tax return

Today my tax return was direct deposited! Yipee. I paid my cards off, scheduled the dogs shots, and am getting my septic tank pumped on Monday. I didn't know that you should get your tank pumped every three years. It's been almost 8 years, oh my. We are going to Sam's club this weekend to stock up on EVERYTHING, and we are going to Lowe's to look at laminate flooring for our bedroom. Gonna pay down the van some, and the rest gets saved for my maternity leave. It felt good to pay off all that stuff.

This weekend we have a birthday party at Chucky Cheese, I would rather have a root canal ( see previous posts to see what I think of root canals). Saturday night I am designated driver for some girls I work with, two of them turned 21 and we are going out drinking, well they are. I believe I am their chaperon and driver for the evening! Just think, I 'm the providing adult supervision. That ought to make ya giggle .

Two whiny days

Brandon has had two whiny, stinker pants days. Bleck. I think he is putting too much pressure on himself at school to get 100's and when he doesn't, it all goes down hill. I think he is not meeting his own expectations, which I believe is an accomplishment for him(I know that sounds strange) . In previous times, he could care less if he did well or not, he truly didn't care if he got in trouble, he would give me an empty "sorry" and be on his way. Lately, he has been feeling proud of himself and if he makes a mistake he will feel terrible if he has done something wrong, or done poorly. So, in some strange way, I think these bad days are good days, I think we are actually making progress of some sort. Always baby steps.

My Talley trip

I had a great time in Tallahassee. I packed Friday night. I woke up early on Saturday to straighten out the van and make sure I had everything packed. I woke the kids up to spend a little time with them before I left. Brandon gave me his valentine and it had his picture on it. He told me to take it with me so if I missed him and forgot what he looked like I could good see him and feel happy again. I smooched my babies, and my baby daddy and headed to my moms to help her load up all her stuff. Bob brought their beagle to my house and we dropped their other dog off at the vet (he has stress related colitis, and gets bloody, mucous diarrhea all over my house when they go away). We gassed up and were on the road. I slept, read, made scrubbies, but mainly slept. We stopped in Gainesville to have lunch with my youngest sister Kari. We had sandwiches and salad at McAllisters and it was good food. We dropped Kari off at her apartment so she could get ready for work and hopped back on the road for Tallahassee. We had Sara meet us at the hotel, got ready, went to Chili's for dinner. I had steak, with loaded mash potatoes, and broccoli and it was SO good. We got to her performance early, and that was a REALLY good thing. Bob went inside to get tickets and they were SOLD OUT, and $35 a piece. He went back inside after sharing the news with us and gave them a sob story, got us tickets and at a discount! The performance was amazing, we saw the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra and was amazed and so proud that my sister was part of it. The first piece was Peter Ilyich Tchiakovsky's Romeo and Juliet, overture-fantasy. This piece reminded me of Bugs Bunny cartoons and Peppy la Pew. I am not very cultured. The second piece (which was my favorite) was by Scott McAllister who was in the audience. He composed the piece with his influence being Nirvana and Alice in Chains. In my opinion there were three parts to the song, and the second being the song Where did you sleep last night? by Nirvana. The clarinet player was one of Sara's professors and he was phenomenal. I didn't realize a clarinet could be played like that, I saw why my sister strives for perfection. The third piece was four different songs. This was written by Robert Schumann and it was Symphony No. 2 in C major, op. 61; sostenuto assai-allegro ma non troppo, allegro vivace, adagio espressivo, and allegro molto vivace. This piece relaxed me and I found myself trying to stay awake. We stayed afterwards and and met her professors. Back to the hotel we went and I went with Sara to her apartment. On the way to her apartment she took me to see the capital building and her campus. I had a good night sleep and we woke up to get ready. Sara had to pack for her audition in Houston and meet a friend somewhere. She dropped me off at the hotel and said her good byes to mom, Bob, and Gram. We then headed off to The Waffle House. I am still thinking about how good it was to eat there! I had a ham and cheese omelet, hash browns, toast, and bacon. Back on the road, stopped in Gainesville to see Kari again, and then back home.

Mom's going to Tallahassee...

Tonight I am packing for Tallahassee. Rick will be spending the weekend kid sitting. Me, my mom, Bob, and Gram are all loading up the mini van and heading up to Tallahassee. On the way we are stopping in Gainesville to visit with my sister Kari and then going to see Sara. We are having dinner and then seeing her music performance. She is a senior in college, and I have never seen her at school since she's been there. She will graduate in May and then is going on for her masters. I am very grateful to NOT be driving the five and half hours. I get to stretch out in the back seat of the van with my pillow, blankie, a good book, my cooler of drinks, my snacks, and my bag of crap to make scrubbies. I'm excited to see both of my sisters apartments.

Brandon got ready by himself!

Brandon is now in second grade. One would think that this being his third year of school, not counting preschool, he would know what he needs to do to get ready for school. Nope. Every morning I put his clothes out and tell him to put them on, tell him to take his meds, brush his teeth, socks and shoes, put his folder in his backpack. Every morning I try to get him to do what's next. It never sinks in. That was until this morning. This morning I woke him up and went to check my email. I came out and he was dressed, with shoes, in the bathroom brushing his teeth. He even took his meds and had his back pack ready! Two weeks ago he served his own dinner. He can fill the bath tub on his own now, and wipe his butt. I am so proud of the progress he has recently made. He is finally growing up, I think....

5 great days at school

Brandon has had 5 great days in a row! He has had 100's all five days-Wed, Thurs, Fri, Mon, and Tues. We are so proud of him. He is now off of gold probation and back to sitting at the gold table and drinking chocolate milk. Life is good....

He did get soap in his mouth for calling us all a bunch of frickin assholes. He screamed that he hated us and said the soap tastes like crap. I told him that the soap tasted fine, it was the asshole that tasted like crap.

Tweens! Horumph..

My tween daughter had her tween friend over this weekend. It was interesting to say the least. It is amazing the transformation that takes over a tween when a peer is in the mix. This girl has been over before, and each time she comes, she is a little less nicer. Kaylin tried to pull all kinds of stunts, and got verbal several times. She pushed all the buttons try to show off and prove that she is in control of the situation. That girl almost got her head knocked off this weekend. She did get yelled at, and probally embarassed, but let me tell you I took it easy on her. After her friend left, I layed down the law and told her if she ever pulled that crap again I woudl call her out in front of her friend, and then drive her friend home.

The meds...

We finally got the Invega back into Brandon. I love my pharmacist, he is the bomb. He helped so much along with me harassing the insurance company and Dr Hubbard’s office it was taken care. And it only took a month!! I was ready to take him to the insurance company and let him throw chairs at THEM, and then see how fast they approved his meds. It’s been a week since he’s been back on it, and we are already seeing him being less of a jerk (which I say with love), he still has a long way to go to get back where he was. That’s what pisses me off the most. The insurance company didn’t only take away a little pill; they took away the last year of progress we made. It also shows me how fragile Brandon and his condition are. Before this mess I was starting to think, “Maybe we can take him off one or two of his meds”, and “maybe he doesn’t need them anymore”. It proved to me that he does most definitely need his meds, and that his meds are doing their job. I used to be one of those parents that was against medicating there kids. I thought it was a tool for parents to use when they didn’t want to deal with the parenting issues that faced them. I now see medication as a foundation for treatment. Medication, with therapy and behavior modification makes it possible for Brandon to think, when before he couldn’t. The more positive brain connections are making the more the bad ones will have a chance to die off letting the new connections grow and thrive. This in turn gives him an opportunity to improve, not just stay at a stand still. In Brandon’s case, medication is about quality of life, for him and us. I can’t see into the future. I don’t know if he will ever be off his medication, or if the meds he is on now will always work. I know what his meds have done, and have seen him without any meds. Brandon is more functional, happy, well rounded, a better student, and the stress level at home has been reduced significantly.