Finally

TA-DA!!!! Here I am!

I am here, I am back, and I am going to make yet another promise to try to be around more frequently for whoever is still reading. Today I will just do an update on everyone and everything, all rolled into one.

I'll start with Carlos. 8th grade this year. I have a child in 8th grade, kinda depressing. But so far so good. His second year of cross country went well. I really do think he found his niche with running. He is good at it. He starts wrestling soon. His grades are good, I think maybe he is finally growing a little, and his attitude, well he is an almost 14 year old boy, what do I expect. I can't complain though, he really is a good kid.

Amber. 2nd grade this year. Not so sure she and her teacher are the greatest match. But what can I do, we're going into November. Her reading level really sky-rocketed last year and she is reading mid-level in her class. Awesomeness, because we were worried for a bit. This year she is very into her clothes and must pick out her own outfits. She loves matching her shoes and earring with her clothes. It's so different for me to see this, having an older boy and this really being the beginning of Amber being interested in what she wears.

Jewel. Kindergarten. Regular kindergarten in our district's school. Yes she still has a lot of in school speech and she is hard to understand at times, but she is a social butterfly. She has sprouted huge wings and is flying. We have discontinued all outpatient therapies for now. She has friends, the kids adore her, the adults adore her, she is learning to deal with her lack of verbal skills with a bit less frustration. She is starting to spell, her mind is a sponge. Again, awesomeness.

John. For 2 months he has had terrible knee pain. After doctor appoints and x-rays and an MRI he finally say an ortho yesterday. Lots of fluid. MRI showed a couple floating objects in the knee but the doctor was not impressed. So John's knee was aspirated and should be feeling better by now. It's not. He has a follow up next week, more aspiration may have to be done. Who knows what from here. I was praying the aspiration would work. The ortho he saw was 'da bomb. So if you are local and need an ortho, I have a recommendation, and he is not booked far out at all.

Me. Well I have chosen yet another career path. I have such lack of focus and direction it is sad. In any case since I last blogged I went back to school to get my home health aide certification back. That's done. Am I working doing that? Nope. I planned on doing it for the next year wile I am attending :::::::drum roll:::::::: massage school. I was >thisclose<>

I guess that's about all. Well probably not. Since I haven't blogged in months I am sure there is lots I left out. Like Jewel's trip to the ER in the middle of the night because she was "so itchy she was going to die." Amber almost passing out after cutting her foot in Home Depot (we have since realized she and the sight of blood don't mix well). Carlos' coming in 29th out of 103 runners in the 2009 County Middle School Cross Country Championships. Yes there has been a lot I missed. Well I didn't miss it, I was here, you all missed it because I was far too lazy to blog about it. But again I promise to try to be more consistent since I know you all miss me so. ;-)

Happy July

Well July is here and looking back on my June blogging, I see I blogged twice. Ut-oh! Bad blogger. I haven't even been keeping up with Wordless Wednesdays. Yes I am a slacker but at least I am consistent, I slack with everything, not just my blog. So let's see what's new?

Carlos is in Puerto Rico with his grandfather. I haven't seen him since June 25th. =( I do miss him, even though we have spoken almost every day. I hate doing his chores too. Jewel misses her big brother the most and has slept in his room every day that he has been gone. She sees boys his age when we are out and the dam breaks, the tears start flowing, she misses Carlos. It's rather sad, but yet so cute. Carlos made honor roll last semester. I am so so so proud of him. Middle school and him mesh well.

Amber has been promoted. Next year she is headed to 2nd grade. She made a huge leap with her reading level between February and June and even was able to exit her basic skills reading class. She is also done with her therapy at Children's and has made a lot of progress with her hoarding issue. Now we sort of have to watch what she throws out because she is a bit over zealous about not saving things.

Jewel has the summer off. She was discharged from OT because her work there was complete, and I took her out of speech because she just needed a break. She was suppose to start again for the summer, but I decided to not have her do it, we're working at home on speech stuff. I again did not send her for summer sessions at school either. Her IEP for next year has been completed and I feel comfortable with it and the fact I can call a new meeting if the need arises at any time. We're still working with the Dynavox (the version 4) and the school is renting her a Version 5 when school resumes in September for four weeks so they can judge for themselves if it would benefit her. I suppose having her evaluated by one of the leading augmentative communication therapists in the state means nothing. Oh well. Although her language skills are no where near where a child her age's should be, the improvements she has made are amazing. We (those who spend a decent amount of time with her) now actually understand her so well we correct her grammar. Yes an unfamiliar ear has a bit of a tougher time with her, but she uses so many cues to help them. She is not letting this get her down and next year will be in a "regular" kindergarten classroom. There will be helpers/aides in there for her and a couple other children, but as far as we can tell she won't need a personal aide.

I am considering signing up for classes at the county college. I have financial aide forms 3/4 of the way filled out, but just can't make myself decide. I have a good idea of what I would like to do, but I am not 100% positive. I sprung this on John, sort of out of left field, and he was shocked. But he said to me he really doesn't care what I decide to do, just do something and stick with it. There's my problem. I have a hard time sticking with anything. Big plans, poor execution. I will not even jinx myself by saying what I am considering taking in college and what I want to do, but I have narrowed it down to two things. Both careers involve children.

No real plans or appointments to keep, only one of the kids is a class, actually two but they are back to back, this summer and it's a voluntary thing that occurs only once a week. I am just going to enjoy my last summer of not working since next year all my children will be in school full time and I need to be a big girl and get my booty back to work. But life is good.

I'm baaaaccccckkkkkkkk

Told you I'd be back. So I guess we'll start with updates. We're all healthy, that's important and something to be thankful for.

Carlos is almost done with 7th grade. He did way better this year than last, when he really slacked off. He has been on the cross country, wrestling, and track and field teams. He seems to have for the most part kept on top of his work despite his sometimes crazy schedule. He's done good.

Amber is almost done with 1st grade. Whether or not she will have to repeat it next year remains to be seen. We have her neurological evaluation coming up this week. It is the first step in the process to see how they can teach her better. We will also try to determine if her inconsistencies in reading and language are learned disorder related. She was put in and after a few months removed from basic skills reading class, because she reached the maximum reading level. She has worked super hard, and has come a long way. She makes me proud.

Jewel. We are removing her from outpatient speech therapy for the remaining part of the school year. We think she needs a break. She is almost done with pre-k and has become a social butterfly. She is also coming close to being discharged from occupational therapy because the majority of her issues are behavioral related and not sensory, although she does have some oral sensory issues. Not surprised, but we are brushing her teeth and with toothpaste, so hooray for small things. We seem to be at a stand still with school and her Dynavox, this will be brought up at her IEP next week. Out loaner device is awesome but with no technical support with it, I am lost. Currently it is not being used because I can't reset one of the vital behaviors on it, without this behavior she can't use it. As for her spoken language she still lags so far behind her peers. Her intelligible language is still hard to understand for the unfamiliar ear. But I still smile every time I have to correct her grammar because that means she is making progress.

John is working. Hard as usual. Now summer is here, well almost here. Summer is rough on him, winter is his thing. Hopefully this summer we'll make it to the beach more and he will be able to relax some. That'd be nice. I am convinced he is getting arthritis in his hands, but tough guy won't go to the doctor.

I am well, the same. An insomniac by night and tired all day. Trying to figure where I should be working come September when the kids are all in school full time. The housing market still sucks so I am not sure if I want to go back to Century 21 right away. John thinks I should. Who knows? I have time to figure it out, I guess.

We're mid-dilemma with one of our dogs. He has shown aggression towards the kids. Not cool. I will be having him fixed in the near future, but still wonder if even that is the right decision or if I should find him a new home, one without children. The kids are upset, and want him to stay with us. It is hard. We're not a give a pet away kind of family, but when safety becomes an issue, we are really left with little choice sometimes as much as it sucks.

I really need to wrap this up and got a certain little 1st grader out of bed and ready for school. As for my renewed commitment to my blog. I will try. I do promise I will do a "Wordless Wednesday" every week and at least one other entry. I am not even sure how many readers I actually have, but I do like that I have to blog to look back on for memories, if nothing else.