had done in a long time!), and then I got Don some medicine with the money (he's sick right now.), and saved the rest for fast dinner that night, with the promise that I would get something good for my birthday on Friday for using my money for other things than myself. Don stopped off at the florist and got me a bouquet of blue carnations, my absolute favorite, and we spent the day just being happy to be near each other, until I had to go pick up Journey. As soon as Journey came out of the school, she ran up to me and called out "Happy birthday Mom!" again, and hugged me tight. She told me about her day as we go into the car to go home, and there we waited till 4:30 to go pick up Ryan from chess club. Don went to go get him while Journey and I stayed home. Don went out to get a fast dinner for us (which is rare), and we ate before we went to Ryan's first ever band concert. The house was packed, and for awhile there, there was only standing room left. Teachers and janitors found extra chairs and put them in the gym though so we could all sit. I took numerous pictures while Ryan was on stage performing, and his band sounded AMAZING for being a beginning band! His band teacher has done amazing things with those kids! And they're all really great at their instruments too! It's going to be a nice investment to get Ryan his own clarinet! We came home, and Ryan gave me some solo performances to post on Facebook. All in all, it was a good day. Tomorrow, my best friend Jenn is going to come and eat dinner with us at Olive Garden (my favorite restaurant). She's made me a homemade cheesecake for my birthday as my birthday present! I'm very excited to taste it! So far, 32 has been good to me! |
| Back when Girl Scout cookie sales began, I asked Journey how many boxes of cookies she thought she could sell. "I don't know," she told me. "Do you think you could sell one hundred?" I asked her. "Yeah!" Journey exclaimed. "Do you think you could sell one hundred-fifty?" I asked. She thought for a moment, and then cried out "YES! Yes I can!" So, we decided to write "150" on the goal spot on the order card. I thought it was a pretty lofty goal, but I was hoping with canvassing our neighborhood, asking friends and family, and getting some orders from Don's work, we could try to pull off at least a hundred. As of today, Journey has sold one hundred sixty-seven boxes of Girl Scout cookies. No Joke. She took it upon herself to ask friends and family and the neighborhood. She studied up on all the cookies, and learned what they were made of, and what flavors they were, and what their names were, and how much they were. She learned when money was due, and when the cookies were coming in, and she imparted this information on her customers so they knew. I am astounded at her. Not only has she become a savvy little saleswoman, but her socialization skills amaze me. Speech therapy, social skills group, and her IEP are doing WONDERS. This is the first year Journey has been conscious of the world around her, not just inside her home, but outside in school, and the areas around that. The playground, Ryan's soccer fields, etc. She is growing leaps and bounds, and I'm so proud of her. Daisies has brought about a purpose to her, and she's committed to being the best little Daisy she can be. She knows all kinds of things that Daisy Girl Scouts need to know, she's listened and paid attention and studied hard. I believe it has raised her confidence. She's learning there ARE things she's capable of doing, and she's able to earn her patches, and do her best. I was going to try and put her in gymnastics, but unfortunately there are really long waiting lists, and they're not accepting anymore applicants. I'm very disappointed, but she seems to be doing okay with it. I'm so glad I made the choice to put her in Girl Scouts though, because it's helped her so much. I want her to continue, to be a Brownie next year, but I don't know if they have any troop leaders ready to go for a Brownie troop. They're trying to talk me into taking up the task, but I'm afraid that I won't be qualified for it. I'm not sure what to do, and I don't have a car to drive very far to get to meetings and seminars and whatnot. Maybe I can talk to someone about it and see. I just want to be sure Journey has a place to continue her Girl Scouting. It's done so many wonderful things for her. I'm glad that I could at least put her in one extracurricular activity this year, and I'm glad that it's benefited her greatly. As she gets older, we'll continue to try to get her into other things, like gymnastics or swimming, to help with her low motor tone, but I definitely want to keep Girl Scouts in the picture. |
| Went to the ENT. She told me I had fluid behind my ear drum, and that as soon as they drained it, I would be back to normal hearing once more. Relief flooded over me! She suggested getting some Mucinex D and trying to get the fluid out, but advised that it was very unlikely to do the job. I'm scheduled to go in and get it drained on the 10th. She says it's going to hurt for about 10 seconds, and then it will be all over with....I'm worried about that, but I'll trust her, and do what needs to be done in order to hear properly again. Journey is gearing up to sell cookies. She's been studying all the cookie types, and how she's going to ask people if they want to buy. I'm very proud of her! It seems that just this year, she's become a lot more coherent to the real world around her. She was so lost in her own little world for so long, and now suddenly she's partaking in all around her, I'm thrilled! It looks like speech therapy, social group, and socialization teachings are helping out tremendously for her. I'm so happy! Ryan is going to need to get his clarinet fixed. The cork is coming off the bottom section. We're not sure if this is a problem the school is going to fix, or if it's something we have to fix on our own, but hopefully Ryan will find out on Monday. He secured the cork with some masking tape a few days ago so he could practice-I'm not sure that was the smartest thing to do though. I hope it doesn't cause more damage. I'm not sure what they're going to do for the concert. I guess it'll just be the tape fix for now, and then after the concert on the 16th, Ryan can send his clarinet in for fixing. That's about it for around these parts so far. Hope you all are doing well in this new year! |
| So, back around 12th of December, I had an ear infection. I went to express care here, which is like an emergency doctor clinic that's open after your doctor closes up, so you don't have to go to the emergency room, especially if it's not an emergency. I had to wait till the 14th of December to make it into the express care clinic, but I made it in during the time that I had an ear infection. They saw the infection, prescribed me antibiotics, and sent me on my merry way. Now, I knew that I had an ear infection, because my hearing was blocked out of my right ear. I couldn't hear out of it, so I knew it was an ear infection again. I took my 7 days worth of antibiotics, hoping that my symptoms would clear up (such as being able to hear out of my ear again), with no results. I waited an extra 4 days after the antibiotics to go back to express care, only because I had had antibiotics pumped into my system for the last few weeks. In fact, I was on antibiotics for symptoms with fluid in my lungs WHILE I got an ear infection. Crazy, no? Hoping that the antibiotics would kick in after that week of not taking anything, I thought I'd go back in and ask for a stronger antibiotic, because I was still having ear pain, and my hearing was still gone from my ear. The doctor there checked my ear, and informed me that he saw no infection. Basically put, he said I was having hearing loss for no reason, and that I needed to go to an ENT to see why I wasn't able to hear out of my ear. I insisted that he give me some antibiotics, just in case the infection was still going on, which he did, but told me that it was very doubtful they'd make a difference. I've been on the antibiotics for 4 days now, and nothing is happening. Sadly, I think the doctor is right. I'm still taking the antibiotics though, and hoping that something will give, and I will return to full hearing again soon. Fearful that something terrible has happened, I scheduled an appointment with an ENT for as soon as she could see me. The earliest visit available was for tomorrow, Monday morning. I pray she has answers for me, and we can get this resolved. It's very unsettling to lose your hearing in one ear. It makes it very difficult to sleep, as I can't sleep well when I'm turned on my side and can't hear anything. I panic that I won't be able to hear if something goes wrong with my children in the middle of the night, and I worry that I won't be awoken to the alarm anymore due to this hearing loss. My biggest fear is that this is permanent and irreversible. I'm already born blind in one eye, to lose hearing in one of my ears as well is completely upsetting. I know that things could be a lot worse, and that at least I still have hearing in my other ear as well, but to know that something as simple as an ear infection caused me to go deaf is very upsetting. I pray that this can be reversed, and I will be returned to full hearing once more. |
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