More changes....

So yesterday I broke the news that I was quitting my job......

That is not the only decision that Bill and I have made in the last 2 weeks. 

Due to circumstances that came to a head 2 weeks ago (which I will not go into), we have decided to not re-enroll our kids into their private school. Instead we have enrolled them into our local public school system. We had already planned on sending Benjamin to a public preschool due to the services that he needs due to his autism diagnosis. Then we were deciding on Rebecca and Jacob. Jacob will be in Kindergarten in the fall and Rebecca will be in third grade. Jacob is currently on an IEP for vision issues and he receives occupational therapy twice a week at school. Bill and I both suspect that within the next year Jacob is going to need more services, possibly social therapy, etc. The private school that he attends now for preschool is not equipped to handle these types of therapies. So we feel the best place for him is in our local public school. As for Rebecca, she is doing very well academically and socially in the private school. However, I do not want my children to be in 3 different schools. Therefore we have decided to also enroll her in the public school system as well so that she has 2 years to form a social circle of friends before entering middle school. 

It is going to be a HUGE adjustment for our family but we will make it work.  I am confident that we are making the best decision for our family. We have told both kids that they will not be returning next fall and they are sad but also excited to go to a new school and make new friends. I feel that we were okay to tell the kids because that way they would not be shocked in the fall and it gives them time to absorb the news. 

What is really weird is that last year my husband was looking for a job out of state and I finally told him that I felt that things would change after Rebecca finished her 2nd grade year at her current school. My gut was telling me that she would make her First Communion with her class and then things would look very different for our family. Well here we are....Rebecca is set to make her First Communion this weekend and our outlook for our future is very different that what it has been.

 

So....I'm quitting my job.....

Source

You read the title right....I am in the process of quitting my job. 

I am currently in a team leader position (basically I get paid about $1 more per hour than the program assistants) in an after-school care program at my kids' school. I do enjoy my job when I am actually doing the job part of it---working with kids, tutoring them, etc. I don't love the politics that have become very apparent to me in the last couple of weeks (due to events that I will not go into) and I just get the sense that if I don't leave now then things will turn bad both for me professionally and for me personally. My gut is telling me that it is time to move on.

I don't have anything lined up concretely right now. I will finish out this school year (which is another 2 weeks---May 28th will be my last day) and then I will move forward. For the summer, my plan is to tutor and research and see what the market is where I live for becoming a full time tutor.  My dad seems to think that I should look into starting my own extended care type of programming and while the idea is intriquing I can't see it being in place at least for a year or 2. 

Life is definitely going to be different. We are in a position where Bill's salary pays the bills, keeps our shelter over our head and food in our stomachs and my paychecks go toward fun stuff. We will need to really watch our budget but everything is telling me that this is the right move. Honestly I am excited to take this next step, but I am also scared to death that it won't work out and it will affect my kids. I just have to have faith and work hard to make sure that it does work out.

My Mother's Day

I had a nice day yesterday. Bill and the kids let me sleep in and they made me breakfast in bed. They made me turkey bacon and a homemade sausage egg mcmuffin sandwich. It was very sweet as Rebecca really wanted to make me breakfast in bed. LOL

We spent most of the afternoon and evening at my parent's house for a cookout. My dad cooked out hamburgers and hot dogs and I brought over pasta salads (a ranch one and an Italian one), fruit salad and chips and my brother brought over cookies. Overall, we had 15 people there including 6 little kids. The kids had a blast playing outside with each other and it was just a very nice laid back day. My kids gave my mom some sun catchers that they had painted and a painting that Benjamin had done.

Me and my mom

Jacob gave me a picture that he had done in preschool where he was the "I" in "I love you." It was a really cute idea. Rebecca gave me a card that she had made. After we came home the kids gave me a bird feeder that Rebecca had painted and 2 planters for hanging plants. Today, Benjamin and I went to Lowe's and got some begonias and impatiens to put in them. 

Overall, it was a very nice Mother's Day and I am so blessed to not only have a great Mother of my own as a role model, but also to have 3 beautiful kids who make each day worthwhile for me. 

 

I won!

The lovely Sonya Ann over at "A Mom, Money, and More" had a recent giveaway on her blog for an Amazon.com gift card. Wednesday I got an email saying that I won! Yahoo! The last 2 weeks have been really bad, with a lot of stress and not to mention the lovely stomach bug that has taken up residence in our house. So this was a definite bright point in my day and in my last 2 weeks! 

If you haven't had a chance to visit Sonya Ann's blog, please do! It is really great! 

Thanks again Sonya Ann! YOU ROCK! 

The bug that keeps on giving...

Saturday, Rebecca woke up throwing up and not feeling well. After being sick all day Saturday, she woke up Sunday morning like nothing was wrong. She had caught a true 24 hour flu bug.....

Well, Tuesday afternoon, I get a call from Bill while I am at work to please come home because Benjamin was throwing up everywhere....sigh.....He seemed better Tuesday night and woke up smiling on Wednesday morning. However, just as we were getting ready to leave to take Jacob and Rebecca to school, he threw up yet again.....as the day went on though he started acting more like himself and was eating so we continued on with our Wednesday plans...including Rebecca having a softball game. 

After returning home, from softball I got all the kids bathed (they were covered head to toe in dirt!) and in bed, I settled in at the computer to research some upcoming changes in our family (which I will explain in a different post). Around 10:30 I hear Jacob calling out from upstairs..."Mommy, mommy, I threw up!"....Sigh....he had thrown up all over his bed, toys, etc. So I put him back in the tub for his 2nd bath and cleaned up the mess in his room. Thankfully Ben slept through all of this even though they share a bedroom. I then settled Jacob down on the loveseat with a throw up bucket next to him. I put a load of pukey things in the wash and I settled down on the couch for a long night. Jacob threw up 7 times between 10:30pm and 5am. It was a really long night. 

This morning, just as my alarm was getting ready to go off  so I could take Rebecca to school, my husband came downstairs....he was sick.....SIGH......

I got Rebecca up and ready for school as she had a much anticipated field trip today and as we were getting ready to leave I started feeling queasy.....I have not thrown up, but I am just feeling very queasy in my stomach area. I have to go into work for a couple hours today due to lack of coverage.....

This was already a long week (which I will discuss later) but now it is even longer......

Change of plans for today.....

Last night, as I was thinking about today, this is how I thought today would go....

Get up. Shower. Dressed. Bill takes Rebecca to softball opening day and for her team picture. The boys and I join them at the softball fields at 11 for Rebecca's first game. We go out to lunch. Come home and do some laundry and relax....
 
What do they say about best laid plans??

Our reality this morning has been.....

My alarm went off. I reset it. Then I woke up to the sound of what sounded like running water....go into the hallway to find Rebecca throwing up on the bathroom floor.....I get her to the toilet, where she throws up more......Sigh......Apparently the stomach bug that has been going around her school, has hit her. 
She went back to bed with a trash can next to her bed and went back to sleep. 

I checked on her a little bit ago and she said her stomach still hurt a little bit and she was tired....So no softball today at all. She is very disappointed but she needs to get better and rest....

As for my plans....I am not going to plan on relaxing as much. I am hoping to get laundry done (we got way behind this week) and I am hoping that Bill and Jacob can get some yard work done today as well. 

So my plans have changed.....that is just how it goes! Hope everyone else is having a more relaxed Saturday! 

Pizza, pizza on the porch

The weather today in our area was absolutely fantastic. Sunny, not too warm, not too cold. One of the things that I would like to work on is being more intentional in getting the kids outside during nice weather.....so I decided that we needed to have dinner on the porch. 

We do not have a backyard to speak of....our neighbor lets us use his yard to play....but there is a lovely front porch on our house where we keep our patio furniture that was gifted to us several years ago. I decided that today was as good a day as any to wipe down the patio furniture and eat dinner outside. 

Friday night is pizza night at our house. So while the pizza was cooking, I took a bucket of soapy water outside and wiped down the chairs, table and the 2 little tables. I also swept the leaves, etc. off the porch. It looks better. There is still some deep cleaning that needs to be done, but it is better. 

Rebecca, Jacob and Benjamin were super excited to eat outside on the porch. They loved eating their pizza and raspberries and blueberries for dinner. Then they spent about half an hour just dancing and watching their reflection in our storm door. It was a lovely dinner experience!

When the weather is nice, do you eat outside? 

Books that I read for fun in April

Last year, I spent the last half of the year documenting the books that I read for fun.  I have decided that I need to continue that as reading is important part of how I relax. Books that I read for fun are books that I have not been asked to review and that I have chosen to read, well because I like to read.

I did get some things read this past month, maybe as an escape to all that is going on. I don't know. I have found that I am getting into trilogies and series....and so here is what I read for fun in April.... (Disclaimer: if you click on the book picture, it takes you to the page on Amazon.)





Here are the books I read for fun in:

March 2015
February 2015  
January 2015
Books from 2014

Have you read any good books lately?

Wednesday odds and ends

I know, I know I have been a bad blogger....I get inspired, then I write....then I have no inspiration and life gets in the way and I don't know how to put my thoughts onto this here blog. Therefore today, I just have tidbits of this and that to share and that is okay....

First up....this has been a hard, emotional week for me. There are things going on involving decisions that need to be made and it is frustrating to me because it all comes down to finances and I am just ready to throw my arms up and say forget it. 

Source

Secondly....speaking of blogging, I have joined together with a bunch of other bloggers who have formed "Bloggers United" which is a group that is meant to help form a community of bloggers who support and comment on each other's blog to hopefully help each blogger make a little more money on their blog and just to be a supportive group. This group was founded by the lovely Sonya Ann over at "A Mom, Money and More." (You should go read her blog, it is fabulous!) and this group features many of the blogs on my blogroll. (I hope to have it updated soon with a new list of the blogs featured in Bloggers United. 

Thirdly....speaking of Sonya Ann, she is currently enjoying herself in Las Vegas (a place I have never been). While she is away she is hosting a giveaway for a $25 Amazon Gift code. If you want to go enter, please go here to do so....there are many different ways to get an entry into her giveaway! 

Fourthly and finally----it has been a long week and it is only Wednesday....I think that I would like some blueberry-pomegranate chocolate chunk ice cream that I bought earlier today....so I am off. Hope everyone has had a great Wednesday! 

I decluttered all my clothes today...

Today started off good, then went bad, then went good again. 

My dear hubby let me sleep in for a bit. I had to get up around 10 as he had to leave at 10:30 to go to work. I felt off when I got up, but I think that is just because I am not used to sleeping in.... 

Then, I told Rebecca to go get her glasses on. She came to me and the screw in the side was almost out and the side was really loose. I got out my eyeglass kit and went to screw the screw back in and instead the screw fell out and I could not for the life of me get it to go back in or for the holes to even line up. I worked on that thing for over an hour to no avail. I was so frustrated.....

When Bill got back home he suggested we get the kids out of the house for a while. I think he really wanted to get me out of the house.... We went to Walmart to see if their vision center could fix Rebecca's glasses. Thankfully they were able to! YAY! While we were there, I picked up a tote to put camping supplies in and some new socks for Jacob and Rebecca. I think there is a sock monster here in our house because Jacob's socks keep disappearing. I found 4 packs of nice socks on clearance for $2.50. Yay! 

After Walmart, we went to Bob Evans for a late lunch. I had their blueberry brioche french toast. It was really yummy. The service there was lousy though, so I am not sure when/ if we will go back. 

When we came home, I decided to get something done. I had read an article that a friend posted on facebook about minimizing their wardrobe and cleaning out their closets. I had been thinking over the last several days that I have all these clothes and I don't wear most of them because I don't like how they look on me or they are too small, etc. So I decided to tackle my clothes. Here are my before pictures: 

dresser before

closet before (I share with dear Hubby)

 

I went through each dresser drawer and decluttered. Then I went through ALL the clothes and shoes in my closet and tossed the clothes I didn't want on the bed. 

I tried on each piece of clothing and each shoe. What I was left with, is clothes that I really like and will wear. I also ended up with a much neater closet and dresser AND 4 garbage bags FULL of clothes and shoes to donate!

closet after

Dresser after--that is empty space in the drawer!

 

4 bags for Goodwill!

It was really freeing to go through my clothes, etc. Yes I felt guilty because I spent money on these clothes that I never wore. Yet now when I look in my closet I know that I wear EVERYTHING in there and that I like what is in there. I don't feel bad about what is in there because I know that it all looks good on me and I like how it is looks. Hopefully this will make it easier for me to keep on top of laundry and will help me feel better about myself. I highly recommend doing this project for yourself! 

Well I am off....hubby and I are going to have a date night tonight. I think we are going to order pizza and play Scrabble. Should be a fun night. Hope everyone has a great Saturday night! 




  

Thank you and feeling a little better today.....

First of all, I want to say Thank you to all of you who left such sweet comments and words of encouragement on my last post. It has been an emotional roller coaster of a week for me and I think everything just came to a head. Your words of encouragement and prayer really lifted my spirits and helped me to see that I am not alone and that it is okay to be discouraged and overwhelmed. That just makes me human. 

I know that I am overwhelmed because we are in the midst of figuring out what is best for the boys. As Mysti pointed out in her comment on my last post, it does seem like we are doing a lot for Benjamin. That is because he qualifies for these services through our local public school system when he turned 3 years old. He turned 3, April 2. It was recommended that Benjamin not start going to preschool in April for 2 months before summer vacation began. Instead we could have him receive the therapies for those 2 months if we were willing to meet up and take him to the different places. Then we would take the summer off, and in the fall he would enter preschool where he would receive OT, PT, Intervention, and Speech during the preschool hours.  We felt that this was the action that was in the best interest of Benjamin, as I know how important early intervention. And honestly, Benjamin is doing great with the therapies. It is just hard on me...but as his mom, I will do what I need to do to help him have a great start to his life. 

As far as Jacob is concerned, we are in the beginning stages of figuring out his needs. He has been having OT at school since November for a vision issue that we figured out and he is loving that. We have applied for a scholarship to get OT services for him next year when he is in Kindergarten. We will have to see what, if any, other services that he will need next school year. 

It is just very, very overwhelming to comprehend and to live. I will admit that today I felt a little better and I think that is because I get 2 days off from therapy appointments. After Benjamin's OT and Speech appointment this morning, he and I spent the morning running errands and just hanging out. We went to Walmart, a local grocery store to get bacon and hamburgers and to Goodwill. I just needed to focus on other things and just veg for a bit. 

Part of being a mom is also not neglecting or forgetting about Rebecca. Mysti, thank you for pointing that out. I am trying to make an effort to spend at least a little bit of each day with her one-on-one. She is my social butterfly, so I am trying to make sure that we are allowing her to do things she enjoys including being involved in American Heritage Girls, playing softball in our local girls league and just doing other things with her to make her feel special. 

I am trying to be a good mom, and I hope that I am doing enough. One thing I do know is that I will not become an alcoholic because of this. I drink maybe 1 alcoholic drink every 6 months, that is just not my thing. I do need to figure out how to deal with stress though without eating chocolate and carbs! That is my vice. Just have to figure it all out. 

I can see why some people become alcoholics....

I can now see why some people can become alcoholic when dealing with a ton of stress and seeing no other way to deal. 

I have been dealing with a lot lately. 

Benjamin was diagnosed formaly with autism in October of 2014. We have been managing appointments, evaluations and theraphies since then. This has been upped since he turned 3 on April 2. Now we have added in therapies that are being done through our local school district. His schedule (which means my schedule) has become....Speech through our insurance on Mondays, occupational therapy on Tuesday, Board of DD visitation on Wednesday, physical therapy on Thursday, and Intervention OT and speech on Fridays. Our lives have been turned upside down and inside out in order for us to give Benjamin the best possible foundation that we can give him. It is a struggle sometimes and I am overwhelmed but we are taking this day to day. 

As if that was not enough, we, as well as school officials, think that Jacob may also be on the spectrum, but more on the asperger's side. We are having initial testing done next week and we will go from there.  Jacob is a very bright child, however there is definitely some social behaviors that are not normal that he is exhibiting and some other nuances that have been bugging me that seem to be different behavior. 

And if THAT were not enough, my husband, at the age of 43, has been diagnosed with asperger's. To me that diagnosis only puts a name onto some of the quirks that Bill has. He is still the same person that he has been, but it helps to explain why he does and feels certain things certain ways. He has taken the diagnosis hard, but I have to remind him it does not change who he is. It just gives a name to his differences. I don't know what this means for him, but is something that we will have to work through and work with. When Bill called his mom to tell her, she denied that he was diagnosed and is in denial that he falls under the spectrum. 

I don't know what all this means, except it is adding a lot of stress to my life. These 3 men are the center of my life, along with my daughter, and I can only hope I am being the support that they need. There are times that I am frustrated, upset, anxious, overwhelmed, exhausted, etc. by these diagnosis and what the future looks like. I don't know sometimes how I can handle any of this. I just keep putting one foot in front of the other and moving forward because that is the only option I have. 

And if all THAT were not enough, my mother had to have a heart catherization done on Tuesday and she had to have a stent put in as one of her arteries was 95% blocked. She was very close to having her 2nd  heart attack. That scares me because I am so like her in so many ways and I know that heart disease can be hereditary.  Then you add in the everyday stress of busy job schedules and everything else and it is no wonder I am not an alcoholic. 

I am not really sure, why I am sharing all of this. I just need to get it out I guess.

Locked In!!

I was locked-in at school with 25 girls ranging in age from 1st grade to 7th grade!! 

This weekend (Saturday-Sunday) I helped to chaperone a lock-in at my daughter's school. Her American Heritage Girl troop was sponsoring a "Friendship Lock-In." We had 25 girls that attended and I will admit it was a lot of fun. Being one of the troop leaders and the troop shepherd I really needed an effort to be there. 

Our Troop President had lots of fun activities planned, including a friendship obstacle course...

spin the bottle (to paint their nails)...

crafts (they made a Mother's Day gift for their moms and a friendship bracelet for their friends)...

pizza and salad picnic for dinner, and to cap off the evening they watched "Tinkerbell and the Legend of the Neverbeast" on the big screen while munching on popcorn. 

 

We turned lights out at 11:30 with an anticipated wake up call at 7:30. The girls took forever to go to sleep. I haven't heard so much giggling since I was in school ;)  I think I got a total of about 2 hours of sleep. Most of the girls were awake by 7am as well. 

Sunday morning, the girls cleaned up their areas and got ready for mass. One of the things that sets the American Heritage Girls apart from other scouting groups in the emphasis that they put on the Christian faith. So we wanted to end the "lock-in" with all of us going to mass as a group. 

Before mass, two of the board members made homemade cinnamon rolls for the girls for breakfast and then the girls played marco polo before it was time for closing ceremony and heading to mass. After mass, all the girls got picked up by their parents and I came home and crashed. I was so tired, but it was well worth it to hear the laughter of all the girls. They all said that if we did another lock-in they would want to come back so I will take that as a success. 

Have you ever been "locked-in" as a kid or as a chaperone?