Thankful for blessings

My apologies for the extended time between posts.  The intention was to post shortly after Christmas was over for all of our extended families, but some things came up and time ran away.

We had our first Christmas of the season the Sunday before with my husband's father's family.  It was nice.  There was food, fun, and lots of kids playing.  That's what it's all about.  I could honestly care less if I actually received anything for Christmas so long as my boys have a good time and are thankful for the things they were given.  The boys got these AMAZING chairs from Grandpa and Grandma S.  They are called "Big Joe" chairs.  They are glorified bean bag chairs, but dang comfy, in fact I am sitting in one now typing this.  We got a solid blue one and a camo one.  The boys love them.  They also received blankets and pillow pets.  Oh and this gathering brought out my famous chocolate chip cheesecake!  It was inhaled in less than 10 minutes once it was set out!

The next family Christmas we took part in was for my husband's mother's family.  It was great.  Santa and Mrs. Claus came to visit and the boys were awestruck.  They got a lot of toys.  I didn't think a toy was out there that they didn't have, but our family sure did find it.  Transformers. Rescue Bots, Dinosaurs, and trucks galore!  It was then that I made the decision that some changes were in order when we got home.  That change was an overhaul of the playroom.  

The night cumulated in a power struggle between our oldest and his parents!  He knew it was Christmas Eve and he knew Santa was going to be coming.  He was overcome with excitement.  No matter what we did, he would not sleep.  He heard footsteps above him and KNEW that those had to be Santa's.  He wanted to look but he knew better.  I guess we taught him well.   We FINALLY got him to sleep on the basement futon and we later retreated to our basement futon.  I was JUST about to sleep when I remembered Santa's plate for Cookies.  How could I have forgotten to get that out.  A mad, yet quiet, dash was made up the stairs and out of the house to the car to get the "Cookies for Santa" plate.  I made it back in and set it on the table and prayed my husband's mother would see it and set some cookies out on it!  I discovered the next morning that she remembered the plate roughly at the same time as me and walked out of her room to find the plate sitting there in all its cookie glory.  It just so happened she was having a cookie and milk craving too, so it was perfect.  We slept by the fire and waited for morning.  Our oldest pounced on us shouting "Santa Came!"  We made it upstairs to discover our youngest was also awake.  Let the glorious mess begin.  There were presents galore!  How was this even possible, where did this all come from!

Presents were opened.  Clothes, toys, color books.  You name it, they got it.  We saved the best two presents for last.  What were those gifts you may ask.  Only Batbot and a Ninja Turtle Power Wheel Jeep!  It was a warm day so we let them take a spin on it.  I have never seen a happier child! Oh and Jason got me Laser Hair Removal! WOOT WOOT!!

We made it home and made room for the new toys!  We then made preparations for my father's family Christmas.  I worked the night before (New Years Eve) and had to also work New Years Day night, but I was willing to sacrifice some sleep to spend time with family that I love.  I was looking forward to seeing my cousin who had been ill for the last month with some heart issues, but he seemed to be on the mend.  Around 11 Am I started receiving phone calls from my brother.  I was sleeping and wasn't planning on waking for another 2 hours.  He called again and then his wife text me to call him.  I wasn't sure what was wrong, but I had a gut feeling something was wrong.  He told me Christmas was cancelled and I could tell in his voice that something wasn't right.  I asked him, not truly wanting to hear the answer.  Then he said the words that stabbed me right in the gut "Michael is dead."  What?  How could this be?  He's only 27, he can't be dead.  His heart issue was supposed to be manageable with medications.  He had just been released from the hospital days prior.  We were closer than most of our family knew.  He would call, text, facebook message me at any time of the day.  We had some deep conversations concerning life and his lifestyle.  Was I okay with the lifestyle he chose, not totally and that is because of my Catholic upbringing.  Did I still love him?  You bet your life I loved him and cared about him.  I supported him and was an ear for him to talk to.  I listened to him talk about the American Idol Auditions he took part in.  After 7 or so auditions, he was told he made the second cut with his audition.  He wasn't sure what he wanted to sing, but I think he was leaning toward Lady Gaga, but I could be mistaken.  Its been 4 weeks now.  We still have no answers.  Hopefully time will heal our wounds.  People have speculated as to what they believe happen, but the truth of the matter is, we don't know.  We won't know for several weeks, and I may never know.  All I can do is think of the good times and remember those.  I can also take solace in knowing that his ashes were spread at the feet of his big brother's grave.  His brother. Chris, passed away about 15 years ago after a valiant fight with Cancer.  I know that they are hanging out with grandpa up there checking out deer or whatever else it was that they hunted.  All I know is that I will miss him and our family gatherings will not be the same without him.  

The holidays ended with my family having Christmas at our house.  At our new house.  Apparently when we bought our first house it became tradition to have Christmas in the new house.  So good luck Whit, Y'all are up next year!  My niece got lots of stuff for her play kitchen.  My son got his very own tablet.  He was given a samsund tab 3 lite.  The hope is for my cousin, who is a SPED teacher, and an amazing one at that, to help us put some apps on to assist in his therapy for his SPD.  We haven't seen her yet so the tab still sits empty.  He plays his leap pad and innotab so at least he is getting something there!  

Jason planned a surprise 30th birthday party for me.  It was fun.  I had a great time spending time with my family and Jason's friends that have become my friends, but I was saddened at the same time.  I realized what I truly meant to my "Friends."  I had one friend, that isn't a mutual marriage friend, my sister in law who is one of my best friends, and 1, yes ONE, person from my work.  It hurt that I didn't mean enough to them to come after they told my husband they were coming.  Where were they?  They "forgot."  It hurt to know that I could just be forgotten like that.  I had fun anyway, but having some of MY friends at MY birthday party would have been nice.  I am very appreciative of those that took time out of their night to come make my day special! 

So I was selected by #Influenster to test the new Reese's Peanut Butter Cup spread at no cost to me and write a review.  It was good!  It tasted just like a Reese's and wasn't overpowering.  I put it on toast and it perfectly satisfied my raging sweet tooth!  

So now I get back to planning my son's 2nd birthday.  I can't believe he is going to be two already!  Is it bad that I don't want my baby to grow up.  He still sleeps in his crib.  He is content.  He doesn't try to climb out.  I am in NO hurry to potty train him.  That means the end of having a baby and accepting I now have a toddler.  I'm just going to have to give in and let him grow.  

I hope everyone is feeling better by this weekend for the birthday party and Super Bowl Party.  I'm home taking care of a sick husband, sick 4 year old, and sick myself.  This needs to pass quickly!  If there is anything I can fault our youngest for, it's that I am almost certain this came from him.  I love how he learned to share.  I also love zofran and the new oTC version of zofran!  Its a wonder drug!  And with that I will close.  It's 3 AM and I need to try to sleep before the zoo, also known as my house starts going crazy!

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!