First Week of School

Proud Ben on the potty

Avery at school her first day

Avery 1st day of school

Ian 1st day of school - not as smiley!

Ian getting on the bus

Benjamin's 2 year pic

Biker Ben's other 2 year pic

Well, we're entering into our second week of school. I was hoping to have this entry done by the weekend, but oh well. Ian entered his first day of kindergarten. He's in a special program, but is in a regular ed classroom. Few big changes for him. First, he's had the same wonderful teacher for the past 3 years. Now he has a new teacher. I don't know that much about her, except that she's the more strict, organized, routined of the teachers. This is good for Ian IF she is able to have some flexibility with his impulsivities. I'm not sure if there are any of the other kiddos from the program in this same class or not. Second big change is going from 8-10 kids to 21 kids! OMG! Third big thing is this year he is all day instead of 1/2 day. How's he doing? So far, so good. The great thing so far is that he waits til he gets home to poop!

One of my fears was that they were not going to work on his potty training. Jim had told me that was just a PPCD thing. Well, the 2nd day of school, the head of the program (a great lady, and wife of our dentist) sent a note home saying she would like him to be in underwear and that the aide would take him to the potty every hour. This was a HUGE blessing! So, I sent a note back thanking her for that. On the 4th day, Jim came home and said that they came down to his classroom with Ian to tell him Ian went to the potty all by himself. Walked in and everything by himself. They wanted him to praise Ian....and he did.

He's riding the bus. We did a test run during his summer school time. He loved it. I felt even better when I found out that there were no 'typical' kids on the bus. I've had horrid visions of the kids being mean to him on the bus. So, this was another blessing to me. And the bus driving and aide are the same ones he had during the summer. He gets on the bus all happy, and he comes off the bus all happy.

The only thing I don't really like is that they don't seem to keep me posted on the details like his teacher did the past 3 years. I suppose I can understand that since they have 21 kids in the class. So, I figure if I write notes asking, then they'll answer. Hopefully I don't get on their nerves. :)

Avery's doing great as well. I was really worried when we went to meet-the-teacher the day before it started. She wouldn't walk in the class. This is her 3rd year going at this particular church early childhood program. She goes 2 1/2 days. So, I did what any sensible mother would....I bribed her! I told her that if she walked in like a big, brave girl the first day then we would go get a surprise after school. She did, and we did. I was so proud of her. Today, her teacher told me she played and ran and screamed with the other kids on the playground and in class she talked with the other kids. She's becoming a school pro!

Benjamin is at home with me still. He's the same age Avery was when we sent her to the 2 year old program 2 days a week. It's hard to believe. Benjamin is definitely not where she was at that age. But he is such a joy none-the-less. I enjoy having the time with just him. He loves to sit and look at books, dance and 'sing' to music videos, and climb ALL OVER EVERYTHING. He's hard to keep up with....especially at 40! He's been slowly adding single words to his vocabulary. He even uses them every now and then! I've been working on potty-training him. Slowly. I put him on the potty first thing in the morning, still before baths (hate seeing him pee in the tub - yuck), and every so often during the day. He does great going tee-tee. He's so proud of himself after and loves getting a Smartie for it. I haven't gotten him to poop yet, but he makes the cutest grunting sound when I tell him to poop! One day something will come out. Don't ya just love the pic!

The Things of Life

I'm sitting here listening to my children fight. Avery yelling at Ian for saying 'bad'. Ian saying it all the more because Avery is screaming at him. It gets funny after a while. But right now, it's just kinda tiring. I'm in one of those spots.

A very special friend of mine and her sweet family are moving away in a couple of weeks. I understand why the need for it, but it doesn't make it any easier on my heart. A lot more goes into it for me, but I won't go into that. I will miss her so very much, and miss watching all the milestones of their bathed in love little boy. I don't doubt that we'll keep in touch.

Side note: Avery just screamed so loud my eardrums about popped! Can't handle that at all. Silence now, as I sent her to her room. All is good. :)

We have friends who are struggling with their marriage, and it makes me so sad. I'm glad that they feel comfortable talking to us. I just feel helpless and hope that God, who instituted marriage, will restore this sweet couple's marriage. I know they're wanting the same thing.

Family stuff is about to drive me nuts. I've no doubt a lot of you could relate if I went into the whole story. But you know how it is....never know who's reading. Let's just say all is about to blow within me if the nonsense keeps up, especially if there's anymore of it during another 'time of the month' for me. Hold me back, sista!!!! I just don't get it, and truth is, I don't wanna get it. I just want people to start acting like adults, take responsibility, stop enabling, and take responsibility for crap that comes out of the mouth. Is that too much to ask? Okay, better stop there. You get the picture. After all, I am perfect, ya know. Ha Ha Ha. Kidding, I fully realize the majority of my many faults. Maybe one day I'll blog about those. Naaaaah!

Side note: Ian is loving on me as he asks for about a million different videos and laughing after he says each one. Silly boy!

Side side note: Benjamin is ripping all the books off the book shelf. ALL the books he can reach.

This all reminds me of a country song I've heard a couple of times. I think it may be called "Sounds Like Life" or something like that. It's this guy who's talking to a friend of his who is struggling with a bunch of things (little work, can't pay bills, fridge went out, wife's pregnant, etc.). Anyway, basically this guy listening is noticing that it's all the things life is really made of. The everyday things and struggles. So in the chorus, he says something like, "may not be whatcha wanna hear, but sounds like life to me." So true. Not that we're happy in them, but it's true. We've never been promised a life of no struggles. But we have been promised a Savior who knows and knows the end of the story as well. I can still hurt and cry and get angry, but in the end, hope is the answer. Life is really fleeting. While we don't ignore the 'struggles' and 'everyday things', let's never never never let those overshadow the many wonderful things of life! Whoa! Where'd all that come from?!

Side and end note: I just heard Ian say, "oooh, Ben pee'd". Benjamin took his diaper off and pee'd on the furniture!!!! We don't have a dog for just that reason! Here's where ya gotta laugh.....the things of life!

Gotta go clean up a mess so I can get us packed to go out of town in a few hours. Thanks for listening. I'm sure I'll be okay in a few hours.....or days. :)

Can't Sleep

It's 1:40am and I can't sleep. Didn't someone else just have this problem not too long ago? So, I thought I would get up, eat another 1/4 of the container of icecream, and add an entry to my blog.

Ian is up to his old habit of not sleeping through the night again. Very irritating. He doesn't cry out and get mad like he used to. He just 'happy screams' in there. Not too long ago, he woke the other ones up. Not cool! He's in there now awake. We just up'd his does of guanfacine cause we were noticing that it didn't seem to be having the same affects. If we don't notice anything after a few weeks of the increased dose, I think we'll go back to clonodine again. We're thinking that maybe since he's gained weight since the last time he was on it, maybe he'll be able to take a small dose of it during the day without it knocking him out.

Remember my 20 year old niece who got married in April? Well, I don't remember if I already told you that she's pregnant. She got pregnant like immediately. She's 17 weeks. Well, she called about a week ago to let me know she got tested for FX and found out she's a carrier. It's weird, but all of a sudden, it seems the whole family is now wanting to read up on it more. It's a good thing, but it kinda woulda been nice to have them so gungho about knowing more about it when we got our diagnoses of fully mutated. My other sister just recently asked me for the websites. My mom said she read something, something, something about the repeats. And of course, my oldest sister (the niece's mom) is wanting to know more about it obviously. I'm not mad, just kind of feeling.....I'm not sure. Probably don't need to go there anyway. I just wish everyone would have wanted to be more educated when I needed them to be....with all my diagnoses. I actually hadn't thought about any of that until I started writing this entry. Oh well, better late than never.

Ian LOST another tooth. No idea where. But at least there wasn't blood everywhere this time. He looks awfully cute with his two bottom teeth out. He's got a tooth growing back in place of the first one. I just hope his permanent teeth are as pretty as his first set. I love his teeth.

AVERY SAYING: One more story, then off to bed. Grandma was watching the kids yesterday and told me this story: The kids were watching football (we have several games recorded for Ian, who loves to watch them over and over and over and over). She decided to give them a quick football lesson. She told them that the man with the ball needed to run fast to the yellow (first down) line. If he didn't make it, they had to try again. So, Avery pipes up and says, "Oh, that's like when I wait to long and don't make it to the potty. I tee-tee in my panties because I didn't make it to the yellow line." Too cute!

God is so Sweet

Sorry I haven't been up for a while. Trying to stay caught up with ya'll, but havin' a hard time. We've just been trying to keep the kiddos happy. It gets tougher as the summer goes on.....and it's soooooooo stinkin' hot outside (not to mention those nasty, nasty fire ants!) that finding things to do (inexpensively) gets hard after a while. Thank goodness for grandparents with a pool!

I just wanted to share a story of just how sweet Abba is to His children. The other day I was having a bit of a down day....worrying that Avery was going to grow up despising Ian because he can be so physically hurtful to her, especially when he's having a rougher day. Well, that night I went out for a run, and when I got back Avery was excited to tell me that she was going to sleep in Ian's room. I looked questionably at Jim, who told me it was her idea. Then I got to hear them having such a good time in the room before they fell asleep. That calmed my heart so much. I believe He was speaking to my heart through this and telling me that all will be okay. This is just a season and that Avery's love and understanding for Ian will grow with time. She does love him.

Thank you, Lord, with being so faithful and for letting my eyes be open to your sweetness!