Mostly Mommy Moments

I've had so much going on lately that I haven't really taken the time to sit back and think about all the good things. As I'm trying to find more positive than negative, this post will focus (mostly) on the things that make me happy =) First though, let me get the 3 annoying things out of the way that my kids are doing! lol

Number One - Macho might have an ear infection. It could explain why he's been sniffly and stuffy the last week and a half. He has a doctor's appointment in the morning, so we'll see how it goes.

Number two - Beauty still does not know the meaning of the word "quiet." In the mornings, she immediately wakes up and starts playing with her toys, while making very loud noises. I try to convey to her that she needs to keep her voice down so she doesn't wake her brother, but it never works. She always wakes him (and everyone else) up promptly at 7 am.

And finally, Beauty has picked up this extremely annoying habit of jumping constantly! I can't count how many times a day I say, "Stop jumping," "Feet down," "Sit down," or "Don't do that!" I don't know how much more my couches or beds can take!

Ok, now on to my mommy moments; the things that make me happy and bring a smile to my face =D

My kids love sweeping! Every day, Macho asks for his broom AND for Beauty's broom (they each have their own swiffer sweeper). They grab their brooms and they get right to work; it's so cute!

Macho has learned to give bear hugs. Right before I put him down for bed, he puts his head on my shoulder, wraps his arms around as far they can go, and gives his strongest squeeze. I love when he does that!

I can tell I'm teaching my kids well when they start correcting me! It's happened a few times where I've asked Macho to do something and I forgot to say please. Today, I was asking him to move out of the way, so I said, "Excuse me." He looked at me and said, "Excuse me please." lol

Macho has the cutest new little habit of laughing and saying either "That's funny," or "I'm funny." Hubby will make Macho laugh and he says, "Hahaha...that's funny!" Sometimes, Macho will do something silly that makes us laugh, and he'll say, "Haha, I'm funny!" And he always says it with a big cheesy grin; it's so cute!

Last week, Beauty's teacher told me that she was so happy and impressed with how well Beauty is doing in school. She's learned all the kid's names and will say their name when she wants their attention. She's also learning to eat new things during snack time and she assists the teachers with everything. She has also learned to wait her turn and share toys with others without fussing, plus Beauty just recently learned to count up to 29 (we're working on the 30's right now). Also, she's learning to say new words every day and asks to know what something is called if she doesn't know what it is. Her teacher (and I) are both very pleased with her progress!

Lately, we've been working with Beauty to learn to say "want." We first practiced with her requesting her milk in the morning. She learned to say, "Want milk please," and now she's learning to add the word before requesting other things. She 's getting really good at it.

Here's something new Beauty's doing; she's actively looking me in the eyes! It's amazing; I'll be doing something and then notice that Beauty is trying to look in my eyes so she can get my attention. She opens her eyes nice and wide, moves her head in towards mine, and waits until I notice her. Once she has my attention, she says, "Hi!" and then lures me to her room where she'd like me to hand her something she can't reach. I love being able to stare into those big, beautiful hazel eyes of hers!

Beauty has mastered her Smart Cycle (you know, the toy for kids that's similar to a bike, only it doesn't go anywhere?). Up until now, she's been content just playing with the main game (the bus riding down the street collecting letters, shapes, and numbers), but now she's trying out all the little side games. She's really good at them too; one game is a frog game where you have to collect the letters of the word at the bottom of the screen. Since she knows how to read some words, she gets really excited when she sees a word she recognizes (like sun, star, bird). When she sees a word she doesn't recognize, she looks at me and says, "What's that?" I'll spell it and then say the word for her, so now she's learning to read even more words. She sounds so cute when she talks!

And here's the ULTIMATE AWESOME thing that makes me so happy; a few days ago, Beauty asked for seconds at dinner! I'm not kidding; I served her a pancake one night and when she was finished, I began unbuckling her from her booster seat, but she started getting upset. I couldn't figure it out at first, but when I gave her another pancake, she relaxed and started eating it. I was FLOORED! She's never asked for more food before! She's done this twice more since then (only with pancakes so far, but hey, I'll take it!). This makes me so happy! =D

Financial "De-Stressing" (Updated 4/22)

Lately I've been told that I need to calm down and not take everything so seriously (much of this comes after my "episode" last week). I've decided the best way to do this is to use my blog as an outlet. I've tried to avoid ranting a lot in the past, simply so people wouldn't get annoyed reading my blog, but screw it! I'm gonna rant as much as I want, especially if it means it helps calm me down.

So where do I begin? Let's start with finances, and in particular, just how much money we've had to fork out for various things lately! I try so hard to keep an eye on our budget and make sure we're not spending more than we're making, but these last two months have been so crazy:

1-We had to buy a second car for Hubby. Thankfully, we found a great deal from a couple of his friends and we didn't spend that much. However, we're now paying more in car insurance (it would've been much worse if I hadn't shopped around), we have to do emissions & inspections, we have to pay a re-registration fee ($120) AND...we have to pay the DMV about 7% of the purchase price for the car. Why you ask? Taxes. When all is said and done, we have to pay another $400 so the car is properly updated. Geez...

2-We had to pay our new car insurance this month since we switched insurance companies. We pay our insurance every six months, which saves money in the long run, but in the short term it takes a bigger chunk out of your wallet.

3-We recently spent over $400 for all the camping equipment that Hubby needs for his Scout Master position in the church. I guess it could have been worse, but it's still a lot of money!

4-I've had to buy a lot of clothes for the kids recently, namely Macho 'cause he suddenly grew out of all his 2T clothes. I think that was another $150, give or take.

5-This month we also needed to make an extra mortgage payment. We pay our mortage bi-weekly; basically, if your mortgage is 1,000/month, you pay $500 every two weeks. This helps pay the loan off faster and you pay a lot less interest over time. Most of the time, we make payments twice a month, but there are two months out of the year where there's 5 weeks instead of just 4 weeks. This means that during those two months, you make 3 payments instead of just 2 payments. The month of April is one of those months. (I kinda forgot about that when making my budget for this month. Oops...)

6-We just found out we need to replace our water heater. The main reason being we don't have enough hot water to last for a 10-minute shower. We also can't drain it and clean it out 'cause the knob is completely rusted over (I guess previous owners never felt it necessary to drain it). The other reason it needs replacing - it's almost 20-years-old!!! Yeah, it needs to go!

7-We've just paid for a new fence because the old fence has fallen down. I will post another blog with all the details surrounding this situation later. In the meantime, we paid for half the fence now so the fence company can order all the supplies and get everything made. The other half of the fence is being financed, thankfully with 9 months no interest or finance charges. I've done the math and if we pay about $400/month for the next 9 months, we'll have the fence completely paid for before interest or finance charges begin accruing.

Needless to say, I've been a little worried with all these last minute expenses. I mean, we're not so bad that we're living paycheck to paycheck (though we're close), but I'm fearful of anything else "popping up." I sincerely pray that nothing else happens in the next year that needs our immediate attention, financially speaking!

Blogging has helped...my mind feels a bit clearer. Thank you my friends and family for humoring me =)

Oh crap - I got a letter today (4/22) informing us since we switched to a new home insurance company (we did this so we could get a multiple policy discount with our new car ins. co.), we have to pay the first payment ourselves, instead of having it come out of our escrow like it usually does. Apparently it's only for the first payment, and then the next payments will be done through the bank via the escrow account. But this means that we have to shell out another $600 right away!!! GGRRR!

.........ok......back to calming down and de-stressing.

My Trip to the Emergency Room

I was sitting on my couch this afternoon, finally trying to relax. I had just put Macho down for his nap and Beauty was downstairs playing on her Smart Cycle. I made sure all the blinds were closed 'cause I was also trying to nurse away the migraine that had been plaguing me for over an hour. While I was sitting, I started feeling very funny. I began noticing that my vision had become a bit blurry. I could still see, but it wasn't a sharp picture anymore, just blurry outlines. I then began noticing I started to feel a bit light-headed; not totally dizzy, but I tried to stand up and I ended up falling back down on the couch.

I decided to call Hubby to ask if he'd come home and watch the kids so I could lay down (at least, that was the intent of the call). While I was on the phone with him, which couldn't have been more than 2 minutes, my head started hurting more and it felt quite heavy, like I had to lean back because sitting upright was too hard. I also noticed a tingling sensation in my hands, arms, and feet, plus I also began feeling flushed. All of a sudden I felt really warm, like the heat was on, and then I noticed my breathing had become erratic. Hubby told me to hang up and call 911, so I did.

By the time the EMT's showed up, I was sitting on the couch hyperventilating and, of all things, I was crying. I could not control the tears from falling down my face. All I know is my blood pressure was way high (150 over 110) and my chest felt like an elephant was sitting on it. The EMT's brought in a wheelchair, strapped me in, and rolled me out of my house, onto the gurney, and into the ambulance.

While at the hospital, I had two more of these episodes, each one happening the same way as the first. It freaked me out; I had no idea what was going on. The doctors ordered urine and blood tests and a CT scan just to make sure I wasn't having a stroke. The only thing they did right away that helped me was they gave me a mild sedative to help calm me down. I was a horrible patient though; when the nurse came in to give me the sedative, I protested. "I don't want a sedative, I want to go home to my kids!" All I could think about was Beauty and how she'd reacted to all this happening around her. I wanted to get home and hug her and let her know I was ok. Since I wouldn't calm down, yeah, they gave me a sedative, and it worked like a charm =)

I spent the rest of the time just laying in bed relaxing, which was what I needed. I did continue to think about my kids (who were being watched by my BFF Telisha at first, then Marisol came right after she got out of work), but Hubby kept assuring me the kids were fine.

When all was said and done, all the tests came back clear and normal. The doctor said it could've been an anxiety attack or it could be vertigo (an imbalance in the fluid behind the ears). Either way, she gave me a Rx for the same medicine they gave me at the hospital. If this ever happens again, I can take a small pill (0.5 mg) and it'll help calm me down, hopefully before I reach full on hyperventilating. The only drawback to the medication is it causes some drowsiness, so I need to be careful when I take it, 'cause I can't drive Beauty to or from school with that stuff in my system.

So yeah - what a day huh?

Life Has Been Interesting...

Rather than separate the "good" and the "bad" info like I typically do, I'm just too lazy to do it right now! lol So I'll just jumble everything together. Lately, we've had a lot of things pop up that required our attention and taking care of them has been a real juggling act. I wish I could say the circus was over, but in some ways, it's only just beginning. We've also had some really great "bright spots," which are definitely worth mentioning!

1-Our basement toilet broke last week, but thankfully it was an easy fix. Hubby picked up new "guts" for the tank and replaced them. Thank you Awesome Husband! =)

2-We bought a second car so that Husband would have his own transportation for church related activities (and work too). I'm glad we did that, but I wasn't happy AT ALL when I called our insurance co. to add the vehicle to our policy. Our insurance went up nearly triple, which is just ludicrous! I spent an entire 4 hours on the phone last Saturday, calling all the insurance cos. I could think of, trying to find a better rate. Thankfully I did and now we pay only $85 more every 6 months.

3-It's official: Macho is a "terrible two's" toddler! I thought this kicked in early when he was around 20 months old, but I just had no idea! Now that he's almost 27 months, he truly is a little terror half the time! He's become a lot more stubborn, he likes to say "no," and he whines about everything! It's a miracle all my hair hasn't turned gray already.

4-During this last week, there were a couple of times where Beauty woke up singing. She's never done this before and I think it's really adorable. Of course, when you hear what she's singing, then it's just hilarious! When she wakes up, she sings, "I Love Trash!" LOL! We have a Sesame Street DVD with Oscar the Grouch singing "I love trash," and I guess Beauty really likes it. It's just so funny to wake up to the sound of someone singing about garbage!

5-A couple of weeks ago, while I had the kids sitting at the table for lunch, I asked Beauty if she knew where we were going that day. I said, "'Beauty,' do you know where we're going today?" She took a few seconds to think, then she replied, "School." That made me so happy and it still does! It's the first time she's responded to a question without any prompting as to what she was supposed to say. Pretty awesome, right? She's been doing so well recently with putting phrases together too. In the mornings, before we give her her milk, she's learned to say, "Want milk please." I love hearing her speak!

6-One of Macho's new and silly things to do is apologize for everything! He says "sorry" if he sees you drop something, or if you accidentally hit yourself, and of course, he'll say sorry if he does something wrong. Either way, I like his actual speaking voice, which is something I don't hear often enough (normally, all I hear is his loud, obnoxious, and annoying toddler yell).

7-Husband went out last weekend and bought all his camping crap - that's right, I said CRAP! lol I can't stand camping and I don't see the appeal of lugging around a bunch of stuff, setting up a tent, and then sleeping on the lumpy ground freezing your butt off! I just don't get it, but Hubby has to go camping for his church callings, so now we have camping crap in our house. He pretty much has everything he needs (minus 1 or 2 items) and he gets to use these new items in two weeks. We'll see how that goes!

8-Last Sunday, Macho spent the day in nursery and Beauty went to Primary for the first time. I was really nervous about this; Husband had to teach a lesson the third hour, which meant if Macho or Beauty needed me at the same, I'd be hosed. Long story short, Beauty did great in Primary (no meltdowns at all) and Macho didn't need me to go into nursery, not once! He played, he ate his snack, drank his water, colored with crayons, and he was nice and calm the whole time. I hope we can repeat these events next Sunday!

9-We had plans to fix up our yard this summer (if you've seen our backyard, you know it needs a lot of work!). However, due to all the last minute expenses, it looks like we're gonna have to wait till next year. I'm really bummed about this because I can't just let my kids play in our backyard. There are areas that are overgrown with weeds, there's a huge area where the soil isn't soil anymore (it's just dry dirt), there's an old sandbox that the neighborhood cats used all the time (thanks to the former owners of the house), and there's this huge area in the center covered with tree bark and pea gravel. If I let the kids out to play on the playset, I spend most of my time running after Macho, who thinks the weeds are great and the dry dirt is funny when he stomps on it. I don't like this. I can't wait till next year when we can afford to cement the whole thing over!

10-And lastly, the BIGGEST reason we cannot fix our backyard is because we have to replace our fence. It's old, holey, moldy, cracked and part of it has fallen into our neighbors backyard (thank you, Mother Nature, for all the annoying wind!). So, we have to replace the fence and this has been a HUGE PAIN IN THE REAR! Making time to meet with all the estimators (is that a word?) has been difficult and time consuming, not to mention the time researching what kind of fence we'd like to put in. The biggest hassle, however, has been our neighbor to the west of us (let's call him Ted).

Ted believes the old fence is the most BEAUTIFUL fence in the whole world and does not want it removed. Ted believes the fence is his. Ted wants us to keep his side of the fence up, while we build our new fence next to the old one (which would be extremely problematic). Ted also wants us to give him all the wood we're ripping out so he can use it for whatever he wants. What Ted doesn't know is he's not getting ANYTHING he wants! Why? Because the fence is OURS; it's on our property and we're gonna do whatever the heck we want with it! Right now, all I'm waiting for is a piece of paper from Taylorsville City Hall, stating our exact property lines so that when I talk to him, all I have to say is, "Here's proof the fence belongs to us. We're taking it down - end of story!" Of all the crazy neighbors to move next to, we had to end up with the nearly psychotic, loud-mouthed hippy! Just our luck! lol

Anyway, that's what's been going on over here. Oh! And as I type this, it seems like Beauty is getting sick again. OY VAY!

The walk on May 1st is almost here!

Just an update: My sister and I made our goal for our walk! Whoo-hoo! We even raised a little more money on top of that, which is just unbelievable, but that doesn't mean we're not accepting any more donations! Whether or not we made our goal, we need to remember that help is needed from everyone to assist those with autism and to help find a cure. With that said, if you'd like to make a donation, or if you'd like to join us in the walk, please go here.

Thanks again to everyone who's supported us! It's truly appreciated!

(BTW, check out my autism blog: http://speakingonthespectrum.blogspot.com/ )

We're doing GREAT!

Wow - I haven't written a family update since March 17th! I have blogs after that, but they don't talk about the WHOLE family. So, without further ado (I know you're all DYING with anticipation! lol), here's the new update:

Awesome Husband: He is doing an AMAZING job so far in his new callings (refer to blog on March 21st for details). He's been attending all his meetings, writing info down and keeping a calendar, doing the trainings online, and he's had his first meeting with the young men. Though there's a lot more to do, he's really taking it in stride. So far, he's not breaking a sweat. I have a feeling he's going to do some really great things in the church and with the boy scouts in the future.

New Car: A friend of Hubby's decided he didn't need his minivan anymore and offered to sell it to us. Though it's kinda old (1999), it runs great, it's been fully detailed, it has new snow tires and the best part - we can afford to pay it in full! This means we don't need to take out an auto loan and make payments for the next 3-4 years. Yay! What a coincidence that they were selling their car just when we needed another one. Coincidence or divine intervention - you decide!

Me: I've been busy lately with a new blog I dedicated soley to Autism info (http://speakingonthespectrum.blogspot.com/). I just keep coming across so many things that I just had to find a way to share it with those that may be struggling or those just looking for more information. So far, I've posted almost 100 blogs already! Something else that happened recently, at the end of last month, I reached my first weight goal! YAY! That means I've officially lost 30 lbs since September. Now I have 10 lbs to go before I reach my ideal weight. I'm still hoping to pull that off by mid-summer. I've also been trying to squeeze time in to help my BFF edit her book. She's written a 3-part series and it's really interesting. We're hoping to get the first book edited by the end of this year (it's a long time, but when you've got kids, it's harder to make stuff happen!). One more thing: My sister and I have reached our goal for Walk Now for Autism Speaks on May 1st! I can't believe it; I'm so excited about this walk. Now that we've reached our goal, anything we raise over that amount is GRAVY! lol If you'd like to donate, here's the link: General Team Donation (did that work? It's the first time I've used the hyperlink feature! lol Thanks Amy G.!)

Macho: My son is such a sweet little boy. He's always asking me for hugs and kisses, and then asking if it's ok to give a hug and kiss to his sister. He already knows that she's sensitive about her personal space, so he asks me first if it's alright. When I give him the ok, he walks over to her and puts his arms around her, then gives her a kiss and makes a big Muah! sound. I've taught him the word and sign for "share," and he now understands its meaning. He and his sister take turns sharing their toys with each other and they play very well together. One thing I have to figure out with Macho is what to do about his hair! I'm not kidding; it grows so fast and I'm thinking about getting him a REAL haircut, but I don't know what kind yet.

Beauty: My beautiful daughter, what can I say except that I am forever grateful to Heavenly Father for blessing her the way He has these last few months. Her skills and development just continue to amaze me (and her teachers). We recently had a parent/teacher conference, where the teacher told us she's amazed at how quickly Beauty is advancing. There's still miles to go, but we're so grateful at how well she is progressing. In recent weeks, Beauty has learned to hear a word and then spell it outloud! If we say, "Spell cat," she takes a moment and says, "C-A-T." She can now read and spell outloud about 20 words. (Her teacher, btw, said this was a VERY advanced skill). A couple of weeks ago, Husband was playing with the aquadoodle mat and he told Beauty he was going to write "dog." Beauty grabbed a water pen and with perfect penmanship, she wrote D-O-G. Just Amazing!

A couple of other things she's done recently: Beauty has learned how to get on her bike and ride all by herself! It's taken a while for her to learn (we can't practice outside yet 'cause of the snow), but she's pretty much got it now. She was so happy when she figured out how to sit on the bike on her own. Now she rides in the house and when she passes a mirror, she looks at herself and smiles. So cute! Then, last Wednesday, a miracle we've tried duplicating since it first occurred, was repeated about 5-6 times! Beauty sat on the potty again! Husband and I watched as she went back and forth sitting on the potty, then standing up and looking at the potty. Every time she sat down, we cheered and applauded, then she'd stand up to get a hug. I have a feeling I might be able to get her potty trained within the next year! (keeping my fingers crossed)

So yeah, these last couple of weeks have been so great. I'm not saying there haven't been difficulties, but I've tried my best to keep a positive attitude, knowing that God will take the reigns when needed and steer me in the right direction. So far, it seems to be working!