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!