A Wonderful Time of Year

I love this time of year.....even though the weather is a little whacky right now with it's ups and downs.



The grass is starting to green up, the trees are budding.....the earth is coming alive again! Easter is, by far, my favorite holiday. Mostly because it's in the spring....I love spring! Regardless of the allergies that come along with it! LOL

I just love it!

Can you say M-I-S-E-R-A-B-L-E?

I woke up Sunday (15th) feeling o.k. I was in the process of getting dressed when I noticed I had a chill and my joints and muscles ached. I went downstairs and ate breakfast, then sat in the recliner and covered up trying to warm myself up. I thought "great, I suppose I have a fever"...so I took my temp. and it registered at 100.1! It all went downhill from there. I felt horrible all day. Didn't do much of anything all day. Monday wasn't any better, but I had to work Monday night, so I took some medicine and muttled through it. My nose was plugged up still, but constantly dripping....how is that possible? LOL I was blowing my nose every 10 minutes!! Seriously! Tuesday was even worse. Not only was my nose plugged up, but my ears were too! I was having a hard time hearing what anybody said to me. And the pressure behind my eyes was so painful, all I wanted to do was sleep. I finally broke down and went to the doctor yesterday (Wednesday). I was SOOO miserable!

He listened to my lungs.....asked if I was a smoker...."no, I'm not"....asked if was asthmatic....."not that I'm aware of".....then he looked in my throat and told me I had HUGE tonsils.....he looked in my ears....didn't say anything there. He ordered a steroid injection to help open up my lungs (and I thought he said it would help with my congestion, but I could be wrong...cuz it doesn't seem to be helping it).....and he called in a prescription for Zithromax (antibiotic).....he never really told me what I have....but I'm assuming it's a sinus infection.

I'm still feeling somewhat miserable today.....still have congestion (even though I'm taking decongestants regularly!) and my head aches....but hopefully I can function enough today to get caught up on some housework.....I am SOOOO far behind.....the laundry has piled up, we're running out of clean dishes and the kids have pretty much taken over the entire house as their playroom! Lord, help me! I hope and pray this doesn't last much longer!

This FAMILY NEEDS OUR HELP!

Home... Hands Full, HEARTS Full, Quiver Full!: This FAMILY NEEDS OUR HELP!

Better late than never....

I didn't get my awardees posted yesterday because I was majorly sick....I'm not sure what I have, but I've been running a fever off and on and I feel like I've been hit by a Mack truck! Every joint and muscle in my body aches, I have a sinus headache, sneezing, post-nasal drip, congestion, diarrhea.....I feel like crap! I'm not feeling the greatest today either, but a little better than yesterday.

So anyways, on to the awardees. I only have two.....I'm suppose to have like 6, but I just don't have that many to give it to (most of my followers and the blogs that I follow already have this award)

1) Dawn at "Words from the Heart": I enjoy reading her blogs. And we have children the same age!

2) AiMnE at "Standing Amazed": She's my niece and I love her very much! She's a young mom of 5 children....I don't know how she does it.

Thanks again to Carrie (aka Cozyflier) at "Funk Squared" for giving me this award! :o)

My 2nd Award

Thank you so much to Cozyflier at "Funk Squared" for giving me this award.

I will list my awardees in a post tomorrow.....hubby is tired and wants to go to bed....for some reason he can't go to bed without me....LOL.

So goodnight for now.

Thought 4 My Thursday

My dad sent me this e-mail a couple days ago.....it's kinda scary when you think about it......what's this country coming to? Where will be in 2057?

HIGH SCHOOL -- 1957 vs. 2007

Scenario 1: Jack goes quail hunting before school and then pulls into the school parking lot with his shotgun in his truck's gun rack.

1957 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.

2007 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario 2: Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.

1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.

2007 - Police called and SWAT team arrives -- they arrest both Johnny and Mark. They are both charged them with assault and both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario 3: Jeffrey will not be still in class, he disrupts other students.

1957 - Jeffrey sent to the Principal's office and given a good paddling by the Principal. He then returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.

2007 - Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. He becomes a zombie. He is then tested for ADD. The school gets extra money from the state because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario 4: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.

1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college and becomes a successful businessman.

2007 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang. The state psychologist is told by Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has an affair with the psychologist.

Scenario 5: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.

1957 - Mark shares his aspirin with the Principal out on the smoking dock.

2007 - The police are called and Mark is expelled from school for drug violations. His car is then searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario 6: Pedro fails high school English.

1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English and goes to college.

2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against the state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English is then banned from core curriculum. Pedro is given his diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario 7: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from the Fourth of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle and blows up a red ant bed.

1957 - Ants die.

2007 - ATF, Homeland Security and the FBI are all called. Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. The FBI investigates his parents -- and all siblings are removed from their home and all computers are confiscated. Johnny's dad is placed on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario 8: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.

1957 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.

2007 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.

I've been awarded....

Thank you so much Dena from "Thoughts by Dena" for giving me this award. We have known each other for 10 years now and I'm proud to call her my friend. We've shared good times, bad times and goofy times and I wouldn't trade any of it for the world!

The requirements of this award are as follows:

"These blogs are exceedingly charming. The kind of bloggers that aim to be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of the prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly written text into the body of their award".

Unfortunately, I only have 9 followers....take away Dena, who gave me this award, and one other follower that isn't active, that only leaves me with 7 so, I'm sorry, but I'll be one short.....

1) Jennifer at "Home...Hands Full, Hearts Full, Quiver Full" . The blessing of adoption has tied us together in a way that will last forever. I value her friendship and all the work she does as an advocate for Drug Endangered Children.

2) AiMnE at "Standing Amazed" . She's my niece and I love her very much. I'm so proud of the wonderful person and mom she is!

3) Debi at "Who Says 8 is Enough?" . I've only been following Debi's blog for a couple months, but she is truly amazing! Another adoptive mom, she is a huge inspiration to me.

4) Jenny at "Inside Isaiah" . I've only been following her blog for a couple weeks, but her courage and strength for her son is astounding. I pray for her and her family daily.

5) The Me/The Mom/The Wife at "Life on the Goo Goo Ga Ga" . Incredibly insightful....I love reading her blogs!

6) Tracey at "Just another Mommy Blog" . Again, another blog I've only been following for a short time, but she's down to earth. It's nice to know there's other moms out there that have the same troubles and worries that I have.

7) Allison at "My Present Life" . Yet another blog that I've only just started following. I found out today that we have something in common.....we both love watching Dancing with the Stars!

Hoping this will be the start to many beautiful friendships! Thanks again Dena! :o)

We had our first IEP meeting today

I wasn't sure what to expect, because this is all new territory for me. Maria (the school psychologist) called last week to tell me that Josh had qualified for "special education", but I had no idea what all that entailed. She asked if it would be o.k. if "the team" met at our home and I said "sure"....not really knowing what I was getting myself into.

In a paper she mailed out to me prior to the meeting, it listed the individuals who would be attending the meeting......I started counting the names and five people would be attending! I thought "holy cow!"

It wasn't nearly as bad as I was imagining.....we sat around the dining room table and Maria went over all the information in their report. It was a compilation of all the evaluations done by her, the Physical Therapist and the Occupational Therapist, along with information that I had given her and evaluations by his current preschool teacher.

After signing a bunch of papers and reviewing some goals that they'd like me to work on with him (along with the OT), we were all done in about an hour. He'll be receiving OT visits 3 times a month for 30 minutes each time at our home, and one visit a month at his current preschool for, I think, 15 minutes (I'm not sure what can be acheived in 15 minutes, but I guess we'll see). It's a start anyway.

He'll be finishing the school year out at his current preschool and will attend this other preschool starting this fall.

Wish us luck! :o)

I'm soooo tired!

I love my daughter more than life itself, but I'm at my wits end with her!

When she was 2, we decided it was time for her to move into a "big girl" bed. She was climbing out of her crib and I was worried she would get hurt. I bought side rails to put on her new queen size bed so she wouldn't roll out of bed, and at first it went great. Then she realized that her bed was big enough that Mommy could sleep with her if she insisted enough.....which she did. And oh the guilt if I tried to tell her "no".....so I usually ended up laying down with her until she fell asleep and then I would carefully, acrobatically crawl out of her bed (because the side rails were on, it made it kinda difficult to get out gracefully). Then about 2 or 3 times a night, she would cry "Moooommmyyy" when she realized I wasn't there anymore. So I would go back to her bed until she fell asleep and maneuver my way out of her bed yet again. I was getting so exhausted doing this night after night that I finally gave in one night when she asked if she could sleep with us in our bed......A HUGE MISTAKE now that I look back....LOL.

She is 7 1/2 years old now and just in the last 6 months or so, we were having her sleep in a toddler bed next to ours. We had been discussing moving her into her own bedroom again and she finally decided she wanted to try it.

I start out in her bed till she falls asleep (this is bringing back memories) and then get up and go to my bed. The first night went great....she slept all night.

Then it all went to pot!

She started waking up around 4:00 a.m. and would come into our room and stand on my side of the bed crying.....I wake up and say to her "come on".....I go back to her room and crawl in bed with her. This has been going on for about 2 weeks now. But it's gradually getting earlier and earlier that she wakes up realizing I'm no longer in her bed.

Last night I went to bed with her till she fell asleep and almost stayed there because I knew she would be waking me up sometime in the night to come back to her bed.....which, of course, she did.....until then, however, I was anticipating it and kept waking up expecting her to be standing on my side of the bed...about every hour or so I would wake up. At about 2:30 a.m she showed up in our room, crying. So I got out of bed and drearily wandered back to her room.....but then I couldn't get back to sleep....and when I did, I kept waking up! It was almost like I was in a constant state of half awake/half asleep.....not ever fully awake, but never fully asleep either......I'm sitting here typing this with my eyes half closed.....I'm SOOOO tired!

This has GOT to come to an end....I just don't know how to make her realize it's draining the life out of me. Any suggestions?

Spring is teasing me!

This is the day which the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24

Remember from my previous post "What we woke up to today......" on February 28th what this scene looked like? It's amazing what 5 days can do!

This was taken at 10:00 a.m. and the sun was still in the East, so it's a little off......but it was still amazing to see it....knowing that if I stood outside in the sun, it would feel like 80 degrees! WOW!
Our tree is already starting to bud....it's getting anxious to leaf out.....unfortunately, it's going to be back in the mid 30's by next Monday, so don't get in too big of a toot tree....you have some cold weather to endure yet.

I'm going to get my inside work done now so I can go outside and enjoy this beautiful day! Ta ta for now! :o)

HE QUALIFIED!!!

I got a call today from Maria, the school psychiatrist.....she was one of the "therapists" that evaluated Josh.....and she told me that because of the sensory issues that the OT saw and his behavior issues that he qualifies for the "special" preschool! I have a meeting next Wednesday (March 11th) with a BUNCH of people that will be involved in helping us with him, so I'll know more after that. He'll finish out this year in the preschool that he is currently in. But next fall he will attend the other preschool Monday through Thursday, three hours each day. YAY!! :o)

Words can't express how happy I am that we're finally getting some help for our boy. I want so desperately for him to have a happy, normal childhood. Now, knowing we'll have the resources to help him, makes me realize that my dream for him will come true!

It was also suggested that we get a regular psychiatrist for him. I need to get on that....I just don't know where to start.

The Bachelor ~ Jason Mesnick

I don't know where to start....I'm so upset over how things transpired that I could just spit fire!

When the show started, I wasn't "for" any one girl....I figured I'd wait it out and see how it all breaks down till he got to the final 4......when he eliminated Naomi, I was glad....I didn't care much for her. Then it was the final three.....Jillian, Molly & Melissa......I was torn between Jillian and Melissa.....I totally thought he would keep Melissa and Jillian and send Molly home.......when he sent Jillian home I was stunned! I totally thought she would be the one he was going to end up with.....especially after that steamy night in the hot-tub!!

So, now we're at the final two and I'm gunning for Melissa. She's beautiful, funny, energetic, had a great connection with Ty and, like Jason said, was everything he was looking for. Molly, on the other hand, is also beautiful (in a different way...I don't think she's as pretty as Melissa, but still pretty in her own way). I didn't feel the same connection between she and Jason as I did with Melissa and Jason.....so I was sure it was going to be Melissa. And much to my delight, on the final episode.....HE CHOSE MELISSA!!!! Yeah! WooHoo!! I was so happy for them....the whole scene with them holding each other telling each other they loved one another and then Ty running in and giving them both a hug.....and jumping into the pool.....that was a little crazy.....I mean, those clothes were probably ruined.....but oh well....they probably didn't pay for them anyway...LOL.

And then the "After the Final Rose" epsiode.......BROKE MY HEART!!! I knew something was going to happen when Chris Harrison said that they were keeping it as intimate as possible for the parties involved and that NO studio audience would be involved. Jason came out and talked to Chris and I knew it wasn't going to be good.....he and Melissa weren't together anymore and he was breaking up with her on the show! I felt SOOOO bad for Melissa....you could tell she was crushed, hurt, confused and mad.

I won't judge Jason for doing what he did....I don't know all the details of how their relationship went after the final show.....they had 6 weeks to spend time together and figure things out and apparently it didn't work out. But when he proceeded to then ask Molly if she would give him a second chance.....that kinda made me mad. Ten minutes after dumping Melissa on national T.V., he's kissing and schmoozing the girl he dumped back in New Zealand. I wasn't impressed.

I hope it works out for Jason and Molly. And I hope Melissa finds her one true love. She deserves it after going through all of this.

And that's my take on the latest episode of "The Bachelor ~ Jason Mesnick.

Well....it's Monday.....

We still haven't heard anything from the therapists that evaluated Josh. I went ahead and signed him up (tenatively) for preschool next year at the school he's attending now, just in case. I'm SO hoping that they'll say "yes" he's accepted. I think it will do a WORLD of good for him.

Here's an example of one of Josh's sensory issues. He has an accute sense of smell. Josh and Kylee were sitting in the same chair this morning before breakfast and Kylee was talking and I heard Josh say "Sissy, your breath stinks!"....so, being the ornery big sister that she is, she proceeded to talk and breathe in his face more. He gagged and nearly threw up right there! I told Kylee if she makes him throw up, she was going to have to clean it up! LOL Luckily he didn't throw up. I made him move to a different chair so he wouldn't have to smell sissy's stinky breath....LOL When he was a baby, he would even gag on the smell of his own poopy diapers!