The Whirlwind.....

That is the only way to describe these past few weeks.  I have pretty much decided that there is no way other than bullet points to update everything that has gone on.  So here it goes:

• The kids spent a week home from summer camps and daycare and we did various day trips.
• We went to the Splash Playground at South Germantown park.

• We went to the National Zoo 

(Orangutans crossing in the zoo!)

• We made several visits to the pool.
• We went to see Toy Story 3.
• There was a stabbing in my neighborhood.  
• I planned and had my youngest's 3rd birthday.

(Playing with new toys with Pop)

• We went to see fireworks with some friends. 

• My youngest turned 3!

• I dealt with stress stemming from this post.
• It was discovered that my oldest son was covered in poison ivy.
• The kids all had their annual physicals.
• I had another dentist appointment.
• I attended my first Hearts Apart meeting with a friend.  
• I argued with Concordia and my dentist over some charges. 
• I took a mid-term for school. 
• I've been missing my husband like crazy!
• I spent a day at the pool by myself relaxing.
• It appears my youngest is beginning to suffer from separation anxiety.
• We enjoyed the company of some friends for a friends birthday party.
• We spent some more family time at the pool.  (My youngest is turning into a fish!)
• I took my oldest son to be evaluated.

This is the basics of our whirlwind that has been our past 2 1/2 weeks.  I am so ready for things to slow down a little and try to enjoy some of what is left of the summer.  I really need to work or de-stressing and trying to regain some of my emotional stability. 

Next week, my daughter has another week off of summer camp and we'll be redecorating her room - stay turned for updates on that....  (reminder to self:  take pics of her room currently)

Doctors and Countdowns, Oh My!

Tomorrow we continue our very long journey to hopefully finding some answers.  If you missed it before or are new around here - you can read a little about it: here, here and here. 

We go to see some of the best doctors in the state tomorrow and while I know I won't have any answers tomorrow, I'm hopeful that those answers will be right around the corner and we will see a much improved upon school year for my oldest son next year. 

I know I've been hit or miss around here lately, but I'm really hoping to get a true update on our chaotic two weeks up sometime this week.  Please bear with me as I attempt to figure out ways to deal with the stress and emotions, which seem to be coming at me left and right these days - all of which I'm sure many of you are experiencing as well.

(I know that's very vague.  But I promise when the time is right, I'll give more details.) 

Also - I haven't given an updated countdown recently.  Today was day 91, the start of week 13!  I'm so excited to see the days finally start to tick away.  We are nearing day 100!  And as I said before, Renee got me into celebrating every 25 days.  This time I have plans in the making to spend a day at the spa!  Massage, mani and pedi - here I come!  (Really, I'm using a gift card from my birthday back in March but I'm using it to celebrate)

I really can't believe we are almost a quarter of the way done!  When I put it into those terms it doesn't seem anywhere near as daunting. I can't wait to have my hubby back in my arms again!

PS.  To my hubby:  Missing you like crazy love!  Love you mean it!

IEPs and Countdowns

As I suspected yesterday, my initial IEP meeting with the school did NOT go well this morning. It is very frustrating!

There were 6 school personal in the meeting and me. Unfortunately, I feel that they had already made their decision that my son would not be evaluated by a special educator before I even came into the meeting. They didn't seem to listen to or even validate my concerns. They basically told me that the warning signs and symptoms that I've noticed over the past several years are normal and that he will grow out of them and if by 3rd grade he hasn't grown out of them, then and only then would they consider testing him!

My response, "so basically you're telling me that I'm suppose to allow my son to spiral downwards to where he absolutely hates school and then evaluate him when it's possibly too late?"

This philosophy SUCKS and is totally unacceptable!

Lucky for me and little does the school know, I already have an appointment scheduled with an internationally recognized institution dealing specifically with pediatric developmental disabilities. I'm hoping that together with them, we will be able to come up with a game plan. (I'm not ready to give out any more information on this as of now but will update when I feel the time is ready.)

On to other unrelated news and in case anyone has been wondering how I've decided to start counting days/weeks/months:
I'll be starting from the date he reported to the mob site which is also the date his orders started. So we are half-way through week 9! Woo-hoo! 58 days down!

Trying to find that silver lining....