Lap · Times

I have two big pots on the back porch.  I put a daisy-ish plant in each one along with a white superbell. (Think cascading petunias with smaller blossoms)  They went opposite directions.  One of the daisies is a nice, compact plant, but it doesn't blossom as much.  The superbell is nice, but held in check by the bigger daisy.   The other daisy went very tall and rangy looking, with lots of smaller blossoms.  The superbell had lots of room, and it is HUGE.  It's climbing on the daisy now.  Probably will kill it eventually, but it's such a gorgous plant that I'm not sure I care, 

Anyway.  The point is, I had time to putter in my garden.  In the morning, so I'm not scorching hot.  The kids are in day camp!  Hooray!  

OK, Sean's just in morning camp, but it is still nice to have a quiet morning.  I've been trying to do fun stuff with him when I pick him up.  Preferably fun stuff near the kids' museum the camp is at, so I don't  have to drive so much.   Monday we stayed at the museum until Ian got out.  That was fun, but it was three and a half hours.  Granted, we spent some of it eating lunch and watching the planetarium show, but it was also a lot of climbing in their four level play area.  It's definitely not built for people who are 5'6"-- I have bumps and bruses from running into things-- especially one very twisty tube slide.  Every time my feet catch, something new bumps into the wall.  Yesterday wasn't as much fun.  I had originally planned to have a healthy lunch at Subway.  When we got there, the Subway turned out to be right next to a Little Ceasars.  I'm a softy, and I have no will-power when it comes to pizza.  We got one of their always ready $5 pepperonis, found a park and had a picnic.  Then he had to go do grocery shopping with me.  (The not so fun part.)  Today, I think we'll play at the museum for a little while after lunch, and then when the sun is less intense we'll go to the water park near the museum.  I've been saving that for these last hot days.  

Not sure about tomorrow.  Friday, Sean doesn't have camp.  Ian does, and they are taking a field trip to a cave nearby.  I think we might pack a lunch and go down to the aquarium in Cincinnati since we have all day. 

They're doing more camp next week.  (Hooray!)  Then we have one full week before we're hoping to go down to TX.  We're roughly thinking the 6th-ish through the 16th-idh.  As always, depends on the flights.  It also depends on my mom's impending knee surgery.  It's an arthroscopic procedure, so the recovery time isn't supposed to be too bad.

Must go move the hose.  I'm trying to water the backyard a bit before it gets too hot.

The ENT stuck a tube up my nose to see what was up.  He put some Afrin/Lidocaine spray up there first, but it still hurt enough to make me squirm and cry.  I still feel sore.

Apparently, it's all very swollen up there.  He pointed out that the spray should have made the tissues go down, so it was probably much worse beforehand.  What amazed me was that it was still that bad after being on Flonase for two months.  (He knew about that, of course.)  Huh, maybe that's why I've had a headache for a year and a half.  Actually, the Flonase has been very helpful for the headaches.  Hasn't done a bit for the drainage-- in fact, I think it might be worse. 

Oh, and apparently I do have signs of reflux, which makes it a chicken-or-the-egg type of deal.  Is the reflux causing my sinus problems, or are the sinuses causing the reflux?  I'm inclined to the latter, because there have been times where the extra drainage from a cold has made me vomit.

Thus, I get to irrigate my nasal passages twice a day, keep taking the Flonase and the antihistamine, and now I get to take Nexium in the morning to see if that helps.  I have a CT scan of my sinuses scheduled for Friday morning and I'm supposed to go back on 7/25 to see if the medicines help. 

I want something to help now.  I'm tired of coughing.  I'm tired of headaches.  I want to be able to exercise again without sounding like a consumption patient.  I want to be able to sing and not worry about whether I'll have to leave the church and cough up crud for the next half hour.

And man, the scope up the nose thing is really lousy.  I really, really hope something helps before I have to go through that again.

</self pity>

He's much cuter than I am. 

Still, too cool to pass up.

Got on the scale today and was .4 pounds under my goal weight.  That means I've lost 46 pounds, and three clothing sizes. 

No kidding, I went shopping at the Ann Taylor Outlet last weekend and everything I bought was a medium or a size 8.  Whoa.  I figured anywhere that sold a size 00 would put me in a 10, but no, it was an 8. 

Current Mood:

accomplished

I found a website that has a pretty decent selection of music from church.  I've spent the last two days (and I'll bet you more to come) downloading hymns I love, choral pieces I enjoy, burning them on to CDs for the car, and putting them on my own personal mp3 player.  

I'm enjoying it, though!  I suspect the husband will be spending some quality music nerdness time this weekend.  

First run of performances for the litte group I direct is done, and it was good.  One more run next week.  

As of this week, I've lost right about 45 pounds.  Its nice that my clothes don't fit because I'm too small for them (rather than them being too small for me) but it's still a pain the butt that my clothes don't fit.

Current Mood:

amused

Background:  I want a referral for Ian to go to private speech therapy (and specifically a facilitated social group) during the summer, since he can't get services through the school.  I called and made an appointment to see his primary care doctor for today, because no matter whether the next step was a stop at the developmental pediatrician or a direct referral, I had to see her first.

I got there at 9:07 for my 9:20 appointment.  No problem.  We get checked in and go look at the fishtank in the waiting room. 

All of a sudden, the PA system starts broadcasting that there is a fire emergency reported in the hospital.  We are to evacuate through the nearest door.  One of the medical assistants tells everyone which way to go, so all the staff and patients congregate outside the building.  Then a Master Sergeant shows up and tells everyone we have to walk half the way around the building to another parking lot.  Off we go.  We get out to the parking lot and sit.  And sit.  And sit some more.

Funny moment: As we were parading along the sidewalk, I said something (I don't remember what) to Sean.  Ian said, "Mom, don't talk.  Only staff are allowed to talk during a fire."  I guess he remembers his fire drill etiquette. 

Once we finally get back inside, we pretty quickly get the preliminary height/weight/blood pressure/temperature check done and go back to an exam room. 

At this point, I'm still genial and cooperative.  No one can expect a fire situation, after all. 

And we sit.  And sit.  And sit.  And sit.  The door to the room is open.  At one point, I asked one of the staff where the bathroom was.  They knew I was there.  Unfortunately, that information didn't get to his doctor.  She was in her other exam room, expecting the staff to bring the patients back to that room.  Eventually, the airman who did the prelim stuff on Ian noticed us, did a doubletake and found the doctor.

Now I have to explain that I want this referral.  This would not be too much of a problem, except that Ian's doctor has left us in the hands of a brand new resident.  I don't mind this, I know people have to learn, but she is struggling with the computer system.  So, they tell me I have to go to the developmental pediatrician.  This is fine.  He should probably see Ian at some point anyway.  It just hasn't been pressing since his needs have been met through the school. 

How do I set up the appointment?

Oh, go to the referral center, they'll have it in the computer and make an appointment.  He works out of the adolescent clinic next door.

No, wait.  You don't have to go to the referral center, you can just go over to the adolescent clinic.

No, they call you.

OK, we'll call them.  (And we wait some more)

When she comes back, she says the developmental peds is at Dayton Children's today, but his clinic says he's booked through May and they don't have his June schedule yet.

I politely explain that isn't going to work.  I'm trying to get him services for the summer-- that's the entire point.  Sure, it would be nice to keep it going in the fall, but the real purpose is to help him keep the skills he's learned this year.  School is out June 5th.  If I have to wait until some unspecified time in June to see him and then wait for the referral to be processed, it's going to be almost July or even into July, which makes the whole point moot. 

They decide that since it will be more than 30 days until I can get an appointment with their doctor, they can refer me out to Dayton Children's.  Ok, that's fine, whatever. 

Except that when they call the referral center, the referral folks tell them that they need to explain the situation to the clinic and have the doctor look to see if he can fit us in.  If not, then they will refer us out.  Mind you, he's out today.  It's almost 11:00.  The kids are slowly losing it.  They're hungry and bored.

Supposedly, his primary care doctor is going to see about the appointment and call me back with a time.  That can't happen until tomorrow, because he's off at Childrens.  You know, where they're giving me crap about referring to? . 

We finally get out of there.  I find a phone book at the hospital information desk and look up the number for Ian's school.  It's past 11:00, and I'm not sure when lunch is for the first graders.  If lunch is over, obviously I need to take him to get some food.  If not, I'd rather get him back into his routine ASAP.  Of course, they're eating lunch as I call.

I got them both a chicken nugget happy meal..  At least they get the apples instead of the fries, right?  They eat in the car while I drive Ian to school.  As we're pulling up to the school, I realize I don't have Ian's backpack.  It's 11:35 now, and I'm not going back for it.  I have to bring Sean back (the preschool is across the parking lot from Ian's school) for his class at 12:15.  It's way too early yet to wait at the school, so I take advantage of the time to get backpacks.  

At least he got back into the swing of the day without getting in trouble.   

Needless to say, they haven't called today.  I'm going to call them back in the morning. 

The IEP meeting was fine. Good to hear how well he's doing. 

Current Mood:

frustrated

Woo! 

Then I talked to his Speech Therapist.  She said that ever since he was moved up to first grade, he's suddenly met all of his IEP goals in one big jump.  She was calling me to figure out what we could put down for a speech goal next year for him.  (My answer was negotiating with other kids in situations where he wants to do something and the person he's playing with wants to do something else.  Right now, he's having a hard time coming up with some sort of compromise. He just gets upset.)

At any rate, she is really impressed with his progress as well.  He's going to go down to having speech every other week instead of every week, because she wants to keep him from being dependant on her.

Woo hoo!

So: sum total, Ian is doing very, very well.  The move up to first grade has been really good for him, which is a load off my mind. 

This is the first time I'm going to an IEP meeting without a tension headache and that sick feeling in my stomach.  It is an interesting experience. 

Current Mood:

jubilant

First, from the last entry:  I did take/am taking a break from the choir for a little bit.  I got myself out of the bells for 4/20, but I'll probably come back after that.  We hiatus over the summer, so I suspect our last service until the fall will be Pentecost, May 11th.  I do like playing bells, so I'd hate to miss my last shot until September.  I'm a bit proud of myself, though, that I took this time,  I which I really felt like I needed, despite the fact that it wasn't perfectly convenient for everyone else.  (OK, I feel a little guilty, but I'm trying not to.) 

Not much in the way of big goings on here.  I  guess the biggest thing is the surprise we got for the boys.  We bought a swingset-- a really neat one.  It has a slide, two swings, a two person swing, and...a trampoline.  No kidding, isn't that cool?  It's only a foot or so off the ground, so it doesn't have the maim potential of one of those big ones.  I think we've had every kid on two blocks over at our house the last few days.  We had two really nice days to play on it, and now winter has come on back.  Ugh.

Still, I'll take the nice days we had and try to bank up the energy that the sun and nice weather gave me.  

I'm proud of the swingset since I put most of it together myself.  Matt helped with getting the bracket for the two person swing up and with the slide, and he was the only one of us who was going to be able to get the springs on the trampoline. I tried, but I just couldn't pull them.  We had a good laugh out of the stereotypre reversal when I started off to the garage to assemble a swingset while he made a piano tape I needed for my little choir.   It was also fun because we managed to keep it a complete surprise from the boys until it was out in the yard and staked down, ready to play on.  Their reaction was all we had hoped, too. 

Tomorrow, I'm going to go to the last planning meeting for the high school RE and youth group at church.  I keep thinking about going back to get a teaching credential, so I want to see what I think of being around kids that age.  If I like it, I'll have something to put on an application and hopefully be able to get some reccomendation letters out of it.  If not, at least I know I need to look somewhere else.  They need some new teachers for the high school class in the fall, so they seemed as excited as I was.  I'm trying to branch out somewhat.  I've been pretty insular for a long time.  Kids, home, music, and that's about it.  I've been happier this spring that I have in a while with Jubilee and my little group I direct to stay busy with something a little different.  

My little group is performing the end of the month.  It's finally coming together now, which is a real relief.  I was starting to get very stressed out and scared.  I'm proud of them and myself, though, because I think we're going to pull off some pretty difficult music.  (I hope.)  

Well, I should go take advantage of the time Matt and the boys are out of the house for gymnastics and errands to get some things done.  The upstairs bathrooms are a fright-- I cleaned them, but the floors didn't get done last weekend.  I need to strip beds, too.  

I'd prefer to laze around and try to kick this cough that's been hanging on for a week now.  I'm going to try to take it easy somewhat, too.

Current Mood:

content

Anyway, most of the vigil was good.  The lectors did a beautiful job, I didn't screw up my psalm too much, and the baptisms and confirmations bring back good memories for me of the Vigil when I went through Confirmation, lo, these almost ten years ago now.  (Wow.  That makes me feel OLD.) 

I need a break from the music, though.  I've been singing in church choirs for lo, these almost ten years now, except for six months or so during the transition into military life.  At Kirtland, the music ministry was so small that if I wasn't there, it was a big deal.  Here, there are enough people that I don't think the average parishioner will notice.  Seriously, though, I got here on Saturday, and sang in the choir at St. Helen's on Sunday.  I've been going non-stop like this for a long time.  Doing Stations with Jubilee this year reminded me that being part of the music could be a spiritual enhancement, instead of a distraction.  It's become a job to me.  (And I'm not getting paid, obviously.)  

I'm just worried that people are going to think that I'm angry or frustrated at them.  The directors have gone out of their way this week to thank me for all the work I did with the bell music.  It really made a difference for Easter-- our rehearsal time was so much more productive that we sounded better than I think we have while I was here.  That made the work worthwhile to me.  

I think I'm going to edit myself out of bells for the fourth Sunday of Easter, and that will enforce a break for that long, at least.  Maybe a month is all I need.  We'll see. 

Now, how do I tell the directors?  I'm afraid an email won't come across like I intend it.  Hmmm.

My parents are coming in this afternoon.  They rented a car, so I don't have to go get them at the airport-- it's a good thing, because they would have been sitting around for a while, since their flight arrives at noon and Sean's school starts at 12:15.  It's about 20 minutes to the airport, too. 

We had our last Stations of the Cross performance yesterday.  On one hand, it's been taking up a lot of time.  On the other, I'm so sad, because I loved getting to sing with these people so often.  We have a few more performances lined up, though, so it's not completely over.  

I really have a ton of stuff to do, and I"m procrastinating-- sort of.  I wanted to get one more vegetarian recipe for dinner.  We decided to go meatless through the Triduum, just because.  Good Friday is the only official day of abstinance, but hey, why not?  We have some other plans to start Easter traditions with our family, now that the boys are old enough to understand that Easter is more than bunnies and egg hunts.  We're throwing things at the wall and seeing what will stick.  

OK, must go make grocery list and head to the store.  My parents (well, more my dad) are picky eaters.  They won't be here too long, though, so it's not too hard to plan for-- I just need to pick up a few things.  Sean needs a tub of cool whip for school today.  

Ugh.  My stomach hurts.

Monday,  3/10, A capella choir for holy week rehearsal, bugged out early to go to Jubilee rehearsal.  Got home about 9:30.

Tuesday,  3/11, Skylarks rehearsal, 9:30-11:00 AM.  

Wednesday,  3/12, Bells, 6:00.  Choir, 7:00.  Will probably be home around 9:30.

Thursday, blessedly, is off. 

Friday, 3/14, Jubilee at St Luke's.  Matt is coming so he can videotape it.  Dinner afterwards.

Oh, and I have a houseguest all week.  He leaves on Friday.

Saturday, 3/15, Matt is playing for church.

Sunday, 3/16, is Palm Sunday.  Bells and choir at 10:30 mass.  Rescheduled (snow!) Jubilee performance at 4:00.

Monday, 3/17, Cantor rehearsal, 5:30.  A capella choir at 6:30.   Mom and Dad coming.

Tuesday, 3/18,  Skylarks.

Wednesday, 3/19, Bells and Choir.

Thursday, 3/20,  Maundy Thursday service, 7:00 PM.  Mom and Dad leave.

Friday, 3/21,  Good Friday services, 1:00 PM and 7:00 PM

Saturday, 3/22,  Easter Vigil, 8:45 PM

Sunday, 3/23,  Easter Morning mass, 8:00 and 10:30.  

Monday: Breathe.  Resume normal existence.  

Did I mention I have three brain cells left until Easter?  Yeah.  This is why.

Current Mood:

tired

The only difficult thing is when he comes home with homework that has pretty sketchy instructions, where it's obvious all the other kids have been doing it while Ian was in the other class. 

He told me last night that he tested up another reading level to 3.1.   :o  His IEP goal was to have him reading at 3.0 by the end of the year, so I'm pleased with his progress.  (OK, I'm really proud of him.)  He's also taught himself cursive letters, so I bought him a couple of workbooks so he could learn to put the letters together correctly.  Otherwise, I fiigure he's going to get into a bunch of bad habits we have to break later.  The problem with that is both the husband and hated cursive and haven't used it other than signatures in forever-- so our cursive looks like about a fourth grader's.   :)  Perhaps not the best example for him.  I should have my mom send him a letter-- her cursive is gorgeous.

We're working through a teach-your-kid-to-read book with Sean off and on as he wants to do it.  We stop as he runs out of attention span or gets frustrated.  I wouldn't care that much, but he gets so annoyed that Ian can read and he can't.  He's doing well, though.  The other night, he read an entire first level Bob book to me.  Woo!  (The first level ones are things like "Dot has a dog.  The dog has a hat." but hey, he's three.)

My kids are cool.

</bragging>

I'm happy I can share some of this with you all-- it has been so special to me. 

Essentially, they want to skip him to first grade. He's bored silly in the time he spends in Kindergarten, and the teacher said that she just doesn't have anyone close to the level of challenging him.

Well, that's flattering, I guess. If only it didn't pile up so many other issues.

Like:

What happens next year? He will have been through the entire 1st grade math and reading curriculum. The math hasn't been very challenging for him, but the reading has been a good experience since he was in a higher level group. Skipping him up full time now will mean that he's been through a third of the first grade curriculum in all the other subjects by the end of the year. I'm sure he could handle the academics, but what happens next year?

I'm assuming he'll be spending math and reading with the second graders and going through the first grade stuff he missed. What happens when they hit this point next year, and he's repeating everything? Do we skip him up to 2nd grade? The end of 2nd grade, do we move him to third? That's only going to work until third grade anyway, since they only go k-4 to this school.

After 2nd grade, though, it's all a moot point, since we'll be moving. If we have a kid who is halfway through two grades, what the heck do I do when we go to a new school district?

They're saying that he's fitting in well socially. He has friends in his Kindergarten class. I worry about separating him from his classmates, especially this late in the year. Then again, he's spent part of the time in one 1st grade classroom all year, so he knows some of those kids, too.

I'm reluctant to skip him a full grade since he is a younger kid and has the complicating factor of Asperger's. But if he's bored, I have a hard time making him just sit around.

*sigh* Why does every decision have to be so darned important?

EDITED to add: He's going to start first grade full time on Monday. We'll see how that goes before we worry about next year.

We did manage to find someone so that Matt can go to our Jubilee performance this evening. Still, pisses me off to no end.

Everyone is finally healthy (knock on wood) and that's nice.

I'm exhausted, and I'm ready for Easter so I can have my life calm down a bit. On the other hand, the end of the Jubilee season is a bummer.

I didn't get my grocery store ads in the Sunday paper. *hrumph*

I really need a nap.

Yep. Snow day. Got the phone call a little before 7:00 this morning. Got up, looked out the window, and saw MAYBE an inch of snow on the ground. It changed over to freezing rain about 8:00. So now we have ice on top of snow and it's started just plain raining now.

I hate the weather forecasters here.

I really hate the weather here.

I keep looking at the forecasts for ABQ with longing for the sun and the warmer temperatures. It's done very little but be rainy and cold and lousy since November here. The ground is soggy and squishy, so you really can't even get out and play on the few dry days where it's not frostbite cold and windy.

I look at this, and I think about spending two more winters here and then four more in upstate New York. Then I think about the fact that we'll probably end up coming back here so we can PCA and get the kids through high school. Then I realize that's going to be FOURTEEN years of lousy winters, and I think I'll just slit my wrists now and get it over with.

(OK, that's melodrama, just so everyone knows.)

Ugh.

Ian is coughing quite a bit, but no other symptoms. Matt seems to be on the mend from it.

I have not gotten a cough. I have, however, nearly completely lost my voice. I don't have any other cold symptoms, so I don't know quite why. There's only two things I can think of: I changed allergy medicines from Claritin to Zyrtec, and Matt brought me home a spray of Stargazer Lilies, one more of which opened up in the last few days.

I quit taking the Zyrtec last night. I just made the connection of new blossom about the time the voice loss hit today, so I put the lily in the trash outside. I do have very slightly more voice today-- I still sound like crap, but I can hit a few more notes before my voice completely peters out. I'm trying to stay as silent as I possibly can, which is driving the kids crazy.

The problem: I have the first performance of my wonderful Catholic music group tomorrow evening, and right now I don't know how I would be able to sing in it. I'm so disappointed and upset about this that I could just scream (and I might, if it weren't totally counter-productive).

This freaking sucks.