Have you missed us recently??
Noticed we have been gone from blog-land??
Well, there is good reason for that!
Life is HARD recently and I am TOTALLY calling UNCLE!!!!
I mean, seriously, how much can one person or one family be expected to endure???
I have TONS of pictures and fun stuff to upload, if I ever get time, but right now it is time to catch you up on our life and tell you why I am ready to cry Uncle!
The no blogging bit started a few weeks ago, when my Internet connection at the house went bad. I tested and tested it, my computer guy checked it out, and still no good. So I broke down and called tech support for ATT. I spent an hour on the phone with a guy in an office in Kosovo (I mean seriously???) who spoke cruddy English and couldn't fix my problem (imagine that... some guy in an office half a world away can't fix the problem here... surprise!) So he scheduled a tech to come to the house.... 5 days latter!!! Talk about steam coming out of my ears! So I keep hoping and trying, but no connection ever came up. Then the morning the technician was scheduled to come I get a call from ATT. "Your line is working fine now, no need for us to come out." Dang it! I tested it just a few hours before and it was not working, then magically it is? Ugh. I was not the happiest camper, but at least it is working again. And there was no Internet for Easter pictures... so those will be coming soon but here's a sneak peak :)
On Tuesday of that week we had our closing celebration with the agency that we have been using for the last year for Nathaniel's behavior support/ independent living skills services. I know in my heart that it is the best thing for our family to be doing this independently now, but we were so bonded to those people too! The celebration was GREAT, but we came home and the kids cried for HOURS on end. Very emotional for this mommy! Now we are fully private employs... and I get rewarded with notice that one of them is moving out of the area in June! So now we are back on the quest.... again! Miss everyone off of the WRAP team.... Erikka, Amy, Jenn, Jenny and Reb, we hope you are all well! We miss you guys :)
Next up was packing the house. A few weeks ago I pointed out the still soft spot in my bathroom floor to my landlord. As a result of that conversation she had contractors come look at things, only to find out that the pipes under the house were bad. Oh man... I was sorry for her and the HUGE bill I am sure that was, but even sorrier for me who had to pack up a third of the house and get lost so the work could get done. Long story short, I spent days packing up the bathroom, the pantry, the hall closets, the kids closet and under all the sinks so they could do the work, then the kids and I took a vacation! I was planning on taking the kids away for part of Spring Break, but we made our trip longer to get the work done while we were gone. The contractors were AMAZING and got everything done SUPER FAST and the kids and I had a great trip. I will get pictures up soon :) Now I just have to get the house put back together!!
Pretty much as soon as we were back in town it was court time again to hash out custody issues on the kids. Can it just be noted that I HATE having to go to court. Yes, the death of my marriage is hard emotionally and personally. Yes, I am FRUSTRATED at the road life has taken the kids and I on. And yes, I am SUPER SUPER FRUSTRATED on the path of abandonment and selfishness that my husband has chosen to take. But all of those things I can deal with, the WORST to me is having to go to court and have this person you have never met judge what happens with my children! Ugh. So stressful to me. But I am very happy to report that I have full legal and full physical custody of the children again. They are safe, I can meet any medical or legal need that comes up without having to depend on their father and now we don't have to do that again for what I hope is a LONG time!
The very next day was an IEP contesting meeting for Nathaniel. After his IEP a few weeks ago I started taking a long hard look at the next few years and what I hoped for and expected for his education. It was tough to look at what I hope for him and realize he is so far off of goal, but then I started thinking about how very much school he has missed, the meds mess that we fought our and all of the cards stacked against him in school. Once I took it all in I realized that he had an AMAZING year this year and made some HUGE gains. I want to continue to build on those gains and close the gap between function level and grade level, especially before he goes into middle school! Once I figured out what I wanted (him functioning closer to grade level) then I looked at solutions. We could push him SUPER hard next year and hope he stays healthy enough and does not burn out mentally. OR we could hold him in fifth grade where he is and give him a whole extra year to close that gap. He is in a classroom that is 4th. 5th and 6th grade, so he would stay with the same group. If we push him moderately hard to go up 1 1/2 years reading level next year, and 1 1/2 years reading level the following year, he would be entering middle school only a year behind in reading level. That would be a HUGE gain for him and help him so much! Plus I think emotionally it will be good for him to catch up some too! So this is what I went into the meeting wanting. I was getting school resistance in the beginning when I first requested this, but I am VERY happy to report that the meeting went AWESOME and 1/2 an hour after we started we had all agreed and the meeting was over! I have NEVER had a 1/2 an hour IEP meeting.... even for just an amendment! Praise the Lord, I think my boy is going to get some great learning next year and really move to close those gaps!
The same day I as the IEP Nathaniel woke up with an infected wound on his foot AGAIN! I am SO SICK of this condition called Spina Bifida! I do not understand how he can go to be one night with NOTHING and wake up the next moring with a raging infection that I can smell when I walk into the room! So we went back onto medication, lanced the wound and had cultures done... and went back into a wheelchair... again. The terrifying thing to me is how fast this keeps coming back recently. The doctor and I are currently seeking other forms of treatment and some deeper answers to see if we can prevent this and at the same time trying not to worry Nathaniel too much. Fun times!
With all of this going I on I am sure you can imagine my great happiness when I woke up Saturday morning to NO hot water..... I won't even go into that!
Some of the other fun balls we are juggling are:
~Testing for Audrey to figure out why she is not learning as well as like peers
.
~The cutting of OT and OI services for Nathaniel. The way the OT was handled REALLY pissed me off and is getting fought with the BIG guns.
~Trying to figure out a way to save my back with transfers and wheelchair lifting all the time recently.
~Battles about child support (going back to court again... ugh!)
So as you can see... I am DONE.
I am calling UNCLE!
And if you don't hear from me anytime soon, you can be sure I am still screaming Uncle!
So, please do tell, how has your week been?
Pretty much as soon as we were back in town it was court time again to hash out custody issues on the kids. Can it just be noted that I HATE having to go to court. Yes, the death of my marriage is hard emotionally and personally. Yes, I am FRUSTRATED at the road life has taken the kids and I on. And yes, I am SUPER SUPER FRUSTRATED on the path of abandonment and selfishness that my husband has chosen to take. But all of those things I can deal with, the WORST to me is having to go to court and have this person you have never met judge what happens with my children! Ugh. So stressful to me. But I am very happy to report that I have full legal and full physical custody of the children again. They are safe, I can meet any medical or legal need that comes up without having to depend on their father and now we don't have to do that again for what I hope is a LONG time!
The very next day was an IEP contesting meeting for Nathaniel. After his IEP a few weeks ago I started taking a long hard look at the next few years and what I hoped for and expected for his education. It was tough to look at what I hope for him and realize he is so far off of goal, but then I started thinking about how very much school he has missed, the meds mess that we fought our and all of the cards stacked against him in school. Once I took it all in I realized that he had an AMAZING year this year and made some HUGE gains. I want to continue to build on those gains and close the gap between function level and grade level, especially before he goes into middle school! Once I figured out what I wanted (him functioning closer to grade level) then I looked at solutions. We could push him SUPER hard next year and hope he stays healthy enough and does not burn out mentally. OR we could hold him in fifth grade where he is and give him a whole extra year to close that gap. He is in a classroom that is 4th. 5th and 6th grade, so he would stay with the same group. If we push him moderately hard to go up 1 1/2 years reading level next year, and 1 1/2 years reading level the following year, he would be entering middle school only a year behind in reading level. That would be a HUGE gain for him and help him so much! Plus I think emotionally it will be good for him to catch up some too! So this is what I went into the meeting wanting. I was getting school resistance in the beginning when I first requested this, but I am VERY happy to report that the meeting went AWESOME and 1/2 an hour after we started we had all agreed and the meeting was over! I have NEVER had a 1/2 an hour IEP meeting.... even for just an amendment! Praise the Lord, I think my boy is going to get some great learning next year and really move to close those gaps!
The same day I as the IEP Nathaniel woke up with an infected wound on his foot AGAIN! I am SO SICK of this condition called Spina Bifida! I do not understand how he can go to be one night with NOTHING and wake up the next moring with a raging infection that I can smell when I walk into the room! So we went back onto medication, lanced the wound and had cultures done... and went back into a wheelchair... again. The terrifying thing to me is how fast this keeps coming back recently. The doctor and I are currently seeking other forms of treatment and some deeper answers to see if we can prevent this and at the same time trying not to worry Nathaniel too much. Fun times!
With all of this going I on I am sure you can imagine my great happiness when I woke up Saturday morning to NO hot water..... I won't even go into that!
Some of the other fun balls we are juggling are:
~Testing for Audrey to figure out why she is not learning as well as like peers
.
~The cutting of OT and OI services for Nathaniel. The way the OT was handled REALLY pissed me off and is getting fought with the BIG guns.
~Trying to figure out a way to save my back with transfers and wheelchair lifting all the time recently.
~Battles about child support (going back to court again... ugh!)
So as you can see... I am DONE.
I am calling UNCLE!
And if you don't hear from me anytime soon, you can be sure I am still screaming Uncle!
So, please do tell, how has your week been?
1 comments:
Oh boy, that really is a lot at once! I hate that when it rains, it pours. I wish that saying weren't so true!! Sigh. I pray that it only gets better from here on out.
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