Blogging Wednesday? Let's try it.

It's Wednesday, which I think I will designate as "Blog Day" from here on out to get back into a writing pattern. Wednesday is the morning I have the most free time, since Vegas and Little Man are both in school for full days and I don't usually have errands midweek.

Little Man is chugging along post-Botox injection. It was a quick and easy appointment, albeit long because the doctor is over two hours away. His PT says she's seen some minor improvements in his foot and ankle, but the muscle is still so tight that you can actually see the bone poking the skin up on the top of his foot. We're hoping to get in for a serial casting appointment sooner rather than later, and we also have Botox appointments every three months to keep the muscles from tensing up.

And in other exciting (erm, I guess?) news, we switched diaper brands for Little Man. We'd been sticking with the brand Medicaid used to provide him and they were... well, cheap. I mean, not cheap, cause adult diapers are not cheap. But cheapest and they seemed to do their job. Well after several months of wet mornings and shredded diapers we decided to try a new brand. I don't know why I'm shocked they're so drastically better, but I really didn't think an extra five to ten dollars an order would improve the quality so much. I don't think many of you are in a position where you are looking for adult diapers but if you are, I'd recommend Slimline Tranquility.

Vegas and Little Man are both in school now. Little Man could care less, Vegas is pumped. Most especially because he can ride the school bus two days a week. The days he has full days in his private school are my favorite (so much glorious free time!), and he loves them too, but really nothing compares to the wonderfulness that is a bus ride with his neighborhood best bud. And thank goodness for that kid, because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get Vegas on the bus at all that first day of school! Now I'm lucky if I get a wave before he runs up to the driver and aide to say 'goo-mornin', how you today?!'

Cheeseball and I are adjusting to the quiet time at home. We have our living room completely gated off to keep the boys from running crazy when we don't want them to, but on the days its just us I try to let him roam free to discover what parts of my house need better childproofing. Spoiler alert, it's the Tupperware drawer and the toilet bowl. He's really into socks and shoes right now too so I am spending a lot of the morning helping him put them off and on again. He had a meeting with Infants and Toddlers last week about his speech development, and we got the great news that his speech has improved so much that he will probably not need therapy after this school year. He's going to be observed and monitored a few times until Christmas, but the OT was really impressed by his progress over the summer!

And as for me - I'm suddenly back in school too! I woke up the other day and couldn't let go of the idea of going back to school to relearn ASL and possibly get my interpreting certification. [dearest Hubs, so sorry I decided this at two am and woke you up for a serious discussion of this idea ;)] I know myself well enough to take it slow and not overcommit to a program I may not be as passionate about in six months time, so for right now I'm just starting with some basic classes. With my theater schedule and the kids I have to decide if this is something I want to make a priority - especially as it would become very expensive to commute to a school that would be able to help me achieve my ultimate goals. This semester will be a good way to decide what I want to do and what I can handle. Either way, I'm super excited about being back in a classroom again for the first time in... nine years!? Wow.

And that's as much update as I can squeeze in before I have to make lunches and get the kiddo down for a nap.

School Daze

Two weeks left until school starts. I'm waiting with baited breath... It's not just my kids that thrive on routine!!

Little Man will be in school full time. We haven't started the fight yet, but I am already predicting a tough year for him/us. His behavior has gotten really intense this summer. I use "intense" because he's not "bad", it's not a purposeful choice. He's just frustrated all the time and overreacts at the drop of a hat, and it manifests as huge blow-out tantrums for hours on hours. His hitting has gotten bad enough that he's managed to bruise himself a few times and now he's starting to lash out at his brothers if they get in his way. So once school is back in session I plan to call for an IEP to request not only the PT that they've taken away and he desperately needs again, but a behavioral therapist/ABA as well. If necessary, I want him bussed to a school that can provide more intensive help. It's been awhile since I've been this worried about him, and I think he's at a pretty critical point where if we don't get him help soon, he will fall into really bad patterns that I won't be able to break.

Vegas will be on a weird school schedule. 3 days a week of full day private school, 2 days a week of half-days at public school. He qualified for public school five days a week, but we decided he needed to stay his private school where he has made such huge improvements and is so comfortable. He's basically going to the local school for speech therapy and for specials like music and PE. He also got a waiver to go to the same school as Little Man, so they will ride the bus together two days a week! I'm probably going to explode from cute that first day.

And Cheeseball and I are staying home full time. Lots of quality one on one bonding and we're probably going to sign up for Mommy and Me gymnastics and swimming lessons. Cheeseball has so much energy and is very different developmentally than Vegas was at 2 years old. I think he'll really love the attention and the classes, he loves being a big kid and exploring so it will be right up his alley.

My favorite part of school starting again is that I plan to get more serious about taking care of my physical and mental health. More writing, more exercising, more meal-planning and cleaning (which actually is not work for me, I love it and it keeps my emotions more level). An organized home and healthy body is my ultimate dream. To get that started I signed up for a meal kit delivery service and some online subscriptions to keep the diapers and milk coming regularly. Plus I even splurged for a couple fun phone apps for exercise plans and good music. 

Just two more weeks. TWO WEEKS! For now... I have to go figure out how to lock the blinds to prevent the kids from looking directly into the sun.

Wet, Hot, Summer

Little Man's doctor has yet to call me back about his Botox appointment. Hopefully he gets back to us soon, because you can really see a huge decrease in his mobility lately. In all areas except removing his mother-ducking-pajama suit. After a good year and some change, he can now remove pajamas that we have zipped up backwards with the feet removed and sewn on again.

Cheeseball modeling his regular jams, Little Man in modified jams.

So every morning it is like waking up to that toilet monster from 'Dogma' in Little Man's room. I'd link a photo of that too but... nah, Google it, if you really need to see that mess. It's diaper off, gross stuff everywhere. For now he seems less inclined to touch any of it than he used to be - thankfully. But we're still having a bath and room scrub every morning again and it is exhausting. Next step is possibly finding a way to secure the zipper in the back so he can't pry it open and over his shoulders (I think that is how he's doing it)... either with tape or a fastener of some kind.

This summer has been pretty blissfully quiet the last few weeks as Little Man and Vegas both started camps. Of course they're in camps on opposite sides of town and random weekdays, but my in-laws have been amazing at helping with drop offs and pickups so it's been smooth sailing. It's also been a really good time to get household things done and relax with Cheeseball. Today is much less relaxing though, because I'm missing bulk grocery shopping and my workout to wait for someone to fix our air conditioner. It's a sticky 80 degrees in here now at 10:30 am, so we will be spending most of the day in front of the box fan and sipping ice waters. And then I will add to my heaping slice of mother-guilt by giving Cheeseball a dose of Tylenol for the low-grade fever (teething?) we didn't catch for a night because it's so hot in here. Call before you come over, we're living in our diapers and sports bras today.

Welcome Back

Here I am! I'm alive! I'm back!

The silence was a combination of things. My old laptop crapped out on me, for one. And for two, my lawyer advised against writing for awhile while we dealt with some legal things.

Today I have a new laptop. And as of one week ago, I have no more legal things. So welcome back to our home!

If you need to catch up on the most basic details - here goes;

Hubs and I are celebrating 5 years of marriage in November. He's still amazing. He's still the most sane person in this house.

Little Man turns 9 in July *gulp*, which is not scaring me at all, not one little bit. We've had a couple health scares recently - a shunt surgery last September to move the shunt and unclog it, and our first very-big-very-scary seizure last month. The seizure lasted 2 hours before we were able to get it under control, and we spent an overnight in the hospital while trying to figure out what happened. Docs decided it was probably a result of the damage his brain suffered from his seizures as a baby, brought on by the beginning of puberty *gulp*. He's now on anti-seizure meds and has an official epilepsy diagnosis. Other than that, he's pretty much coasting along Little Man style. Nothing has really changed in his mental/social development, although he is working really hard at school to use an iPad for communication. He is officially a giant gangly boy!

Little Man shopping with me at Wegmans - I love the Caroline Carts!

Vegas turns 4 in August! It has been amazing watching him grow and change over the last year. Until a few months ago we were fairly positive he had apraxia of speech, a condition where he couldn't use his mouth muscles to form certain sounds. Now that diagnosis is a little more uncertain, because his speech has just exploded!! He started preschool in December unable to say any words, and now we can't stop him trying out new sounds and supplementing those with his sign language! He still takes speech therapy once a week because his words are very unclear and this jump in language is so sudden, but I have a feeling he'll be just fine in a year or so!! In addition to the preschool (which he loves) he goes to gymnastics once a week and his gross motor skills are also improving a ton. My cautious little toddler is starting to become a braver and stronger little boy. He's a total ham, and tests my patience every day. But dang he's cute...

Vegas saying "Cheeeeeese"

And finally - the baby! It's been so long since I've written, he doesn't even have a blog name! So introducing - Cheeseball! Cheeseball is going to be 2 years old in September. He is a snuggly, smiley, lovebug, and a definite Daddy's boy. He's got some serious shy-guy stranger anxiety going on which he's slooooowly outgrowing, but if Daddy is around he needs to be within eyeshot or it is a total meltdown. With all the focus on Little Man's health and Vegas' speech, we were slower to notice that Cheeseball's speech development is also behind. But by 18 months we realized it was time to get him into a Infants and Toddlers evaluation, which put him at about 11-12 months in speech skills. Nothing too major, especially with two strong and silent big brothers. So we start him in speech therapy this summer and hope for some progress by next year. We plan to start him in gymnastics too, because he's a huge daredevil - so much more curious and into climbing than his big brothers were, I know he will be my first kid to get stitches at this rate!

We don't call him "Cheeseball" for nuthin'

So there ya go! That's the quickest update I can jam into one easy-to-read post. I have a ton of other more detailed posts to write in the next few weeks. Some things I've been dying to put pen to paper about forever, and some others just to have to look back on for our family.

It's good to be back!