I was reading over my blog a few days ago, enjoying the nice little walk down memory lane. I was astonished how fast the time flew by (and also how bad my spelling, punctuation and grammar is, oy! I need to go back to school). I know so much more happened than what I blogged about, and I hate missing all the little things that make up our day, the little things that make me fall in love with my family everyday, the little things that I will forget the older the boys get. So, in an attempt to document better for our family journal (I really hope to start printing my blog out one of these days, and save them for my kiddos), and be more real, I have decided to start a new weekly post, Saturday nights (or late Monday night, whenever I can actually finish it), called a -A Week In Our Life-. It will probably be long and rambley, so you can feel free to skip right over it, it's mostly for my own documentation, so I can see how we are doing, how we are improving, and where we are going :)
Without further ado, here I go...
Sunday, October 31st, was a super fun day, but also kinda sad. Since the our ward's Halloween party was the night before we slept in, and as a result were an hour late to church (which actually is not a new thing since we have 9am church, and certain Boskos -named Jason- hate getting up early to be on time). The boys are getting better at going to church, even Harry. Clark loves going to nursery every week. He helps me set up the room, (I am nursery leader again-UGH) and as his friends walk in one by one, he get more and more excited, giving them little hugs, showing them the toys, shouting "yay friends!" It is his favorite part of the day for sure.
Later that night, after we had a nice lunch of Halloween candy, we talked online with Uncle Cody, Auntie Emma and little Reese. Clark had fun seeing his cousin, he misses her a lot. In fact the night before some one had asked him if he wanted a Reeses candy, and he spent the rest of the night asking to play with Reesey, poor boy. During our video chat Jason and Clark decided to play with some bubbles, which resulted in Clark spilling bubble soap all over my computer screen :( My heart was breaking as I watched the liquid slowly creep up the screen. I knew we had no money to get a new one, or fix my computer...so I was so scared. I cried and cried. Luckily it seems to be fine, it is Thursday now, and even though the screen is a little spotty (from the soap residue) and its hard to read, at least my computer is still use-able. We will just save up some money and get me a new one next year.
We finished out the night Trick or Treating, I know I know, it was Sunday and we should have been keeping the Sabbath day holy, BUT this was our first year in a real neighborhood and we wanted to take the boys out (we've have always gone trick or treating at the mall in years past). Also, we didn't buy any candy for the trick or treaters who were coming to our house, so we needed to get out ;) The boys had a ball, even little Harry, although he was a little confused and cried for the first few houses because he wanted to go inside and play. It was a good night... a bittersweet day with the demise of my best friend Macky (my lap top), but a good fun family night.
Monday and Tuesday were boring errand running, house cleaning day. I swear I did 11 loads of laundry already this week. I love to wash and dry it all, and pile it up on my bed, then after dinner is done and the kitchen is clean, I let Jason watch the boys while I sort and fold in peace and quiet, watching some good tv shows. I tried to take the boys to the mall to play on Monday, but Harry peed through his pants before we even got to the play area (and I had just changed him an hour before- he pees A LOT). I did let Clark play some computer games at the Apple store. He shows so much interest in those type of things, but I just do not trust him using our computers yet. I wish we still had our old Compaq that we bought when we were first married, so the boys could play around on it. By some miracle Clark and Harry fell asleep and went to bed by 9pm on Monday night. No matter how much I try to put them on a schedule it just never works, the little variables everyday are too hard to control, and the boys are so resistant to it. I do treasure those nights when I can get them to bed on time, but mostly it is Clark crying for two hours cause he is not tried and Harry bouncing around the living room until 11pm when he finally passes out.
November 2nd, was election day, Jason sent in his out of state ballot for Utah, he didn't tell me who he voted for, but I am sure it was all red and conservativey. I didn't vote, only because I am not registered anywhere yet. I don't really see the point when we move around so much, and anyway I just plain HATE politics, I don't trust any of them.
We also found out that our little Gary got pick up by the Humane Society in Hawaii, and was waiting there until someone picked him up. It turns out that the poeple that moved into our old house had a dog, and Gary just didn't like to stay on the property anymore. They tried to feed him, but he kept running off. I felt so bad and guilty. Had I known he was going to end up in a kennel, all alone, I would've tried to bring him with us or found him a better home. I am just praying he gets adopted by a good family...and leave it at that.
Wednesday, I took the boys to play group. They played with play-dough for the first time, I know-I know, I am a mean Mom, but I never let them play with play-dough cause I don't want to clean up the aftermath. Harry just wanted to hold it in his hands, and take a little taste every now and then, but Clark had fun rolling it out and making little things. I love being able to take the boys to play group. It is so nice to finally live in an area where we are included in things... so nice to finally have friends, and a car to go places!
Later that night both of the boys woke up in the middle of the night. Harry with some congestion and a runny nose, I already knew he was getting a cold. And poor Clark was in the throws of what appeared to be an asthma attack. He had a cough, much like a barking seal, that croupy cough that I hate. He seemed to be having a hard time breathing, and was clawing at his neck, so Jason took him to the emergency room. This is not his first trip for something like this, I would say at least once or twice a year since he was born, we have had to take him to the ER for this type of coughing/asthma attack. I hate it, and even though I have seen him do it before, it is scary. This time instead of giving him a breathing treatment they gave him some sort of steroid drink for his neck, to help it open back up, and sent him home with an inhaler. I was, like always, a nervous wreck until him and Jason walked back into the door, 5 am in the morning. You could tell he felt so much better, and he kept opening his mouth, showing me how good he did it for the doctors.
Since we were all up to 5:00 am the next morning, Thursday, the day Jason took off work to help me get some big chores done around the house, turned into a sleeping lazy day... just my luck. Nothing got done, again. My walls with be picture-less forever, and my curtains will never get hemmed.
Thursday Harry had another evaluation, from the Virginia Early Intervention this time. I am glad the ball is finally rolling on his services, and things can get started. He has already made some improvements from earlier this year, like he is making more vowel sounds when he bables, and makes eye contact better, not all the time, but more often. He is pretty behind in most things, but is right at his age limit in his gross motor skills. Things here in Virginia are so different from Hawaii, and you would think they would be better, but they aren't. We have to pay for services here, which thankfully our insurance covers. In Hawaii, Harry was offered about 12-15 hours a week in therapy and services, here we will only be getting two, 45 mintues appointments, per week. Clark doesn't even qualify for Headstart here in Virginia (which makes no sense since we made more money in Hawaii, and less money here). I was starting to really panic about how I was going to get him into school, but I think I found a way, through the public school system, instead of Headstart. Overall, I am just a little disappointed, I thought things would be better here, now that we are in a bigger area, with seemingly more options, but it turns out the kids just get more lost in all the paperwork, competing with other children that may have more problems. I have some ideas how to get around things, and a few more calls and appointments to make, its just taking so much longer than I thought.
Friday, my super awesome friend invited me up to spend the weekend. So I left Jason and the boys to fend for themselves for the weekend. This was really the first time I have left both of the boys. The last time I took a little trip for myself was two years ago, when I was pregnant with Harry... and since Harry kicked me a lot and was very much there, I don't really count it :) I was nervous for the 3 hour drive, all by myself, but I had so much fun! Listening to whatever music I wanted, as loud as I wanted, singing at the top of my lungs... it was wonderful, and the drive was much faster than I thought it would be. It was so nice to spend some time with my girlfriend, without my kids running around, talking and being girls. Saturday we went to a Christmas Card making class. We spend almost 7 hours making Christmas cards!! It was not something I thought I would enjoy too much, since I am not particularly crafty, but I had such a fun time being creative and working on a project. I came home with 20 of the cutest Christmas cards ever. I can't wait to find another class! I was a little sad when I came home, and the boys weren't overjoyed to see me. Harry walked right past me like I had been there all weekend, and I got a half hearted hug from Clark. I guess I just wasn't gone long enough :) It was nice to be back home with my little family. We had fun Saturday night watching Avatar, again, per Clark's request... I guess he needed a break from Star Wars.
Well, there you go... my first weekly journal post, sooo much longer than I planned it to be. We will just have to see how long this will last, or if I want to keep doing it, but for now I am happy.
Clark is so ready to go back to school. Everyday when Jason comes home from work he steals his back-pack and says, "Come on Mommy, time for school". I hate that it is taking so long to figure things out here and get the boys in school, I feel like I don't know what I am doing...maybe I am not doing enough. I finally got a hold of someone who is going to get me started with the paperwork. Hopefully soon, little Clark.
Tuesday night I taught a small little class at Relief Society Enrichment night. We made little quiet books (pictured on the side). I am not sure why they asked me to help out and teach it, but it was easy (and nice to be included) so I did it. I took Clark with me, cause he wanted to play with his friends so bad, he is such a social butterfly. I came home to Jason and Harry chilled out on the couch, watching Monsters vs. Aliens, one of Harry's favorite movies. Harry went to bed so well! He has been getting better at not staying up all night, both boys have, it is so nice. Even though the boys go to bed early, I still stay up way too late reading and watching tv :)
Harry is 2 years old. He loves music, books and words, he can read all day long. He loves to be outside, he is a quiet, thoughtful explorer. He is determined, curious, and has very ticklish feet. Harry's Autism can be quite challenging most days, and I long to figure out his little mysteries, but I appreciate the new ways he helps me look at the world. He is forever my chubby little nugget, I'm so happy he was sent to our family.
Clark is 4. He is all about having fun, and joking around. These days Clark's world revolves around Star Wars, Mario and Indiana Jones. He loves his friends, and playing video games. He sees everything as a game, and a adventure. I love that he makes me laugh when I am in a bad mood, and how he reminds me not to take things so seriously. We couldn't live without him.
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