Trudging Along

So obviously I have been slacking and it's been over a month since my last post.   Oops!  We have had a busy busy month.  Plus I went back to night shift so.... I tend to miss out on one of nature's most precious resources...Sleep.  Between sleeping during the day, spending a little time with the boys and the hubs, my timing for this has been lacking.  I need to make a better effort on this front!  

On Thanksgiving day I ran in the annual Turkey Trot 5k in my hometown with one of my new besties, who decided running a 5k at 4 months pregnant was a good idea.  Haha.  I had a blast and ran pretty well considering I had been slacking on getting my runs in consistently.  I ended up finishing 1 minute from placing in my age group.  I could have kicked myself for not pushing just a little bit harder on the run or for slacking in the time prior to the race that I was well informed of.  Oh well, I felt a little better about eating turkey that night!  Oh and did I mention it was soooooo cold that morning.  I like to have thought my fingers and toes were going to break off.  

I really do enjoy running and it provides a nice release and time alone, but this is the 3rd race I have come within a minute of placing in my age group.  Of course the race that I finished 2nd overall for my entire gender was not a medal race so I only have my own satisfaction of doing well.  I guess that will work for now.  Here is Brandi and I after the race!

So we are a few sessions deep now in Caleb's Occupation Therapy for his Sensory Processing Disorder.  I am not sure how well it is working yet as we have not been able to get in weekly like the therapist wants because she is too overbooked so we only get in every 2 weeks.  I raised the issue of this with the front desk worker and miraculously they found openings every week for him to get in.  WEIRD!  Anyway, I guess there is a method to the madness because I swear all it looks like to me when he is there for his hour sessions is structured play.  I am not getting any resources like I was told I would receive and when I raise an issue she doesn't seem to know how to handle it.  For instance, Caleb unfortunately still has accidents more than occasionally which is really frustrating because he knows what he is doing.  So she tells me to reward him for NOT having an accident at the end of the day, and not reward him for when he does what he is supposed to do through out the day.  Okay, this sounds crazy enough that it may work.  What was our nightly reward/bribe, a superhero Popsicle, other wise known as Bomb Pops.  This worked for 2 days and then he didn't care.  She had the nerve to tell me that my reward wasn't great enough for him to care about not having an accident.  Are you kidding me.  We don't give our kid sweets and when he gets a Bomb pop he is on Cloud 9, but that wasn't good enough.  What else was I supposed to get him.   So I bribed him with a trip to the Science Center on our Mommy/Caleb day.  That worked for a day as well, but the day of the trip...Boom, accident.  Was that too not a great enough reward????  We ended up going anyway because I wanted to have quality time with him and we were already close but he was told he was being rewarded for something else.

Caleb received his new vest this week and we got it weighted.  He loves it and loves wearing it.  We cannot thank Vests for Visionaries enough for what they have done for our family.  It was nice when he was wearing it out in public because people told him what a cool Flak jacket he was wearing and did not even realize that it is something for kids with a few special needs.  Here is my super man wearing his awesome vest, you can't see it well, but she sewed a googly eyed monster on the left breast pocket, which fits him oh so well.

We have also decided that Caleb's OT days would now be reserved for Mommy/Caleb dates.  On those days, Gabe goes to daycare so we can have some quality one on one together.  Our first Mommy/Caleb date consisted of OT, a sack lunch in the car, a trip to Bath and Body Works, Sams Club, and a Laser Hair Removal session.  He didn't care.  He loved every minute of it because it was just the two of us.  It was a glorious day.  I didn't have to raise my voice once to him and he listened to everything I told him to do, and had no accident.s  He thought he was big stuff because I let him sit in the front seat of the car (parked in a parking lot of course) to eat his sack lunch that I packed us in my everlasting attempt to save money.  

December 7 was an amazing night.  I was asked a few months back by my awesome Sister in Laws if I wanted to go to the Garth Brooks concert with them.  Well of course, I love him!  So we went.  I was not disappointed.  The man was amazing and so was his beautiful wife.  This was his 4th show during his stop in our city, which began on the 4th, and it was evident he was giving it all he had.  He hardly had a voice left, but he still sounded great.  He was high energy and made 3 encores!   It was a great night and I couldn't have thought of a better way to spend $70 bucks!

My birthday came and went, but we shall not speak of it since it was my 30th.  Really not something I'm excited about, but it's better than the alternative!  I was pretty sad when I was at work and looked at the clock and realized that I was only going to be in my 20's for 90 more minutes.  Oh well...the world still moved along.  Jason did take me to a nice dinner at a fancy restaurant and we were surprised by a couple we are good friends with, so overall it was a good night.  Plus I have taught him well....He bought a Groupon for this crazy expensive restaurant and we only paid for our drinks and the tip basically!

Well Christmas is coming up and I am more than excited for this day.  The ONLY thing Caleb wanted this year from Santa was the Fisher Price Imaginext Batbot.  Well he asked for this back in September and I thought, oh I'll find a better price closer to Christmas, so I waited.  I DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS THE #1 TOY OF THE YEAR!  That bit me in the butt hardcore!  Thanksgiving rolled around and unbeknownst to me, the toy was long gone from store shelves.  I logged on to Amazon to use our Prime shipping and about fell over when I saw that this $64 toy was now price jacked by 3rd party sellers for upwards of $180 or more.  I checked Toys R us, Amazon, Target, and Walmart daily to see if any came in.  No luck.  I looked at Fisher Price's Facebook page and saw that they told other parents that they were not sending any more out for 2014.  Oh no, what am I going to do.  Well as luck would have it, I got on to Amazon a few days ago and all the stars lined up!  BATBOT WAS IN STOCK for $65.  I bought that baby in an instant.  Good thing, because an hour later it was gone and back up to $190 from 3rd party sellers.  The sheer greed of these people to do this to parents who only want to make their kid happy is disgusting.  I get the whole supply and demand thing, but a kids toy...Really?  Have a heart!  Well it arrived and is safe and sound in the house! A weight has been lifted!  

So I will hopefully have some exciting news in the next few months on the job front!  I have to show those who have tried valiantly to push me down that I will not take it.  I am better and stronger than that and I have bright things ahead for me!  I cannot wait to be a new and better ME and say the hell with my detractors!  I have to put this decision in God's hands and pray that all of this is happening for a reason and that everything will work out in the end.  I have to understand that my determination to be the very best cop, mom, and wife that I can be is a strength, not a weakness.  I WILL NOT LET THEM WIN!  I CANNOT WAIT!!

So there is a lot about Caleb in this posting.  Well this posting would not be complete without a little Gabe.  Here is a Why my kid is crying moment.  He was crying and throwing a tantrum because I would not let him eat the Finish Dishwashing tabs.  Yes, you got that right.  He is crying because I am saving his life.  Whaev...He is still totes adorbs!

My New "Normal"

So here we are again!  I apologize for being MIA.  Between the kids, work, and our small social life I didn't have an opportunity to get on here.  That and our computer was out of action since we were having data transferred from our old lap top to this one.

So not too much has happened work wise that I can talk about.  What I can talk about is an amazing man I met while I was on a run through our neighborhood.  I had literally just began my 5k run, I was about a block in, when I saw an older gentleman in a motorized wheelchair/scooter messing with an orange traffic cone that had fallen over.  Everyone in the neighborhood has seen this cone since the city hasn't seen fit to repair the gaping crack it is set on to warn drivers.  The top of the cone had fallen off of the base and the man was making a valiant attempt to replace it so a vehicle did not strike the hazard in the road way.  I saw him struggling with it so I approached him and asked if he needed help.  I was hoping and praying he wasn't going to be a grumpy old man that was too proud to take help when asked.  This man was quite the opposite.  He told me what he was trying to do and then he told me how I needed to put it on. 

Well, being the woman that I am, I didn't listen and I chose to do it the efficient "right" way.  I snapped it on the base and was done in 3 seconds.  He looked at me with amazement and asked how I knew how to do that so quickly.  I stated "Easy, I'm a woman, we know how to do everything!"  He found this to be quite humorous.  He then asked to see my hands.  I showed him, at which time he saw my sparkly wedding ring and stated "Damnit, someone already got you!"  He made me blush!  I decided to stop my run for a minute and have a conversation with this man.  I learned that he was in the Army Infantry during the Korean War.  He told me of a time that his unit was surrounded by thousands of North Koreans when out of nowhere, like Angels, the Marines came in and saved their butts.  He told me that he owed his life to the Marines for that.  I then told him that my husband was a Marine Infantryman.  We talked for a minute about the Marines and the military life in general.  He then asked me what I did.  So of course I told him.  He first asked if I was in the office (like a secretary.)  I said No Sir, I'm a cop.  I told him that I am 1 of 2, soon to be 3 females at our department!  He was impressed.  He went on to tell me about how he was a cop for a short time but he got out of it when he saw how awful his partner was to the people and drunks they were dealing with.  He tried to talk sense into his partner, but he wasn't having any of it, so this man decided that he couldn't be in a job and work with people who behave like that.  He was smart enough to know that all cops are not this way, in fact those cops are the rarity, but he decided he had better things to do in life.  He then asked about my family and if we had kids.  We told him and he immediately was able to describe them from the few walks we have taken that went past his house.  This man's body may be failing him, but his mind is sharp as can be.  He told me my boys were handsome and we were doing a good job.  The man then glanced to his house and told me he better get back.  He told me he is the primary caretaker of his wife who has Alzheimer's so bad that she doesn't know him and she often tries to wander from the house.  I told him it was nice meeting him and he went home and I restarted my run.  It was so heartwarming to be able to help someone like that.  He was all I thought about during my run. 

So Central Scheduling finally called me to schedule an appointment for an evaluation to have our oldest son tested for "Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD.)  For the longest time I have thought something wasn't right with him and everyone kept telling me he was fine, he's just a boy.  I knew deep down that he wasn't "fine."  He had his kindergarten screening by Parents as Teachers and they told me that there were possibly some sensory issues there.  I said okay and shrugged it off as my son needing glasses and that was the reason he was so clumsy.  Then we had our parent-teacher conference.  His Pre-K teacher told us that her daughter has SPD and she saw a lot of the same similarities in her daughter and our son.  I did some research and all of a sudden it CLICKED!  This was the reason my son acts the way he does and I AM NOT A BAD PARENT who's child is out of control.  My biggest fear is having the kind of kid I have to deal with at work on a regular basis and feeling helpless because I couldn't control him.  So here were the reasons I was led to believe our son had SPD....every kid has some of these at one point or another, but the frequency of symptoms made me cry when I realized this was him!

1.Doesn't like to be cuddled/Didn't want to be cuddled as an infant
2.Hated diaper changes
3.Prefers hugs
4.Excessively ticklish
5.Picky eater, will only eat certain foods, will avoid food tastes (sweets for him)
6.Walks on toes-we cannot keep this child in shoes longer than a month
7.craves touch and needs to touch everything he is near
8.is not bothered by injuries that he should feel pain from
9.enjoys and seeks out messy play
10.creates loud noise just to hear the noise
11.Difficulty with fine motor tasks
12. trouble getting to sleep/staying asleep
13. afraid of the dark
14. difficulty potty training
15.Hyperactivity
16. loves to spin/swing
17. thrill seeker (dangerous at times)
18. Easily frustrated
19. avoids eye contact
20. Engages in repetitive play (lines cars up for hours, watches the same show over and over and over again)
21. colic as an infant
---There are many many more, but that was just a snipit of why I believed something was wrong

So anyway, they called for the appointment.  Said we could stay local because they see people as young as 4.  In my head that meant they treat adults and children.  That was NOT who I wanted treated and "fixing" my son.  I wanted someone who worked with children, and ONLY children.  They gave me another number to call for the child development center an hour away.  I called them and she told me they had a cancellation and had an opening on Veteran's Day.  The next available date for an assessment was the middle of December.  I just couldn't wait that long, so I talked to my Lieutenant who is SUPER awesome and he said that we would make it work so I could leave work for a few hours to get this taken care of.  

The day of the assessment came.  I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous.  What if there was nothing wrong with him, what if I imagined all of this in my head.  I was going to be absolutely devastated if this wasn't the answer to what had been going on.  So we got in for the assessment and Caleb immediately took to the Occupational Therapist.  First they played with some sort of sticky gel dough and he had to find "diamonds" in it.  Then he played with sand, then moon/kinetic sand.  Then she put a weighted vest on him and took us to the physical therapy room.  It was so bright and colorful.  There was foam padding all over in red, yellow, and blue.  Caleb played on the swing, then the zip line, then the slide, then the zipline, then the trampoline, then the......You get the picture.  His OT didn't have to spend more than 30 minutes with him for her to see the things we saw.  She said she called him a "Seeker" and she said insurance approved us for 20 OT visits a year so we were going to start this week by coming weekly and getting him back to normal.  She was so caring and she even told Caleb she would learn about dinosaurs just for him so they had something to talk about during their time together.  She gave me patterns for weighted vests, weighted blankets/lap pillows, and weighted lap buddies.  

I felt such a sense of relief.  We FINALLY had an answer to why we couldn't control our kid.  I FINALLY took a breath and thought to myself, "YOU ARE NOT A BAD MOM"  "You didn't cause this."  So I immediately joined some SPD Parent support groups on Facebook, I started researching purchasing weighted items (OMG!)  Those things are crazy expensive.  During my research I came across a company called 'Vests for Visionaries."  I contacted her and told her our story.  She told me that she doesn't charge for the vest and she doesn't weight the vest, but she only would charge for shipping, $7.00.  This angel of a woman takes donated uniforms (mainly military) and converts them in to weighted vests for children.  She puts some accents on them to personalize them  and expects nothing in return.  She put Caleb on her list and said she would be in contact with me in about 3-4 weeks to take care of shipping.  I feel like a weight was lifted off of my shoulders.  I didn't know how we were going to pay for all these things that are not covered by insurance.  She doesn't know it, but she was an answer to a prayer!  

We have continued to have outbursts and meltdowns since the visit.  I cannot wait to get him going with his therapy so he can start feeling like he isn't trapped in his body and my husband and I can get some coping strategies for dealing with meltdowns.  In the last week I have had to pull over twice because he was so upset that he started to get sick.  He was mad because a small hole was in his batman color page and I wouldn't go get a new one from the YMCA when we were halfway home.  That is one example of what we deal with.  Its rough, but I know deep down that others have it worse than us.  I am truly thankful that Caleb is mostly normal, he just needs a little bit of help along the way.  

Today my Sister in law, and her mom (my 2nd mom), and my niece and nephew came over.  We were going to try and figure out how to use my sewing machine so we could make Caleb his very own dinosaur lap pillow.  Well we got to the point of sewing....and FAIL.  Apparently when someone (not naming names, but he shares a bed with me) set it up, we accidentally lost the bobber/bobbin. So being the awesome person Lesa is, she took all my materials and said she was going to ship them to her friend today, have them make a pillow AND a weighted blanket out of what we  had and have it sent back.  Words cannot express how thankful I am for that.  Lesa understood what I was going through and was so supportive of what we are doing for Caleb!  She also told me that for this all to work, that we have to have the support of the ENTIRE family.  They all have to accept this is a real thing for Caleb and they need to support us in helping him get "better."  Ideally I would like to infuse the pillow and blanket with some DoTerra Balance Blend or Lavender when I get them back.  

So enough about that now that I have bored y'all to tears with my "woe is me" story.  Jason and I had the pleasure of attending a marriage seminar for designed for families in law enforcement.  This was presented by "Badge of Hope Ministries" with assistance from "Covered Law Enforcement."  This was an AMAZING day.  WE NEEDED THIS!  We learned about some financial budgeting techniques from Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University that we are giving a try to see how it works.  We heard from Jonathan Parker, Founder of Covered Law Enforcement, as he told us about how his wife dropped dead at his feet a week after delivering their first child and through prayer and the Grace of our Creator, she was brought back to this Earth.  He was told that normally they find out what happened to people like his wife during the autopsy.  She shouldn't have lived but a miracle brought her back.  It was an amazing testament to faith as we heard readings from the book of Nehemiah.  We then heard from Kristi Neace, co-founder of Badge of Hope Ministries.  We learned about why cops act the way they do at home and ways to be supportive of your spouse. This was so important for us because we both go through these things as the spouse and the cop.  Things were never bad between us, but we definitely grew in our love for each other through this and became stronger as a couple.  We are going to make sure we plan monthly date nights so we have time for JUST US.  We are also going to try and live off of a budget.  We are going to use the envelope system for spending cash, groceries, date night, and eating out.  I hope we see our bank account start to climb through this!

So that's about all I have for now. If you are ready this and are familiar with SPD, please reach out to me and tell me what has worked or not worked for you.  I am open to any suggestions at this point!

Helping Others

So here I am again.  Had a busy week and am ready for the weekend off so we can do the whole "Halloween thing" with the boys.

So while working last week I was going about my business.  It was nearing the end of my shift but I saw a car that I was able to stop for a minor violation.  Before I even exited my car, I saw an infant car seat in the back seat, and from where I was, it was evident this seat was not even close to being installed correctly.  I contacted the driver and I told her why I stopped her.  I then asked her about the infant and about the car seat and went in to my car seat lecture.  If you know much about me, I have become somewhat of a car seat Nazi.  I asked her if the base was secured with the latch system or seat belts.  She seemed confused and finally stated it was in with seat belts.  I then asked her older daughter in the back seat to try and wiggle the base of the seat.  It had waaaay to much movement and give.  I also saw the chest clip was at the baby'  groin.  I instructed her on the reason the chest clip needed to be at the chest.  I returned to my car and made sure she had a valid driver's license.  I also called for my partner to come to my stop since he is a certified car seat installer.  I know how to put car seats in, but without that certification there is too much liability involved for me to do it.  At that point I made the decision not to write her ANY traffic tickets, even though I could have had at least 3-4.  She didn't need tickets, she needed a safe car seat install.  My partner and I then went back and talked to her.  She agreed to let him properly install the car seat.  I also helped her with the chest clip placement and tightness of the straps.  Her baby was beautiful.  She had the flawless ebony skin with a little tuft of hair pulled into a tiny bundle with a little headband around her head.  She also had cute little purple studs in her little pierced ears.  She slept the whole time unphased by what was going on.  I educated her on why we were doing what we were doing.  She was soooo thankful.  I noticed her infant seat was expired by around 2 years.  If I had the extra money in my bank, I would have gone and gotten her a convertible seat on the spot since the baby was already 9 months old.  Since I don't have the money to spare, I told her who she could talk to in order to get her sweet baby into a safe car seat.  We finished the car seat install on the side of the road and sent her on her way.  I finished my paperwork for the stop and went back to the station because it was time for shift change and time to go home.  As I was checking my equipment back in, I pulled her license out of my back pocket.  Luckily she told me where she was going so I called the shop real fast and the owner, who knew the driver personally, thanked me again for what we did for her friend and told me they would wait for me to get off work.  I left and returned her license and was again thanked for helping her.  It was a great feeling.  Our job is not always about writing tickets.   Sometimes it's about educating and often about helping.  It warmed my heart to know that she was thankful for what we did in the interest of safety for her baby, I just wished that I could have done more to help.

A few days ago we got to participate in some force on force active shooter training.  It was great training.  Even though it wasn't "real," it still got the adrenaline going.  I didn't get hit with any simunition rounds, but I about took a headshot at the hands of a "bad guy" waiting at the top of the stairwell.  That put some reality in to it.  That is why I don't like stairwells. I dove back around the wall for cover and my team and I gathered ourselves and pressed on.  The "shooter" had retreated so we had to find him, which we did.  He took a few sim rounds and the scenario ended shortly thereafter.  It was a fun training, but the seriousness of it was not lost on any of us.  We all know that this could legitimately happen someday in our jurisdiction so we want to be prepared.  We finished out the day with some live firearms training at the range for a stress course.  Did great until the pie plates.  Those darn things hang me up every time.  My LT did tell me that I was the most efficient in clearing the jam the instructors created on the AR-15 so that felt good to know. 

Sunday I had the pleasure of talking to 2 classes of 2 year olds at a local church about police officers and what we do. They were learning about the "Good Samaritan."  They got to sit in the car and have their picture taken.  They were also given a bunch of coloring books and a sticker for their parents to place on their car seats that identified them in the event of an accident in case their parents were unable to communicate with emergency crews.  They learned about what I carry on my belt and they were told that our job was to help them and keep them safe.  The second class went through a fire drill while I was there.  Before that they talked to a firefighter who taught them about what they do.  It was all good until he masked up...then the TEARS STARTED!  I may have smirked a little.  All I could think was..."they didn't cry for me, hahaha!" 

Wednesday I was honored to help escort a group carrying a flag across the country in a relay similar to the Torch Run for Special Olympics.  This was the Old Glory Coast to Coast relay.  The run began September 11 at the VA Hospital in San Fransico, CA and will end November 9 at Bethesda Navel Hospital in Washington DC.  The run was sponsored by teamrwb.org (Team Red White and Blue) and is trying to raise money for various Veteran Services.  As the run comes through an area, a team can "sponsor" the day.  The daily course can be ran by as many or as few as a daily team needs, just as long as they reach the destination by dusk of that day.  I escorted 2 runners across the river bridge and watched as they handed the Flag off to another runner for her leg of the relay.  I escorted her out of town and was able to snap this pic at a stoplight.  It was a humbling experience and I admire them for what they are doing!

So enough about work.  Let's get in to my crazy boys.  While at home the other day, my husband calls me and tells me that our oldest must have exploded a marker.  There was green marker all over the kitchen floor and the living room wood floor.  He cleaned it up and asked our oldest about it.  He lied and said his little brother did it.  My husband then saw green marker all over the bottom of the oldest's feet.  I feel we need to speak with our son about "spontaneous utterances."  Without saying a word about the marker on the feet, he looked at my husband and said "I'm sorry Daddy, I won't color my feet anymore."  He cleaned him up in the tub and we thought that was the end of it.  We were wrong.  I walked in to the bedroom as we were getting ready to leave a few nights ago and saw my husband had green marker all over his face.  He didn't know why.  The search was on for the marker, since we never recovered it the first time.  We looked and looked and looked.  We also cleaned up more green marker on the floor.  I then happened to look at a foam sword laying on the ground.  It had a point.  This sword should not have a point.  I looked closer and discovered this:

 

Somehow our oldest had shoved a marker in to the tip of the sword.  We had to walk away to keep him from seeing us laugh and applaud his creativity.  He's 4,how did he think to do this.  It was awesome.  It was then discovered that my husband had green marker on his face because he had been sword fighting with our son and took some shots to the face.  AWESOME!!!!!

 

 

So I am making a commitment to myself during this day shift rotation to lose 10 pounds.  That's all I ask for, nothing crazy, but easier said then done.  Since I have hypothyroidism, it has always been twice as hard for me to lose weight.  I began eating better, working out more consistently, and began distance running again.  In two weeks I have lost...are you ready for this...are you sure...2 pounds.  Its very deflating to work so hard and see no results.  I am not fat by any means, but I could stand to lose weight.  I will always have body image issues since my whole teenage existence was spent being the overweight girl that was made fun of behind my back, or so they thought it was behind my back.  It haunts me to this day.  I never want to be that girl again.  My heaviest was 200 pounds.  My lightest 160 and that was after the birth of our oldest.  But I want to lose weight and I know with good support I can.  I need to be held accountable for my workouts and my intake.  I miss my Frappuccino's and comfort foods, but if giving them up is what it takes, then it's what I have to do.  I had stopped distance running for a while, but decided to pick it back up a few weeks ago.  I dropped my 5k time to within 2 minutes of my best time when I was running everyday.  Here is the stopwatch photo:

 

 





Our boys started a new babysitter recently.  We love her.  I already knew her from playing softball together so when we had to suddenly find a new sitter, she told us she was ready to open her business.  We have not regretted the decision.  She has a young boy as well so the boys all play well together.  They do crafts and have a lot of fun. They got to paint pumpkins yesterday!  They loved it.  Our oldest loves Halloween anyway so this was a great activity. 

So it's time for me to go get ready to help my husband's VFW post.  They are having a fish fry and the auxiliary members are serving the food.  We get adult contact and the boys get to see mamaw and papaw so it is a win win! 

So that is all for this installment.  I hope y'all enjoyed!  Feel free to comment about things you would like to see my write about either in my home or work life.

First time Blogger!

So, this is my first time trying this whole "blogging thing."  Anyway, for starters I will introduce myself. 

So my name is Mindy.  I've been married to my husband since 2009 and we have 2 of the most gorgeous sons God could have blessed us with, ages 4 and 20 months.  We also have a fur baby that we adopted in 2008.  He is a Golden Retriever/collie mix.  The boys love him, he doesn't love the boys.  We sound like the typical American family right...married with 2 kids and a dog, but here is the kicker...My hubs and I are both cops!  Now we can throw normal out of the window since our lives are anything but.

When we found out we were pregnant with our second child, my husband had the opportunity to switch to the Civil Division at his department which gained him a Monday through Friday 8-4:30 job with weekends and holidays off.  He's pretty lucky right...not so much.  He has had to step up and play Mr. Mom when I work nights so he becomes mom for the night rotation.  He gets the bathe them, feed them, and put them to bed.  I couldn't ask for a more wonderful man in my life. 

My husband served in the USMC Infantry and was deployed twice, the first deployment being to Nasiriya, Iraq during the initial Iraqi invasion.  His unit suffered heavy losses and saw things that 21 year old men don't need to see.  This haunts him to this day.  We were finally able to get him a PTSD diagnosis and he began receiving treatment through the VA.  He is much better now, but we struggle.  His memory suffers a lot and this in turn causes a lot of frustration for him but all I can do it be there for him. Thank goodness he loves to work out and take care of himself, it gives him an outlet for any pain he is feeling inside and gives him a healthy way to let it out.

My boys...  they are just the best thing since sliced bread, but they could NOT be any more different if I tried.  Our 4 year old is super hyper, can't sit still, and is 100% boy.  The amount of stress this child causes cannot be put in to words.  Nothing like walking in to the living room while cooking dinner to see him (2.5 at the time) standing on the arm of the couch with 2 cushions below. I walked in just in time to hear "I'm Superman" and jumped!  Thank goodness he hit the pillows and he got right back up.  We've not always been so lucky...he has had his share of ER visits but nothing ever more than stitches needed.  Our 4 year old started pre-school this year and got glasses.  Lots of changes.  I can honestly say that I wasn't upset when he started school and I had to try not to smirk at all the SAHM crying as they walked away from the classroom.  I guess it didn't bother me since the boys have been in daycare since they were 8 weeks old.

Our lil guy...He is the sweetest child I have ever met.  He melts my heart when he smiles with his big dimples and shaggy blonde hair (that he was born with.)  He is always happy.  He goes to bed happy and he wakes up happy.  The only time he isn't happy is when it comes to food.  That boy LOVES to eat.  I would certainly have 6 more of him if we could afford it, but sadly we cannot. 

As far as I am concerned... I earned a B.S in Criminology and a B.S. in Sociology in 2007.  I was lucky enough to graduate with Cum Laude Honors.  I went to the police academy in 2007 and was hired with my current department before I graduated.  It was great not having to worry about finding a job.  I am one of 2 women in my department, so its fun.  I was the only one for about 4 years.  I don't mind.  If it wasn't for this job, I would not have met my husband.  We met in jail.  Yes you read that right.  We met in jail.  GASP!  I was dropping prisoners off to his department for housing and he finally gained the courage to come talk to me.  He came to me, kicked his feet back and forth like a shy guy, and started talking.  The rest is history.  He proposed 4 months later.  We told that story at our Catholic Engaged Encounter and you should have seen the look of horror on the faces of these "Good Catholic Kids."  Then we explained it, yet there was one couple in there that shook their head in agreement making us think they really did meet in jail, as inmates.  oops.

So I can't really post specifics about my job because I just can't.  But I will try to chronicle my boring life as a part time SAHM and a full time working woman.  For instance, lil guy had his PAT 18 month screening yesterday.  He excelled, which I knew he would.  There was a parents playgroup afterwards.  We shall not be going back.  It was evident they were all SAHM and had already formed their "group"  I sat next to them and not one effort was made by anyone to make me feel welcome.  I guess this is what being the new kid in school feels like.  To make matters worse, some of the kids were down right mean and their mothers said nothing to them.  One child, who was about lil guys size, took toys away from everyone and proceeded to slap, punch, and push my boy while his mother said NOTHING.   I made my way over to him and pulled lil guy away and gently told the other boy "no hit" and still nothing from his mother.  I let my boys explore and I don't hover, but I will not let another child beat up on my kid while his mother says nothing to him.  We work out at the YMCA and the boys go to child watch where they play with other kids, plus they go to daycare when I work so I think it's safe to say they are socialized.

As much as I love my job, it has made me so skeptical of people.  I don't trust a lot of people and I don't have a lot of friends.  Several of my friends introduce me as "Mindy, my cop friend."  I know this happens but you don't see people introduce their friend as "Susie, the teacher" or "Jessie the hairstylist."  Why does that have to be a thing.  I don't know.  We have gotten close as a couple to another couple from my husband's VFW post which is awesome.  I knew them both in high school and we always got along, but weren't in the 'Hanging out" crowd.  They have never introduced us as cops...I like that.  I also have 280 of the coolest girlfriends ever.  While on an "Exclusively Pumping (breastmilk)" group on Facebook I was introduced to the "February Mommies."  These are the most loving and supportive group of women ever.  We are mommies that were pregnant with due dates in February 2013.  There has been loss and heartache for some mommas, but there have been many rainbows after the loss.  I have been honored and blessed to meet many of these mommies.  While almost all conversations have been behind a computer screen or text messaging, none of the mommy meets have been at all weird.  We just get each other.  We were even blessed to stay with someone whose family has become near and dear to my heart through this group when we vacationed to SoCal.  The Guth's allowed us to stay in their RV in their driveway for a whole week.  It was awesome and we were so sad to leave, but we know that it isn't goodbye, it was just "see ya later"

Hopefully I can entertain y'all with my boring little life and I will try my best to post once a week on here or more if I need to!