A few things happened in the week following the munchkin's diagnosis that made it easier to come to terms. The first happened at work. A former coworker stopped in and was chatting with all the people he remembered who still worked there. He asked about the boys. I mentioned how I go from being elated that Monkey Boy starts school full time in September to near tears at the same thought. And then I mentioned how we were told the munchkin had autism. Brad started asking some very insightful questions. Then he explained his brother has autism. Growing up together he didn't really pay attention to all that was going on, they're very close in age (year and a half, not sure who is older) So his brother is in his mid to late 20's and has graduated college. And some of the things like the hand posturing when excited are still there but to a much smaller extent. Family and friends don't really think about because to them that is just how he is.
The second came from the service co-ordinator with the school district. She mentioned how she feels Q is on the verge of talking and his cognition is very high. To the point he can match written words to pictures of the same items. She wanted permission to start early reading exercises with him. She also said that the three year old program for children with developmental delay will be good for him. Though she didn't feel the autism program the school distric runs would be a good fit, the children in that program tend to have a lot of behavioral issues in addition to the learning, communication issues. She agreed with me that Q's behavioral problems are entirely age appropriate. She laughed when I mentioned that Q's tantrums aren't nearly as bad as the ones A can throw. (She's met A).
I can usually head off most of his tantrums, the only ones that are hard are the ones caused by Monkey Boy. It doesn't seem to sink in, no matter how many times I explain it, or how many different ways I explain it. The Munchkin plays with things for five maybe ten minutes max. Just let him play he'll put it down and move on to something else. Monkey Boy still rips toys out of his hands. Most the time Munchkin shrugs it off and moves on to something else. Sometimes he protests by pushing MonkeyBoy, then moving on. But certain things will set him into full tantrum. He has a set of Nick Jr books he absolutely loves. He looks through them or brings them to me to read. At the end he closes them and puts them back, you can't inturrupt the routine or you get munchkin on the ground crying, kicking and flailing. It doesn't matter if Monkey Boy was on the otherside of the room playing with something else he will come over and take whatever his brother has in his hands, incuding these books. :sigh:
Oh and the other joy of having boys. Monkey Boy told me the other day as we were coming home from preschool, that he was going to have lots of surprises for me for my birthday. "Girl ones" He sits behind me in the car so with all the car noises I don't always hear everything. I hear this "that was one of your surprises" "What was?" "I burped, it's one of your surprises" "Gee thanks, honey." "Oh that was a boy one."
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Saturday, February 07, 2009
I guess I should give up and just say I'm and occasional poster. It's not that I don't have stories to tell or things to say. It's just at the end ofthe day I'm so burnt out I'd rather just goof off. 4 days a week I'm running until mid afternoon. Sundays I can take it slow but I have to work in the evening. Saturday has been birthday party day whether or not Ken has a wedding to shoot. So Friday is my one day to chill, which I can only kind of do with two kids in the house. Not getting dressed until noon on Friday is one of my small pleasures. I can hop online for 10-15 minute stints during the day but that's not enough time to do anything but read mail and catch up on other people's lives. And when monkey boy is in the house I can't concentrate on much of anything, he knows two volumes loud and screaming. Boy I miss nap times. Then again I cry everytime I think about him starting Kindergarten in the fall.
Anyway what got me to finally post is the munchkin. I took him to Kennedy Kreiger's CARD(Center for Autism and Related Disorders) for follow up testing. Last October we were given a diagnosis of PDD NOS. But the doctor felt he was still a bit young to pin down an exact diagnosis. Friday we were told Autism. I know this seems like a worse diagnosis and even though I was kind of expecting it I was still crying. The doctor was able to put things in perspective for me. She said there is a lot of argument in the field about diagnosis and criteria for the various spectrum disorders. So until things are changed she goes by the criteria listed in the DSM IV. There is specific criteria for both Autism Disorder and Asperger's Syndrome, if a child doesn't fit either one they are given a diagnosis of PDD NOS, kind of a catch all. Within each disorder there is a scale of how severe it is. Any where from severely mental retarded, and needing full time care, to very bright and fully functional. She did say based on the progess he's made, the program we have is a good one. If we find we need more help or different help to let her know and she can help us contact the right people.
This whole thing makes me worry so much for my sweet boy. I know he's bright but I also know he doesn't learn things the way school districts like to box kids into. I'm not worried so much about elementary school, it's when he gets older, middle and high school. Heh I worry about both of them getting to that age. I fear monkey boy won't be challenged enough, in the middle years. I know our high schools have very good advanced and AP classes, it's making sure he gets there.
Well while I was pondering all this I realized what my complaint of lack of creativity the last year really was. My output in 2008 was only slightly down from 2007. What I missed was the easy flow I had from shortly after the munchkin was born until early 2008. It was about this time last year that I started thinking something was wrong. He had his 15 month appointment and was barely walking on his own, only had three words, and had lots of trouble with fine motor skills, didn't turn when his name was called. Our pediatrician suggested hearing testing and if things didn't significantly change he'd suggest additional testing. So basically my head has been in a whole nuther space the last year. I guess knowing for sure is a starting point, and we can figure out where we need to go along the way. But it may be a while before my flow comes back.
Anyway what got me to finally post is the munchkin. I took him to Kennedy Kreiger's CARD(Center for Autism and Related Disorders) for follow up testing. Last October we were given a diagnosis of PDD NOS. But the doctor felt he was still a bit young to pin down an exact diagnosis. Friday we were told Autism. I know this seems like a worse diagnosis and even though I was kind of expecting it I was still crying. The doctor was able to put things in perspective for me. She said there is a lot of argument in the field about diagnosis and criteria for the various spectrum disorders. So until things are changed she goes by the criteria listed in the DSM IV. There is specific criteria for both Autism Disorder and Asperger's Syndrome, if a child doesn't fit either one they are given a diagnosis of PDD NOS, kind of a catch all. Within each disorder there is a scale of how severe it is. Any where from severely mental retarded, and needing full time care, to very bright and fully functional. She did say based on the progess he's made, the program we have is a good one. If we find we need more help or different help to let her know and she can help us contact the right people.
This whole thing makes me worry so much for my sweet boy. I know he's bright but I also know he doesn't learn things the way school districts like to box kids into. I'm not worried so much about elementary school, it's when he gets older, middle and high school. Heh I worry about both of them getting to that age. I fear monkey boy won't be challenged enough, in the middle years. I know our high schools have very good advanced and AP classes, it's making sure he gets there.
Well while I was pondering all this I realized what my complaint of lack of creativity the last year really was. My output in 2008 was only slightly down from 2007. What I missed was the easy flow I had from shortly after the munchkin was born until early 2008. It was about this time last year that I started thinking something was wrong. He had his 15 month appointment and was barely walking on his own, only had three words, and had lots of trouble with fine motor skills, didn't turn when his name was called. Our pediatrician suggested hearing testing and if things didn't significantly change he'd suggest additional testing. So basically my head has been in a whole nuther space the last year. I guess knowing for sure is a starting point, and we can figure out where we need to go along the way. But it may be a while before my flow comes back.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Maybe I'll update everything but for right now the last day or two.
I can't believe it. Alex actually slept in until 7:15 this morning. And yes this is sleeping in he's usually up at 5:30. I think it's because we finally convinced him he doesn't need to sleep with a lamp on. Shortly after his 3rd birthday he was having nightmares (nightmirrors as he calls them) regularly. We couldn't figure out what was causing them, could have just been a cumulation of changes going on at the time. Anyway he wanted to sleep with the overhead light on. I vetoed that immediately. I found an old reading lamp and put it on the otherside of the room. It wasn't really an issue when he was still napping but last spring his naps got very irregular (they're now a thing of the past except when he's sick). I noticed dark circles under his eyes on a regular basis. By late spring as he went to bed he insisted we cover his head with the blanket. At the time I suggested we turn the lamp off. He wasn't having it. This fall I noticed when we visited my mom he had no trouble at all sleeping without a lamp on. Since we were all sharing a room I wasn't giving him an option other than a regular night light. After our last trip up just before Thanksgiving, I decided we'd start turning it off when we went to bed. I have him a warning that we'd start once Ken was on leave for the holidays. Yesterday we went out and Amanda (our sitter) told me when we got home that he didn't want it on at all when he went to bed. He was fine with just his nightlight. Then this morning my little alarm clock over slept.
Alex is a trip lately. He hugged our Christmas tree the day we brought it home. Then last weekend he noticed I had put some things in their stockings. He came into our room and asked if he could see what was in them. I said no, he couldn't look until Christmas eve. Well that set off a wail of ear shattering proportion. I told him it was fine to be upset and he could cry about it but he did not need to scream at the top of his lung about it. So he's standing there in our room quivering a he cried. He actually looked like he was in pain keeping the volume to a normal level. So I told him if he wanted to scream he could go in his room and close his door. I just don't want to hear right next to me. I got up walked him to his room, he sat on the floor then let loose. I got Quin out of bed, dressed him then took him downstairs. A good fifteen minutes later he came down still a little tearful but calm. I'm surprised his throat didn't hurt screaming for that long.
The final Alex thing I'll leave you with will be song lyrics translated by a four year old (or almost 5 year old as he says) Not sure what the song is it was on Disney channel and part of it goes
dig a little deeper, dig a little deeper
well Alex sang as he walked upstairs to bed
"I'm a little tea butt, I'm a little tea butt"
kids are just crazy
I can't believe it. Alex actually slept in until 7:15 this morning. And yes this is sleeping in he's usually up at 5:30. I think it's because we finally convinced him he doesn't need to sleep with a lamp on. Shortly after his 3rd birthday he was having nightmares (nightmirrors as he calls them) regularly. We couldn't figure out what was causing them, could have just been a cumulation of changes going on at the time. Anyway he wanted to sleep with the overhead light on. I vetoed that immediately. I found an old reading lamp and put it on the otherside of the room. It wasn't really an issue when he was still napping but last spring his naps got very irregular (they're now a thing of the past except when he's sick). I noticed dark circles under his eyes on a regular basis. By late spring as he went to bed he insisted we cover his head with the blanket. At the time I suggested we turn the lamp off. He wasn't having it. This fall I noticed when we visited my mom he had no trouble at all sleeping without a lamp on. Since we were all sharing a room I wasn't giving him an option other than a regular night light. After our last trip up just before Thanksgiving, I decided we'd start turning it off when we went to bed. I have him a warning that we'd start once Ken was on leave for the holidays. Yesterday we went out and Amanda (our sitter) told me when we got home that he didn't want it on at all when he went to bed. He was fine with just his nightlight. Then this morning my little alarm clock over slept.
Alex is a trip lately. He hugged our Christmas tree the day we brought it home. Then last weekend he noticed I had put some things in their stockings. He came into our room and asked if he could see what was in them. I said no, he couldn't look until Christmas eve. Well that set off a wail of ear shattering proportion. I told him it was fine to be upset and he could cry about it but he did not need to scream at the top of his lung about it. So he's standing there in our room quivering a he cried. He actually looked like he was in pain keeping the volume to a normal level. So I told him if he wanted to scream he could go in his room and close his door. I just don't want to hear right next to me. I got up walked him to his room, he sat on the floor then let loose. I got Quin out of bed, dressed him then took him downstairs. A good fifteen minutes later he came down still a little tearful but calm. I'm surprised his throat didn't hurt screaming for that long.
The final Alex thing I'll leave you with will be song lyrics translated by a four year old (or almost 5 year old as he says) Not sure what the song is it was on Disney channel and part of it goes
dig a little deeper, dig a little deeper
well Alex sang as he walked upstairs to bed
"I'm a little tea butt, I'm a little tea butt"
kids are just crazy
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Good lord you'd think was avoiding my own blog. I could have sworn I posted in here before now.
This has kind of been sitting in the back of my mind for a couple years. Going into some sort of photography business. Mostly because my husband suggested it after he saw the portraits I took of the boys for our Christmas card right after Quin was born. That combined with what the moms in our playgroup have said tie and again about the stuff I shoot for them, well it got me thinking. Just right now with running here and there for Quin it's not an option. Maybe once he's in the preschool program for the county next fall.
This is from my journal after our trip to Kennedy Krieger:
The good news is that the program co-ordinator who works with Quin feels he's making a lot of progess. She feels he's much more expressive emotionally, laughing, smiling, making eye contact as well as the usualt temper tantrums. But it's good either way. He was so funny at Halloween. Trick or Treating was fun. My train (Alex) petered out a lot earlier than my little bat (Quin). We went around our court then down the block as we rounded the corner Alex said he was tired. So we walked back down the otherside of the street to our court and back to our house. Alex ran up to hang with DH. Quin on the other hand wanted to keep going. So we headed out again and up the street. He was so cute. He had this little flashlight (the boys got them at a party on Tuesday) didn't let go of it the entire time. He'd go up to each house up the steps, as soon as the door opened he'd look in then turn around and head off, to the next set of lights. :lol: An hour later we got back to the house. He still wanted to keep going but the eye rubbing had started and he was having me pick him up more often. So it was bed time. I guess picking a creature of the night for his costume was a good choice. :lol:
So in the midst of some good stuff there is bad. My mom has been having a rough couple years financially. The company she works for merged with another over the summer and things had started to look up. Well the bane of her existance at the old company got her demoted which also means a cut in salary. She was barely making ends meet before. So now her only option is to declare bankruptcy. She's worked so hard to get to partner and that got put on hold when she became BC survivor 5 years ago. 4-5 months of not working in order to recover from surgery basically put her behind and made it easy for this one partner to make her life even more miserable than he already had been for the last few years. I can't wait for the day this snake gets what is coming to him. I just wish there was more I could do for my mom to help her get through all this. The next day when I talked to my mom, she sounded much more grounded. I was in tears the first afternoon listening to her on the phone, and trying very hard not to let her know that. Friday she was asking me what I knew about Feng Shui so that we could set up her new office (cubicle) as well as her office at home, to bring in the good luck/prosperity. Looks like I have to go find my books.
That was my side of the family Ken's side is all drama. I can't even begin to explain it all. What it boils down to is that Su is basically throwing in the towel. No matter what she tries to do to help her dad it's wrong. Ken feels they should both be in a nursing home but that just isn't done in Chinese families. And the older brothers being good sons would never agree to it. So basically it would be the older two siding with my FIL while the younger two, one who is primary caregiver get stepped all over.
And we voluteered to host Thanksgiving this year (decided last year) OY!
So next week we go visit my mom for our early Thanksgiving. Tomorrow I have to be up and at work at the butt crack of dawn for a store meeting. Yes it's holiday time again. This after spending half the day there today because I set up the book fair for Alex's school. At least I can come home and take a nap before I have to be back in for work tomorrow night.
This has kind of been sitting in the back of my mind for a couple years. Going into some sort of photography business. Mostly because my husband suggested it after he saw the portraits I took of the boys for our Christmas card right after Quin was born. That combined with what the moms in our playgroup have said tie and again about the stuff I shoot for them, well it got me thinking. Just right now with running here and there for Quin it's not an option. Maybe once he's in the preschool program for the county next fall.
This is from my journal after our trip to Kennedy Krieger:
Yesterday was a long day. Ken came with us to Quin's Tuesday class. He got to
see how things are run and how Quin does in class. Came home for a quick lunch
dropped Alex at his friend Riley's house. He was in heaven he got to play with
his best friend two days in a row. Then we drove to B-more for Quin's
assessment. It went well but you could tell by the end he was one tired camper.
The doctor basically said his cognitive skills were 18-21 months but his
language skills are still about a year behind. Based on some of the other skills
she tested he falls somewhere between a plain old language delay and PDD
NOS(pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified) though closer to
PDD than language delay. He is interactive and does model other behaviors, and
doesn't require some of the regimented routines autistic children can need. She
said not to be surprised if he still isn't talking six months down the road but
we should start using a few signs like more, all done, eat, drink, sleep just to
help him get his basic needs covered. She did think he probably would be using
signs spontaniously in the next six month though. Besides the music therapy
class we're taking she suggested we play music in the background at home most of
the time because that seems to wake up the part of the brain we need to get him
using language. He will probably have a hard time with reading at first. Doesn't
help that there is dyslexia on my side of the family and reading comprhension
problems on Ken's.All and all she felt with his current therapies he'll be able
to be streamlined out of special education programs at some point. We got home
had dinner then the kids went to be early (exhuasted) Ken and I vegged and got
to be early too. Tonight is a date night. But since Amanda is off ealy I may
have her come over and hit the gym before Ken gets off work.
The good news is that the program co-ordinator who works with Quin feels he's making a lot of progess. She feels he's much more expressive emotionally, laughing, smiling, making eye contact as well as the usualt temper tantrums. But it's good either way. He was so funny at Halloween. Trick or Treating was fun. My train (Alex) petered out a lot earlier than my little bat (Quin). We went around our court then down the block as we rounded the corner Alex said he was tired. So we walked back down the otherside of the street to our court and back to our house. Alex ran up to hang with DH. Quin on the other hand wanted to keep going. So we headed out again and up the street. He was so cute. He had this little flashlight (the boys got them at a party on Tuesday) didn't let go of it the entire time. He'd go up to each house up the steps, as soon as the door opened he'd look in then turn around and head off, to the next set of lights. :lol: An hour later we got back to the house. He still wanted to keep going but the eye rubbing had started and he was having me pick him up more often. So it was bed time. I guess picking a creature of the night for his costume was a good choice. :lol:
So in the midst of some good stuff there is bad. My mom has been having a rough couple years financially. The company she works for merged with another over the summer and things had started to look up. Well the bane of her existance at the old company got her demoted which also means a cut in salary. She was barely making ends meet before. So now her only option is to declare bankruptcy. She's worked so hard to get to partner and that got put on hold when she became BC survivor 5 years ago. 4-5 months of not working in order to recover from surgery basically put her behind and made it easy for this one partner to make her life even more miserable than he already had been for the last few years. I can't wait for the day this snake gets what is coming to him. I just wish there was more I could do for my mom to help her get through all this. The next day when I talked to my mom, she sounded much more grounded. I was in tears the first afternoon listening to her on the phone, and trying very hard not to let her know that. Friday she was asking me what I knew about Feng Shui so that we could set up her new office (cubicle) as well as her office at home, to bring in the good luck/prosperity. Looks like I have to go find my books.
That was my side of the family Ken's side is all drama. I can't even begin to explain it all. What it boils down to is that Su is basically throwing in the towel. No matter what she tries to do to help her dad it's wrong. Ken feels they should both be in a nursing home but that just isn't done in Chinese families. And the older brothers being good sons would never agree to it. So basically it would be the older two siding with my FIL while the younger two, one who is primary caregiver get stepped all over.
And we voluteered to host Thanksgiving this year (decided last year) OY!
So next week we go visit my mom for our early Thanksgiving. Tomorrow I have to be up and at work at the butt crack of dawn for a store meeting. Yes it's holiday time again. This after spending half the day there today because I set up the book fair for Alex's school. At least I can come home and take a nap before I have to be back in for work tomorrow night.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
my usual catch up posting
9/22/2008
Funky surprises today music wise. On Yo GabbaGabba they had the Birthday song from 16 Candles, the one by Altered Images, just not something I was expecting to hear on a kids show.And in the car this morning all of us were bopping along to Say Hey (I love You) by Michael Franti and Spearhead. Very infectious song. http://www.downloads.nl/results/mp3/1/Say+Hey+I+Love+You
Yesterday was bit unusual, Ken is actually leaning democrat this election. Actually he doesn't know which way to go, he's really waiting for the debates but he made a chart on what he feels are key points and is filling in how each canidate stands. In Field and Stream this month they had interviews with both canidates. Ken thought for sure McCain would come out ahead because F&S is for sportsmen and definately has an NRA leaning. But after reading it (he made me read it too) He felt like McCain was talking around the issues, primarily on land use and preservation, and environment. The only thing according to Ken, that he had going for him was the gun issue. Any true sportsman wants preservation of public lands and National parks because if those lands are gone so are the animals. After reading the article my feelings were just reinforced. I think the only good point McCain made was to restore the wetlands along the gulf coast because they would help control flooding after hurricanes. Anyway I can't believe it but this maybe the second presidention election where we'll be voting the same. (He couldn't in good consience re-elect Bush) Normally he votes party line straight down. I haven't done that in a long time. I vote based on canidates and don't base it on party. Must be the moderate in me.
Oh I disagree with the reps on a whole slew of issues but I think the dems try to do too much sometimes. I have yet to vote rep in a presidental race. usually it's the smaller local ones. I usually call myself north of center in terms of political leaning. I'm sure if you talked to a real rep they'd tell you I leaned dem. I grew up in NW PA which is very rep, hence the reason I escaped as soon as I was able. I think the reason I tend to be centerist is spending 15 years in the DC area four while in college, when I was forming a lot of world views. I see wrong being done by both sides and wish for a bit more compromise. Heh, my husband and I disagree on the whole gun thing but I know I won't change his mind and he won't change mine so we just let it go.
I just hope I can introduce my kids to all views/cultures and let them judge based on the values I raise them with. I love letting them listeno all sorts of music, which is partly why I like Backyardigans. It's funny because I have two friends who can't stand the show. One because she says it's too hip hop. My reaction was HUH? yes there are a couple of eps that are hip hop but there are just as many that are polka. The other says it's too ghetto, I just shake my head at that one, I must be a bit ghetto myself if that's the case.
9/29/2008
It just amazes me the difference even three weeks can make in a child. We started Quin in a program called Infants and Toddlers. It's run by our school district for children with developmental delays. Quin gets speech and occupational therapy classes three mornings a week he's also part of a music therapy class on an additional morning. They're really working on his fine motor skills and getting him to at least find non-vocal ways of communicating. I'm sure later on sign language will be taught but as the hand co-ordination isn't there yet we're finding other ways. Anyway he can now put together those simple wooden puzzles. He can stack rings and use one of those shape sorters. We're starting to work on wrist rotation, so those things will get easier. He makes eye contact now when he wants to continue a game. He'll bring things over to me, like his shoes, when he wants to go out. Or he'll go to the pantry and get out what snack he wants and give the bag to me. He's starting to imitate actions used in various song. He at least listens to instructions, sometimes actually following them, heh like most toddlers actually follow instructions when they don't want to. He such a brighter happier child as well lately, though the willfulness of being two has started as well.
Then there is Alex. He's finally been motivated to poop in the potty daily. He earns a star every time he does once he gets twenty he gets a prize. He's so motivated he's been trying to poop twice a day. Sometimes he actually does.What cracks me up are his descriptions of his poop. "I pooped a corn cob today mama." or "I pooped two carrots and a radish." This isn't actually what he ate but what they look like to him.
I had more to say but must go get Monkey boy from school run a few more errands before I leave for work. Which will be very dead tonight as the Ravens are playing the Steelers on Monday Night Football.
10/2/2008
Speaking of older siblings taking the younger one's new toys, that's exactly what happened here the last couple days. At Quinton's birthday party he didn't even get to open his own presents, Alex did. Quin is looking at his own presents like "Hey can I play with that?" We bought an 8x8 bouncer for his present. All the kids got to enjoy that Tuesday. I'm so happy the rain stayed away until after everyone left. 15 kids and 8 adults inside my house would have been nuts. Then yesterday evening when we opened his present from Aunt Su, the first person to play with it was Alex, of course.
Yesterday was Quin's 2 year doctor appointment. He's 28 lbs (I could swear he's heavier) and 35 inches tall. No shots this time but he did get the flu mist. Wwasn't real happy with that, but then he really hates going to the doctor. Our doctor said that even though he's making a lot of progress that we should set up and interview/evaluation with Kennedy Krieger, just to make sure he's getting all the services he needs. So I spent the afternoon on the phone with them. It loks like one of the doctors there is starting a program and Quin may be good for what they're doing, if not we'll have to wait possibly 6 months to get an evaluation from the CARD Center there. If that's the case one of the other pediatricians at our office will do the evaluation because he has a specialty in developmental delays. I swear sometimes he says actually words the problem is it's never when I'm focused on him so, I'm not sure if I heard right or if it's just wishful thinking on my part. Like he'll be in another room and in the midst of his babbling I'll hear a word, or in the morning when I'm still groggy I'll hear something. Ahh well.
I am so totaly geeked, last week was the announcement for CS4. I'm guessing the actual release will be in November. $199 for the upgrade, with my NAPP membership 160ish. I wish I could afford the entire standard design suite but to upgrade to that would be about $800. Not in the budget right now. Doesn't matter I will be absolutely happy to just get my hands on the new photoshop. Maybe I can talk my dad in to giving me the money for christmas, for the upgrade,not the suite. He's generous but not that generous.
So Alex was playing with my old fuji camera, he got some interesting shots. Debating on keeping that camera because we can get about $60 for plus another $75 for old cell phones, which would make a nice amount for christmas presents for the kids. Heh not even going to say what's on my wish list, besides the photoshop upgrade, the new D90 from nikon, would be lovely that and some new lenses. Those will have to be wishes because my SB800 is no longer syncing with my camera, that's the priority. Why does all the good stuff come out at once?
Funky surprises today music wise. On Yo GabbaGabba they had the Birthday song from 16 Candles, the one by Altered Images, just not something I was expecting to hear on a kids show.And in the car this morning all of us were bopping along to Say Hey (I love You) by Michael Franti and Spearhead. Very infectious song. http://www.downloads.nl/results/mp3/1/Say+Hey+I+Love+You
Yesterday was bit unusual, Ken is actually leaning democrat this election. Actually he doesn't know which way to go, he's really waiting for the debates but he made a chart on what he feels are key points and is filling in how each canidate stands. In Field and Stream this month they had interviews with both canidates. Ken thought for sure McCain would come out ahead because F&S is for sportsmen and definately has an NRA leaning. But after reading it (he made me read it too) He felt like McCain was talking around the issues, primarily on land use and preservation, and environment. The only thing according to Ken, that he had going for him was the gun issue. Any true sportsman wants preservation of public lands and National parks because if those lands are gone so are the animals. After reading the article my feelings were just reinforced. I think the only good point McCain made was to restore the wetlands along the gulf coast because they would help control flooding after hurricanes. Anyway I can't believe it but this maybe the second presidention election where we'll be voting the same. (He couldn't in good consience re-elect Bush) Normally he votes party line straight down. I haven't done that in a long time. I vote based on canidates and don't base it on party. Must be the moderate in me.
Oh I disagree with the reps on a whole slew of issues but I think the dems try to do too much sometimes. I have yet to vote rep in a presidental race. usually it's the smaller local ones. I usually call myself north of center in terms of political leaning. I'm sure if you talked to a real rep they'd tell you I leaned dem. I grew up in NW PA which is very rep, hence the reason I escaped as soon as I was able. I think the reason I tend to be centerist is spending 15 years in the DC area four while in college, when I was forming a lot of world views. I see wrong being done by both sides and wish for a bit more compromise. Heh, my husband and I disagree on the whole gun thing but I know I won't change his mind and he won't change mine so we just let it go.
I just hope I can introduce my kids to all views/cultures and let them judge based on the values I raise them with. I love letting them listeno all sorts of music, which is partly why I like Backyardigans. It's funny because I have two friends who can't stand the show. One because she says it's too hip hop. My reaction was HUH? yes there are a couple of eps that are hip hop but there are just as many that are polka. The other says it's too ghetto, I just shake my head at that one, I must be a bit ghetto myself if that's the case.
9/29/2008
It just amazes me the difference even three weeks can make in a child. We started Quin in a program called Infants and Toddlers. It's run by our school district for children with developmental delays. Quin gets speech and occupational therapy classes three mornings a week he's also part of a music therapy class on an additional morning. They're really working on his fine motor skills and getting him to at least find non-vocal ways of communicating. I'm sure later on sign language will be taught but as the hand co-ordination isn't there yet we're finding other ways. Anyway he can now put together those simple wooden puzzles. He can stack rings and use one of those shape sorters. We're starting to work on wrist rotation, so those things will get easier. He makes eye contact now when he wants to continue a game. He'll bring things over to me, like his shoes, when he wants to go out. Or he'll go to the pantry and get out what snack he wants and give the bag to me. He's starting to imitate actions used in various song. He at least listens to instructions, sometimes actually following them, heh like most toddlers actually follow instructions when they don't want to. He such a brighter happier child as well lately, though the willfulness of being two has started as well.
Then there is Alex. He's finally been motivated to poop in the potty daily. He earns a star every time he does once he gets twenty he gets a prize. He's so motivated he's been trying to poop twice a day. Sometimes he actually does.What cracks me up are his descriptions of his poop. "I pooped a corn cob today mama." or "I pooped two carrots and a radish." This isn't actually what he ate but what they look like to him.
I had more to say but must go get Monkey boy from school run a few more errands before I leave for work. Which will be very dead tonight as the Ravens are playing the Steelers on Monday Night Football.
10/2/2008
Speaking of older siblings taking the younger one's new toys, that's exactly what happened here the last couple days. At Quinton's birthday party he didn't even get to open his own presents, Alex did. Quin is looking at his own presents like "Hey can I play with that?" We bought an 8x8 bouncer for his present. All the kids got to enjoy that Tuesday. I'm so happy the rain stayed away until after everyone left. 15 kids and 8 adults inside my house would have been nuts. Then yesterday evening when we opened his present from Aunt Su, the first person to play with it was Alex, of course.
Yesterday was Quin's 2 year doctor appointment. He's 28 lbs (I could swear he's heavier) and 35 inches tall. No shots this time but he did get the flu mist. Wwasn't real happy with that, but then he really hates going to the doctor. Our doctor said that even though he's making a lot of progress that we should set up and interview/evaluation with Kennedy Krieger, just to make sure he's getting all the services he needs. So I spent the afternoon on the phone with them. It loks like one of the doctors there is starting a program and Quin may be good for what they're doing, if not we'll have to wait possibly 6 months to get an evaluation from the CARD Center there. If that's the case one of the other pediatricians at our office will do the evaluation because he has a specialty in developmental delays. I swear sometimes he says actually words the problem is it's never when I'm focused on him so, I'm not sure if I heard right or if it's just wishful thinking on my part. Like he'll be in another room and in the midst of his babbling I'll hear a word, or in the morning when I'm still groggy I'll hear something. Ahh well.
I am so totaly geeked, last week was the announcement for CS4. I'm guessing the actual release will be in November. $199 for the upgrade, with my NAPP membership 160ish. I wish I could afford the entire standard design suite but to upgrade to that would be about $800. Not in the budget right now. Doesn't matter I will be absolutely happy to just get my hands on the new photoshop. Maybe I can talk my dad in to giving me the money for christmas, for the upgrade,not the suite. He's generous but not that generous.
So Alex was playing with my old fuji camera, he got some interesting shots. Debating on keeping that camera because we can get about $60 for plus another $75 for old cell phones, which would make a nice amount for christmas presents for the kids. Heh not even going to say what's on my wish list, besides the photoshop upgrade, the new D90 from nikon, would be lovely that and some new lenses. Those will have to be wishes because my SB800 is no longer syncing with my camera, that's the priority. Why does all the good stuff come out at once?
Sunday, September 14, 2008
No interent arrggghhh
So last Tuesday evening our internet went out. We had this same problem about a month ago after a very heavy rainstorm so I thought maybe that was causing a problem. Last time the day before Comcast was to come out we had our connection back so I cancelled. Well this time we were able to get an appointment much sooner. Turns out it was our splitter. We had our internet on an analog splitter with everything going digital by Feb 2009 they've been switching some stuff over early. And when they did that the analog didn't understand the signal so we go none. Since it was nothing we would have know about we won't be charged for this visit, and are up and running once more.
It's been a weekend for lots of house stuff we had to get the damper for the fireplace replaced. Which was relatively quick and painless. I think the guy was in and out in 20 minutes, he finished up before the rain let loose once more. Then Saturday was comcast followed by a guy giving us a price estimate on new windows. We're really trying to cut down on energy leakage from this house. In a couple weeks we'll be putting a couple more layers of insulation up in the attic. I know in a couple years we'll need to replace the roof, I really wish going solar didn't cost 10-15 thousand dollars because I do that in a heart beat if it was only a few thousand dollars more than a new roof.
Anyway I got back from a crazy evening at work, though the last hour and a half was easy (usually is Sunday nights) before that it was help one customer come back to the Customer service desk to three more. So knowing that you'll understand why I loved this artical I found tonight.
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1692453
It's been a weekend for lots of house stuff we had to get the damper for the fireplace replaced. Which was relatively quick and painless. I think the guy was in and out in 20 minutes, he finished up before the rain let loose once more. Then Saturday was comcast followed by a guy giving us a price estimate on new windows. We're really trying to cut down on energy leakage from this house. In a couple weeks we'll be putting a couple more layers of insulation up in the attic. I know in a couple years we'll need to replace the roof, I really wish going solar didn't cost 10-15 thousand dollars because I do that in a heart beat if it was only a few thousand dollars more than a new roof.
Anyway I got back from a crazy evening at work, though the last hour and a half was easy (usually is Sunday nights) before that it was help one customer come back to the Customer service desk to three more. So knowing that you'll understand why I loved this artical I found tonight.
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1692453
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Bad Blogger
Heh so I've been everywhere but my own blog for the last month. I think my problem is I have stuff I want to say, or get down but the process of typing it out is such a PITA. Luckily I semi keep up with my journal, that way I can pack post stuff. So August pretty much blew by. We went to a wedding in NJ on the 23rd. The week before that I came down with something not sure what. I had super painful gas, hot flashes then chills, and lightheadedness. Silly me took the kids out on a picnic that day, they had fun I was miserable. I got home put Quin down for a nap, Alex settled in the family room, then promptly passed out on the couch in the front room. Woke when Ken got home with every single muscle in my body aching. By dinner time my insides liquified. Went to bed after a bowl of soup, then only thing I ate all day. Woke the next morning feeling fine.
The wedding was fun. Seeing Ken and his buddies from college joking and teasing each other was great. Ken went into wedding photographer mode and took my camera ( he brought a little point and shoot). The couple did have a hired pro but there seemed to be several pros who were guests as well. There was a two hour break between the ceremony and reception a couple of the guys needed to get cards for the bride and groom so we hung out at the B&N in Clinton and chatted in the cafe before going on to Il Tulipano. I didn't realize that when the resturant holds a reception they use the entire restuarnt not just one ballroom. The cocktail hour was in the bar/ garden area. Dancing in dinner was up stairs in the main ball room and the dessert bar was in the other. We got some decent photos even though the charge on my SB-800 started dying early in the reception. Ken said he should have brought his battery pack. Anyway before we knew it , it was almost 11pm. So we got on the road and were home by 2:30. I called our babysitter as we were leaving to let her know what happened. Luckily after 8pm she doesn't have much to do.
So last week I was at my mom's with the boys. Kids this age really are ready to go home after 3-4 days. Quin at least is starting to remember places so he wasn't up until all hours crying like he was the last couple times we visited.
I'm liking school starting back up Alex comes home plays for an hour then passes out on the couch. He was so excitd yesterday to see his friends again. Though he did have a small break down when he found out he wasn't in the monkey room any more. Luckily his teach from the monkey room moved to the tiger room so he has that consistancy. I picked him up and his buddy Cole asked if Alex could come over to his house and stay the night. Guess his friends missed him too.
Next week Quin starts with the infant and toddlers program. Speech and Occupational therapy,three days a week for 90 minutes. He is making progress on his own in terms of parallel play and communicating by either taking my hand to guide me or getting things (like snacks) and handing them to me to open. I know he understands what we say because a couple times I've asked him something and I get a very emphatic shake of the head no.
Aug 6 2008
Proud moment yesterday My monkey boy got his first pair of Coverse All Stars. We'd gone out for a birthday party at a resturant in the mall on the way out there was a shoe store and Alex wanted to go in. He desperately needed new sneakers but he won't wear the slip ons we bought at the beginning of the summer. He wore holes in he toes of his current pair. So I said okay and we went in he's at an in between size, top end of the toddler sizes bottom end of the boys, so we have to really try on shoe. Not a lot of selection in the smaller size in this particular store so I go looking in boys and find I'm not quiet ready to pay 30+ on shoes for Alex. But they had the All Stars on sale and I loved mine all through high school and college. So I showed them to him and he tried them on. Wanted to wear them home. He was bouncing all over the place showing them off to everyone walking by. Makes a mom proud.
Aug 3, 2008
I’m still feeling a bit turned around and I’ve been home almost a week now. My flight to San Jose was at 6am Friday morning. Which means I left my house around 4 am. Everything was pretty uneventful going out. I got in around 11am CA time. So I was really early to the hotel check in wasn’t supposed to be until 3pm. I figured I would see if anything was ready anyway. Lucky me they did have something ready. As I was checking in a woman walked up to me and said “DSP?” So even before I went up to my room I was meeting new friends and was invited to lunch. I have to say I met some really great people on this trip. There was supposed to be a photowalk for a group of 40 of us or so at 4pm. But the ladies I went to lunch with suggested doing one of our own as we looked for a place to eat. We ended up at E&O Trading Company. The food was very good, a mix of asian styles. We even wandered over to the farmers market, wonderful fresh fruit. Got back to the hotel around 2:30 crashed for an hour before heading downstairs to meet up for the photo walk. That was a trip, it was cool though to meet many of the designers at DSP. There are a few I buy from on a regular basis I love their styles so much.
The photowalk was really fun. About 6pm everyone started breaking off into groups to go have dinner. We walked around a bit more after dinner then went back to the hotel. Sad to say I was still on EDT so fell asleep around 10pm, my normal time at home 1am.
I woke 4 hours later with a raging headache. I can’t say it was a migraine because my usual migraine solutions didn’t work. I think it was brought on by several things dehydration, and bright sunlight being contributing factors. The biggie was my neck being out of alignment probably from the flight and using carry-ons only. The only way that seemed to work once I drank about a gallon of water, was to lay on my back and hang my head over the edge of the bed. I got a little more rest then took a shower and headed down to meet my new friends for coffee and a bit of a walk before breakfast. We were told not to get to Adobe before 9am because they wouldn’t let us in until then.
You know it’s really hard to get a cup of coffee before 8am on a Saturday in San Jose. None of the Starbucks were open, and even the hotel didn’t have their complimentary coffee set up. We asked the night before what time they set up in the morning and were told 7am, not true. We gave up went for our walk then got breakfast in a little diner called Peggy Sues. We found it on the walk back to the hotel the evening before. Breakfast was fun we talked about how digital scrappers are either looked at funny by traditional scrappers or looked down on by techie types. You say you use photoshop and the techies perk up until you say you scrapbook. Which is why I say I’m a graphic artist when I’m talking to people I don’t really know.
Adobe was great I was one of two smaller groups that got to talk with the production managers for photoshop. There was a third group that spoke to the manager for elements.
At this point CS4 is in preliminary beta testing. This means they are starting to gather input for CS5, we got to be part of that. A lot of what we’re asking for is already part of other programs in the suite like Illustrator, In design and Lightroom. The thing is most scrapbookers, heh most people, don’t have the money for the entire suite. We were talking about how In Design would really make the better program for scrapbookers because it is a layout program, and you can do many vector things in it. The only problem is you can’t really do photo manipulation in it and would need to switch back and forth between programs. It was a good meeting and gave the adobe people some ideas to work with including going back and reworking some of the filters that haven’t been touched or updated in a long time. The other cool thing that happened, we got to meet one of the designers of that wonderful tool…… the healing brush. He was talking about how it was a cheaper version of plastic surgery. Most of the rest of the day was spent scrapping, chatting, watching tutorials including one on a video from Scott Kelby and the photoshop tv Guys, made specifically for us. Adobe really is a cool company. The building itself had won awards for being a green building and they have recycling bins everywhere. On top of that all the employees we met really seemed interested in what we do as well as our input into their product. That impressed me. We had to leave at about 9pm and walked back to the hotel. I set my wake up call for 4:15 and arranged for a cab to pick me up at 5am for my 6:40 flight.
My flight home was not as good as my flight out. The leg from San Jose to Atlanta wasn’t bad though we did have to circle the airport a couple times. Once because of head winds the second because another plane was too slow moving off the runway, that eliminated our early arrival of almost an hour. The trip from Atlanta to Baltimore, that was a hassle. My flight landed at gate B3, I had an hour and a half to get to A29 so from one end of the B concourse to the opposite end of the A concourse. Not a big deal, I’d have time to grab some lunch on the way. Well I get to A29 and sit down to start on my lunch and we’re notified that the plane we’re suppose to leave on will now be arriving at gate B1. I’m a bit annoyed at this point since I just came from there. I get back to the center of the air port and am just about ready to go down to the tram to get to the B Concourse when I hear part of an announcement for a gate change. All I heard was A29, so I decided to check the flight listing. We were moved back to gate A29. I’m swearing under my breath at this point, my backpack and laptop are getting heavy at this point. I got back to A29 now there is a ten minute delay for the flight. With in minutes it turns into a half hour delay because of thunderstorms in the B-more area, then the flight is put on hold completely for those same storms. The hold is lifted a few minutes later and boarding starts. We then sit on the tarmac for 45 minutes because we now have to be put back in the que to leave, our original flight window lost because of the delays. So I didn’t arrive in Baltimore until 7:40pm. Good thing I didn’t have to wait for luggage. Ken let the boys stay up until I got home so they could see me before bed.
Monday I had to work, Tuesday I spent getting caught up on laundry, Wednesday was grocery shopping. Ken got back in town Wednesday night. Yes, that’s right back in town. He left first thing Monday morning for a meeting in Arkansas. Thursday I took the kids to the County Farm Fair. They had lots of fun and crashed when we got home. YAY for me. Friday we went to see Ken’s mom. She had another stroke the weekend before we got so busy. Ken had gone up to see her that Saturday by himself because the kids wouldn’t be allowed in and I would have had to stay and watch them anyway. She’s now at the rehab and it’s much easier to have visitors. Quin does not like institutional type buildings, we think it’s the lighting. He just starts screaming and crying and trying to get away. Ken took the kids with him to work the Friday I was gone, because he’d forgotten a few things he’d need on his trip. Quin did the same thing then. Luckily the rehab has a very nice garden area, so we brought my MIL out there to spend time with the kids. Afterwards we took my FIL to lunch. It’s so funny, he gets such a big kick out of Quin, especially watching him eat.
Yesterday we had a graduation party to go to. I hadn’t read the actual invitation so I thought it was an afternoon BBQ and hadn’t arranged for a babysitter. This meant Thursday I made a panicked call to Amanda to see if she could “Please,Please,Please watch the boys” She said she had to work but she could be there a little after 7pm to watch them. Since the party started at seven, we figured that would be good, we’d only be a bit late. We got very lucky she called around 2pm, they’d over scheduled people and let her leave early since she’d been doing 12 hour days all week. That meant she could get to our house by 6pm and we could leave earlier. She’s so sweet, I’m so glad we found her, the boys love her.
The party was fun, the place it was held was not quite what we expected, very college bar like. Just knowing Ken’s coworker, who this was for, she got her Masters, she likes thinks to be very nice on the dressy side when she goes our or has a party. I guess someone else made all the arrangements. So we played some pool, laughed and talked. It was a nice way to chill.
The wedding was fun. Seeing Ken and his buddies from college joking and teasing each other was great. Ken went into wedding photographer mode and took my camera ( he brought a little point and shoot). The couple did have a hired pro but there seemed to be several pros who were guests as well. There was a two hour break between the ceremony and reception a couple of the guys needed to get cards for the bride and groom so we hung out at the B&N in Clinton and chatted in the cafe before going on to Il Tulipano. I didn't realize that when the resturant holds a reception they use the entire restuarnt not just one ballroom. The cocktail hour was in the bar/ garden area. Dancing in dinner was up stairs in the main ball room and the dessert bar was in the other. We got some decent photos even though the charge on my SB-800 started dying early in the reception. Ken said he should have brought his battery pack. Anyway before we knew it , it was almost 11pm. So we got on the road and were home by 2:30. I called our babysitter as we were leaving to let her know what happened. Luckily after 8pm she doesn't have much to do.
So last week I was at my mom's with the boys. Kids this age really are ready to go home after 3-4 days. Quin at least is starting to remember places so he wasn't up until all hours crying like he was the last couple times we visited.
I'm liking school starting back up Alex comes home plays for an hour then passes out on the couch. He was so excitd yesterday to see his friends again. Though he did have a small break down when he found out he wasn't in the monkey room any more. Luckily his teach from the monkey room moved to the tiger room so he has that consistancy. I picked him up and his buddy Cole asked if Alex could come over to his house and stay the night. Guess his friends missed him too.
Next week Quin starts with the infant and toddlers program. Speech and Occupational therapy,three days a week for 90 minutes. He is making progress on his own in terms of parallel play and communicating by either taking my hand to guide me or getting things (like snacks) and handing them to me to open. I know he understands what we say because a couple times I've asked him something and I get a very emphatic shake of the head no.
Aug 6 2008
Proud moment yesterday My monkey boy got his first pair of Coverse All Stars. We'd gone out for a birthday party at a resturant in the mall on the way out there was a shoe store and Alex wanted to go in. He desperately needed new sneakers but he won't wear the slip ons we bought at the beginning of the summer. He wore holes in he toes of his current pair. So I said okay and we went in he's at an in between size, top end of the toddler sizes bottom end of the boys, so we have to really try on shoe. Not a lot of selection in the smaller size in this particular store so I go looking in boys and find I'm not quiet ready to pay 30+ on shoes for Alex. But they had the All Stars on sale and I loved mine all through high school and college. So I showed them to him and he tried them on. Wanted to wear them home. He was bouncing all over the place showing them off to everyone walking by. Makes a mom proud.
Aug 3, 2008
I’m still feeling a bit turned around and I’ve been home almost a week now. My flight to San Jose was at 6am Friday morning. Which means I left my house around 4 am. Everything was pretty uneventful going out. I got in around 11am CA time. So I was really early to the hotel check in wasn’t supposed to be until 3pm. I figured I would see if anything was ready anyway. Lucky me they did have something ready. As I was checking in a woman walked up to me and said “DSP?” So even before I went up to my room I was meeting new friends and was invited to lunch. I have to say I met some really great people on this trip. There was supposed to be a photowalk for a group of 40 of us or so at 4pm. But the ladies I went to lunch with suggested doing one of our own as we looked for a place to eat. We ended up at E&O Trading Company. The food was very good, a mix of asian styles. We even wandered over to the farmers market, wonderful fresh fruit. Got back to the hotel around 2:30 crashed for an hour before heading downstairs to meet up for the photo walk. That was a trip, it was cool though to meet many of the designers at DSP. There are a few I buy from on a regular basis I love their styles so much.
The photowalk was really fun. About 6pm everyone started breaking off into groups to go have dinner. We walked around a bit more after dinner then went back to the hotel. Sad to say I was still on EDT so fell asleep around 10pm, my normal time at home 1am.
I woke 4 hours later with a raging headache. I can’t say it was a migraine because my usual migraine solutions didn’t work. I think it was brought on by several things dehydration, and bright sunlight being contributing factors. The biggie was my neck being out of alignment probably from the flight and using carry-ons only. The only way that seemed to work once I drank about a gallon of water, was to lay on my back and hang my head over the edge of the bed. I got a little more rest then took a shower and headed down to meet my new friends for coffee and a bit of a walk before breakfast. We were told not to get to Adobe before 9am because they wouldn’t let us in until then.
You know it’s really hard to get a cup of coffee before 8am on a Saturday in San Jose. None of the Starbucks were open, and even the hotel didn’t have their complimentary coffee set up. We asked the night before what time they set up in the morning and were told 7am, not true. We gave up went for our walk then got breakfast in a little diner called Peggy Sues. We found it on the walk back to the hotel the evening before. Breakfast was fun we talked about how digital scrappers are either looked at funny by traditional scrappers or looked down on by techie types. You say you use photoshop and the techies perk up until you say you scrapbook. Which is why I say I’m a graphic artist when I’m talking to people I don’t really know.
Adobe was great I was one of two smaller groups that got to talk with the production managers for photoshop. There was a third group that spoke to the manager for elements.
At this point CS4 is in preliminary beta testing. This means they are starting to gather input for CS5, we got to be part of that. A lot of what we’re asking for is already part of other programs in the suite like Illustrator, In design and Lightroom. The thing is most scrapbookers, heh most people, don’t have the money for the entire suite. We were talking about how In Design would really make the better program for scrapbookers because it is a layout program, and you can do many vector things in it. The only problem is you can’t really do photo manipulation in it and would need to switch back and forth between programs. It was a good meeting and gave the adobe people some ideas to work with including going back and reworking some of the filters that haven’t been touched or updated in a long time. The other cool thing that happened, we got to meet one of the designers of that wonderful tool…… the healing brush. He was talking about how it was a cheaper version of plastic surgery. Most of the rest of the day was spent scrapping, chatting, watching tutorials including one on a video from Scott Kelby and the photoshop tv Guys, made specifically for us. Adobe really is a cool company. The building itself had won awards for being a green building and they have recycling bins everywhere. On top of that all the employees we met really seemed interested in what we do as well as our input into their product. That impressed me. We had to leave at about 9pm and walked back to the hotel. I set my wake up call for 4:15 and arranged for a cab to pick me up at 5am for my 6:40 flight.
My flight home was not as good as my flight out. The leg from San Jose to Atlanta wasn’t bad though we did have to circle the airport a couple times. Once because of head winds the second because another plane was too slow moving off the runway, that eliminated our early arrival of almost an hour. The trip from Atlanta to Baltimore, that was a hassle. My flight landed at gate B3, I had an hour and a half to get to A29 so from one end of the B concourse to the opposite end of the A concourse. Not a big deal, I’d have time to grab some lunch on the way. Well I get to A29 and sit down to start on my lunch and we’re notified that the plane we’re suppose to leave on will now be arriving at gate B1. I’m a bit annoyed at this point since I just came from there. I get back to the center of the air port and am just about ready to go down to the tram to get to the B Concourse when I hear part of an announcement for a gate change. All I heard was A29, so I decided to check the flight listing. We were moved back to gate A29. I’m swearing under my breath at this point, my backpack and laptop are getting heavy at this point. I got back to A29 now there is a ten minute delay for the flight. With in minutes it turns into a half hour delay because of thunderstorms in the B-more area, then the flight is put on hold completely for those same storms. The hold is lifted a few minutes later and boarding starts. We then sit on the tarmac for 45 minutes because we now have to be put back in the que to leave, our original flight window lost because of the delays. So I didn’t arrive in Baltimore until 7:40pm. Good thing I didn’t have to wait for luggage. Ken let the boys stay up until I got home so they could see me before bed.
Monday I had to work, Tuesday I spent getting caught up on laundry, Wednesday was grocery shopping. Ken got back in town Wednesday night. Yes, that’s right back in town. He left first thing Monday morning for a meeting in Arkansas. Thursday I took the kids to the County Farm Fair. They had lots of fun and crashed when we got home. YAY for me. Friday we went to see Ken’s mom. She had another stroke the weekend before we got so busy. Ken had gone up to see her that Saturday by himself because the kids wouldn’t be allowed in and I would have had to stay and watch them anyway. She’s now at the rehab and it’s much easier to have visitors. Quin does not like institutional type buildings, we think it’s the lighting. He just starts screaming and crying and trying to get away. Ken took the kids with him to work the Friday I was gone, because he’d forgotten a few things he’d need on his trip. Quin did the same thing then. Luckily the rehab has a very nice garden area, so we brought my MIL out there to spend time with the kids. Afterwards we took my FIL to lunch. It’s so funny, he gets such a big kick out of Quin, especially watching him eat.
Yesterday we had a graduation party to go to. I hadn’t read the actual invitation so I thought it was an afternoon BBQ and hadn’t arranged for a babysitter. This meant Thursday I made a panicked call to Amanda to see if she could “Please,Please,Please watch the boys” She said she had to work but she could be there a little after 7pm to watch them. Since the party started at seven, we figured that would be good, we’d only be a bit late. We got very lucky she called around 2pm, they’d over scheduled people and let her leave early since she’d been doing 12 hour days all week. That meant she could get to our house by 6pm and we could leave earlier. She’s so sweet, I’m so glad we found her, the boys love her.
The party was fun, the place it was held was not quite what we expected, very college bar like. Just knowing Ken’s coworker, who this was for, she got her Masters, she likes thinks to be very nice on the dressy side when she goes our or has a party. I guess someone else made all the arrangements. So we played some pool, laughed and talked. It was a nice way to chill.
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