backround

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Beep Beep - Get Out of the Way, my Mom-Van is approaching!

Life has been a whirlwind the last few weeks.  Every two years I work as an election judge and so I have to go to training class and set ups for that sweet gig.  This year I was working the early voting days as well, so we had to find childcare for all five of the days I was out of the house "working" (I use the term loosely, it's definitely not the hardest job I've ever done).  Of course, since life never runs smoothly when you need it to - Hubs was told he'd be on travel for work during the exact week I needed him home to watch the kids.  In another state, many miles away.  So we cashed in all our points and did a little begging, and my mom and the in-laws banded together to take care of the kids that week.  It was insane, and more than a little stressful for everyone involved.  But we powered through! I'm going to get a nice paycheck for my trouble, and Hubs even got a work promotion while this was all going down!!

Also because I'm slightly insane, I decided on Monday that come hell or high water I am trading in my little car.  Right now I drive a Cobalt, and it is just big enough for me and the two boys.  If you try and add someone in the front seat though, forget it.  Your chair has to be completely forward and upright, and it's just really uncomfortable.  When Hubs' car started acting funny a couple months ago and we had to cram into mine for a trip out to dinner, I was a miserable grouch the entire way because I couldn't get comfortable.  For whatever reason I'd held off on the pressing need for a trade-in until I got an email about great interest rates on Monday morning, and it was like a dam broke.  I was on the phone with my car dealership an hour later, and made an appointment to get my car appraised in the shop within six hours.  By hour eight I had selected a pre-owned minivan, and committed my not-even-written-yet paycheck to the cause.  Yep.  Of course, I'm not a complete idiot, and since I know next to nothing about cars I did not purchase my "dream van" that day.  So this Friday we are scooting up to the dealership, and hopefully my amazing and wonderful husband will be approving this purchase.  A respectable four days from when I decided to trade in my youth and energy to become an official minivan mom.  And I'm not even the least bit sorry about it.  I've actually been having reoccurring dreams about the glorious amount of trunk space and how easy it will be getting the boys in and out and keeping them rear-facing longer.   

Sometimes adulthood sneaks up on you, but this time it feels like I ran out and grabbed it.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Upward Mobility

Today was officially the last day of school for Little Man.  He finishes Kindergarten and next year starts Kindergarten: The Sequel.  I think I mentioned in our last post that we are holding him back a year, and I don't regret the idea one bit.  He has plenty of years of sitting at a desk and learning life skills ahead of him, and I think one more year of free play and using social skills in a smaller group setting will be extremely beneficial.

No more baby chub.  Well, for him anyway, I've still got mine.

Next week he starts his special camp program!  They are going to have swimming and water park days, tons of arts and crafts (which he really likes), and hopefully it will just wear him out so he sleeps better at night.

With Baby Vegas' sensitive skin, I think it is going to be a challenge to find a good sunscreen for this summer, so it might be a lot of indoor/shady time for us while big brother is off having a blast.  The poor kid can't even crawl on the carpet without leggings on because his knees stay bright red for days. That doesn't stop him though - once this kid learned to crawl he was outta here!  Every few minutes I'm grabbing him away from something he isn't supposed to be touching.  Nothing dangerous, we've been baby-proofed for Little Man forever.  Just your average VCR slot (yep we still have a VHS player!), coffee table drawer, stack of DVDs kind of thing.  We did have to go out and purchase baby gates for the stairs - by the time we moved into this place Little Man was not at an age where we worried about them too much.  Plus after my townhouse which had floating stairs, every other staircase seemed tame.

"What do you WANT Tiny Noisy Thing?!"
Little Man and our dog Sandy are not big fans of Vegas' new skills.  Both of them hate being bothered while they are doin' their own thing - and Vegas wants all the cuddles.  He thinks anyone at floor level is fair game.  Luckily he has Max, our evil cat, to follow around and squeeze.  Max is surprisingly tolerant of a twenty pound baby "petting" him all the time.  The two of them are two peas in a pod, and it's adorable.


VICTORY!  She is too tired to move!!

Max doesn't respect nap time.  

Little Man's bus just pulled up, so it is officially Summertime.  I can't wait!

Thursday, June 5, 2014

IEP Update and Christening Photos!

School is nearly out and we've just had Little Man's last IEP meeting!  We received a list last week of new goals for Little Man, and it was pretty intense - most of them are completely new goals since he met almost of his goals this year.  All of the new goals make sense and we are excited to think of him meeting any of them!! We kept a few goals like 'toilet training' and 'participating in classroom routines', and added things like 'sitting and attending to classroom activities' and 'sorting and matching blocks/colors'.  This new IEP is gearing him up for eventually heading into the first grade classroom where he will have to sit at a desk for longer periods of time, and be able to follow along to group instruction.

The only hiccup in the process has been that his PT recommended reducing his therapy to once a month (down from once a week this year).  While I agree that gross motor skills are his strongest right now, I definitely don't think such a drastic reduction in therapy is good for him.  He still has a significant limp and turns out his feet while he walks, and has trouble balancing himself when he wears his backpack.  We mentioned this at our meeting and they let us keep the once a week for now, even though we agreed that every other week would've probably been fine.  But apparently the process for changing it was all-or-nothing*, and since we were disagreeing with the recommendation now, we had to keep the previous amount set on the last one.  Oh well!
Eating a ham and swiss sandwich.  So proud of him for trying a new food (and thanking my lucky stars I can alternate lunches between this and his usual PB&J)

*Little Man's PT was out of town during this meeting and so we couldn't make the changes without her present to accept them.

Last weekend was also Vegas' christening!  We were so happy to have him christened in the same church my husband's entire family has attended for ages! He was a little angel during the service, and because he was the only baby being baptized he was pretty much the star of the sermon.  Granted, I have no experience with baptisms, but this one seemed pretty special to me.  Afterwards my mother-in-law planned a great luncheon for everyone and we had enough leftovers that I didn't have to cook for days.  A double win!
I Googled "Baby Christening Outfit".  It came with a jaunty little hat.  The bib/shoes were a gift from Grandma!

A little sleepy.  The organ music kept him up.
Little Man stayed home during the service with his first not-family babysitter!  My mother-in-law's good friend who has worked with special needs kids for many years came and sat with him for the couple hours we were gone.  He was apparently very behaved as well!  Maybe we just need to spend more time in churches?

3/4 of the family.  1/2 if you count the dog and cat (which Hubs certainly does)

 
When camp starts in a couple weeks we will have to relearn our morning routine, and I'm already kind of dreading it.  I have to drive Little Man to a drop off site, and pick him up there as well - drop off is earlier than we leave for school, and pickup is earlier than he usually gets home.  So we'll be waking up earlier, feeling groggier, and having less time for errands/quiet time at home.  I'm trying to psych myself up for this by noting that this will force me to get dressed and out in the world every day, and so maybe I'll get tons more done... But we'll see how that works.  I foresee a lot of coffee in my future.

Speaking of coffee... Back to the daily grind for me - Vegas is starting to get more and more mobile (he's crawling all over the place now!) and causing a little more trouble than he did even a few weeks ago.  The poor cat and dog have been lovingly squeezed multiple times today, and everything is now fair game for touching and nomming on.
"Look Ma!  I'm gonna do the splits!"