Ryan's first week of school and some other news

So as I posted, Ryan's first day of school was Wednesday. The autism support teacher was with him Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. She had given me her cell phone number so I could call her to see how his first day was going, so of course I did! I talked to her about 1:30 on Wednesday and she told me Ryan was having a great day and she was really impressed with how he was listening to the teacher and following directions and doing what he was supposed to do :-). Her biggest concerns were him speaking loud enough to be heard in the classroom from a distance without someone next to him to relay what he said, and the cafeteria. She helped him get his lunch and take his tray to the table. He chose a bologna and cheese sandwich (instead of the entree, a cheeseburger) and he told her he wanted the crust OFF, lol. Then he wanted the whipped cream off the top of his chocolate pudding, lol. So she said, as a MOM, she would be concerned that he may not have eaten if she hadn't been there. But overall, he had an AWESOME day :-). I received a note from her Thursday reiterating what a great first two days he had and that he was trying very hard to "stay in the green"....they are either in green, yellow, or red depending on how they are listening and behaving and if they get to red, they may lose recess or something else. He's never had a problem behaving in school, so hopefully this year is no different ;-). Ryan seems to really enjoy school and says his teacher is nice :-). Hopefully he has a fantastic year!

______________________________

In other news....

If you've been reading awhile (or know me "in real life" or somewhere else other than this blog), then you know that the kids and I moved out back in the beginning of December and in with my parents for about a month. I do not want to go in to details on this blog, but Doug and I were having problems. By the time the new year rolled around, we moved back in because he said the things he did were in the past and he didn't want to lose his family. That lasted less than 6 months. Then things got worse than ever before. By the middle of last month, I decided I had had enough. Last week, Wednesday night, I went to look at an apartment and I have decided to take it. I should have the lease signed and keys in hand by Wednesday! And I'm really, really hoping to be all moved in by the weekend because I am slowly losing my mind here :-P. I still need to tell Ryan we'll be moving and I plan on it in the next day or so....if I tell him too soon, it is all I will hear about. As long as he has a few days, he should be okay. He did well in December when we moved out...hopefully this time will be the same. Brooke is too young to understand anything about the situation, but hopefully it won't be too upsetting for her. The place we're moving to is only a couple minutes away, so if Doug chooses to, he can see the kids pretty much anytime and I told him that. I really try not to post too much personal information on here as far as what is going on in my life aside from how the kids are doing, but I did want to put it out there that this chapter of my/our life is closing and a new one is opening....praying it's a good one!

______________________________

Last night we went to Doug's brother and SIL's house (in case you're wondering, my and the kids' relationship with his family will not change at all throughout this separation and eventual divorce....YAY!). We had roasted hot dogs over the fire and had corn on the cob and then cake and ice cream for Ryan's birthday party. The adults played some pool and Ryan played the Wii (the older kids mostly played outside...Ryan is just a tad too little to keep up with them yet or even really be interested in what they're doing). My SIL also cut Ryan's hair and it looks so cute! I don't have any of the pictures on the computer yet, but I will hopefully get to that later today or tomorrow. Time to go start getting ready for church soon! Hope everyone has an awesome Sunday :-).

My big kindergartener!!

Ryan's first day of school was/is today! His van driver got here 10 minutes early (at 7:35), but she wanted to make sure it was the right address and all that stuff. I actually know who the driver is and she is super nice, so that's cool :-). I buckled Ryan in and then we were chatting a few minutes. When it was time to leave and Grandma and I told him bye, you could tell he was trying not to cry. I'm really hoping he didn't. Even if he did, I doubt that it lasted very long and he's been in school for 2 hours now and I haven't gotten a phone call yet, so I'm taking that as a good sign ;-).

Yesterday was orientation from 12:30 to 3:00. We all gathered in the cafeteria and they introduced the teachers and their aides (each class gets its own this year since the classes are on the bigger side, 23-25 kids in each) and then they had each class line up and the teachers took them to their classrooms while the parents stayed for a meeting on school policies and things like that. I was really worried about Ryan leaving me without a tantrum, but he didn't even bat an eye! Such a big boy :*). After the meeting, the teachers took the kids to the gym while the parents went to their children's classrooms to meet the teacher and go over the items in their folders (you know, all that fun paperwork). When that was over, I went to the gym to find Ryan, but while I was checking out the sign up sheets for committees, his class snuck past me back to the classroom, so I met up with him again there.

The autism support teacher came in to meet Ryan and get to know him a little. She is SUPER nice. She was the learning support teacher for the middle school while I was in MS/HS and now she's doing autism support. She told me that she has a few other kids in the elementary school, but 2 of them are older and won't need her right away and another is a kindergartener in another class that has a TSS (like an aide, which Ryan *might end up with eventually), so she will be with Ryan most of the day today, tomorrow, and Friday :-). That made me feel a TON better. His regular teacher told me she would like to wait a week or two on an aide for Ryan to see how he does and I'm okay with that. I let her know that he will need to be holding an adult's hand on the steps (which should only be once a week when they go upstairs for computer class) and that he will need extra help in the cafeteria, especially with his tray and she said the classroom aide will be with him in the cafeteria :-). She really eased some of my fears. Everyone at the school is so nice, including the director of education (who I happened to have as a teacher in middle school and I loved him) and principal, and kept stressing that if we have any concerns or questions to give them a call. I really feel like they care about the students and their success and they will help them to have the best year(s) possible while attending there :-).

I'll let you know how today goes!

Ryan's birthday party...and other stuff

Saturday we had Ryan's birthday party for my side of the family. We had it at my mom and dad's. It turned out to be a great day :-). We had a cookout with burgers, hot dogs, kielbasa, potato salad, macaroni salad, etc....and then cake and ice cream, with a side of presents in between ;-). Here are just a FEW highlights...

The birthday boy wearing TWO birthday stickers ;-).

Mario Kart Wii backpack for school! He saw it at JCPenney a month or so ago and flipped out over it.

Out of all the presents, I think he got most excited over these quarters that my mom taped to a piece of paper and put in the card from her and my dad! (No, that's not all they got him, lol.)


Trying out one of his presents :-)

Okay, I SWEAR this did not look *as lopsided in person, lol. Regardless, I'm very happy with how it turned out, especially considering we (my mom and her BFF helped) were just winging it ;-). Ryan wanted a bowling pin cake, so that's what he got! He loved it and did not want us to cut it! LOL.

I wish this pic hadn't come out so grainy and dark!

Blowing out the candle (he only wanted ONE, lol)!

Brooke LOVED the cake, if you can't tell ;-).

_________________________

On to the "other stuff"....

I'm going to TRY to keep this brief. I was just getting in to bed Saturday night at going on midnight and the phone rang. Doug's dad had been in the hospital since early Friday morning due to chest pains (he had a heart attack in Dec. '04 and has a bad heart/arteries). I was worried something had happened with him because we don't generally get phone calls that time of night unless it's bad news. But it was actually about MY dad. It was my mom calling to say she was taking him to the hospital because he was having really bad stomach pains and didn't look good. I got dressed and headed to the hospital. We found out about 2:30 am that he had acute appendicitis. Sometimes shortly after 3, I guess it was, the surgeon came in to see him. He scheduled him for surgery at 9am ("to give people a chance to go to church" ???). Soon after that they moved him to a room and we left the hospital around 5am to go home and shower and try to get awake and came back at 7. We were extremely, extremely nervous about surgery because my dad had never been under anesthesia before, plus he is a smoker and a little overweight. You just never know. But he did fine and the surgeon didn't find anything wrong besides his appendix and he said it was a lot worse than he thought it was. My dad got to come home this morning already :-).

Last year we had Ryan's birthday party on the 23rd and that morning before his party, my dad went out to my pap's (his dad's) house to check on him and found he'd passed away in his sleep. Then that night, Ryan got 7 staples in his head after a plastic deck chair broke that he and a family friend were sitting on. This year, my dad gets his appendix out on the 23rd. Can we skip the 23rd of August next year??? Seriously.

On to Doug's dad....They tried to avoid doing a heart catheterization, but it had to be done today. Luckily, it went fine! They did find some blockages and put in stints (I'm not sure how many). He was no longer having pains in his chest and was only sore in his groin area where they put the catheter in, as of a couple hours ago when I got an update. So at least that seems to be taken care of :-). But on Saturday they saw a couple spots on/in his lung and he also has a couple lumps in his groin, so now they have to figure out what the deal is with that. Praying it is NOTHING!

Tomorrow is Ryan's kindergarten orientation and Wednesday is his first day of school. Eeeeek! The worst part is I'm STILL waiting to hear back from the school on whether or not they are providing him an aide and for how much of the day. I'm like 99% sure he'll have one for at least parts of the day, but from what they said, an all day district supplied aide is probably not possible. He has an appointment set up for September 16th with Northwestern Human Services for an evaluation and if nothing else, I think they can help us out in that area! Wish us luck!

Happy SIXTH Birthday, Ryan Matthew!!

My once 1lb. 6oz., 12in. tiny baby boy has grown in to a 36lb., 42in. soon-to-be kindergartener!! How did that happen?? I'm still not sure. But I love this little guy more than words can say and I am SO proud and amazed at the obstacles he has overcome :*).

Baby, look how far you've come...

6 days old, with my hand...

1st birthday (you can really tell he had/has bad vision...)

2nd birthday (this was taken in my BIL's garage, hence the lovely background)

3rd birthday

4th birthday (he was sick that day : (...can you tell?)

5th birthday

6th birthday (his party is Saturday)

Wordless Wednesday

My little man will be 6 tomorrow! :::sniff sniff:::

My excitement for the year...

I woke up around 4:30 this morning to a strange noise. It sounded like something hitting the window. I rolled over and opened my eyes and about peed myself when I realized there was a freaking bat flying around my bedroom!! I immediately pulled the blanket up over my head and started thinking about what the heck I was going to do. I've NEVER seen a bat in my house before...not this one and not when I still lived at home. I thought about yelling for Doug (he sleeps on the couch), but I knew I would wake the kids up and scare them. Then I remembered I had my cell phone upstairs, so I grabbed it and called our landline, lol. I had to call twice before Doug answered (the first time he was probably thinking it was just a crank call). I told him there was a bat flying around "up here" and he asked where I was...um, duh? LOL. I said, "In my bedroom!" He said he'd be up. By the time he got upstairs, it "disappeared". No idea where it went. He said hopefully it left the way it came in. I doubt it.

I laid there for awhile, having to go pee, but afraid to get up. Wanting to go to sleep, but afraid it would come back. LOL. Finally after about 15 minutes, I crept slowly out of bed to go to the bathroom. After getting back in bed, I laid awake for a little longer until I felt "safe" and then went back to sleep. Can I tell you I am absolutely dreading bedtime tonight??? And from now on I am always going to be afraid of a reoccurence. Especially after being told by some online friends to watch out for rabies or other diseases. OMG. :::freaking out:::

Wordless Wednesday

Monday already?

This weekend seemed to fly by! Friday I got to go out for the afternoon/evening with my sister and her boyfriend. We drove an hour away and went to Red Lobster and then did some shopping (mostly window shopping for me, lol) and played mini golf. It was a lot of fun : ). The kids were with Daddy until about 5:30 and then he dropped them off next door with his mom and went to the Steelers training camp. I picked them up when I got home.

Saturday morning I took Ryan and Brooke to Toys'R'Us to get some ideas for Ryan's birthday since a few people were asking me what to get him. I so cannot believe he will be 6 on the 20th! I did get a few ideas. He's hard to shop for because he doesn't play with a whole lot : /. We had dinner at my in-laws' that night. It was like a holiday...ham, noodles in ham broth, stuffing balls, mashed potatoes, and green beans....YUM!

Yesterday we set up at the flea market to try to get rid of more of our stuff and make more money. We were supposed to set up last Sunday, but it was raining bright and early in the morning when we were supposed to go. Well, I say "we", but Doug and his mom and dad actually went down first thing around 7am to set up. I didn't want to wake the kids up that early (well, Ryan is usually up by that time, but Brooke likes to sleep until 9 some mornings), so I waited until a little later and then dropped the kids off at my mom and dad's and went down to help out. We did pretty good. But I got fried. It's not super bad...like I don't think it will blister or anything...but it's bad for me because I almost always use sunscreen. Yes, that means I usually look like a ghost all summer, but I don't care. LOL. Anyway, I guess I'll have a pretty good tan now. Oh well.

We came home and unloaded the stuff we had left (thinking about going back again next weekend) and Brooke and I got in the pool for awhile. Ryan and Doug didn't want to come in : P. We ate leftovers at my in-laws' (they live right next door, remember?) and then came home, put the kids to bed, and watched Big Brother.

Today I need to wash clothes (diapers are washing right now), clean up the downstairs, and go grocery shopping tonight. Fun stuff, I tell ya ; ).

Mr. Lucky

Ryan has already narrowly escaped the emergency not once, but TWICE, this week...and it's only Thursday! On Sunday, he was acting crazy and somehow fell and hit the back of his head on our entertainment center...right on the sharp corner. He had an instant goose egg, but luckily no blood! We kept a close eye on him the rest of the day, but he seemed fine.

And then last night I thought FOR SURE, we were headed to the ER. We were outside and sitting on my in-laws' deck. They have like 4 or 5 steps leading up to it. Ryan was coming up them, trying to carry this little punching bag thing and lost his balance. It was like one of those things that you see happening in slow motion, yet you can't get there fast enough. Daddy threw down two things he was holding in his hands and leaped down the stairs, but he was too late to catch him. Poor Ryan started freaking out before he was even done rolling down the stairs : (. He somehow avoided hitting his head and cracking it open on the stairs or the cement below. He did end up with an instant bruise and knot on his forearm from landing on it on the edge of the step, and a small scrape on his back. When I saw him going down, I thought for sure we were going to be heading to the hospital to get more staples or stitches. After a few minutes, we got Ryan calmed down and he held some ice on his arm. He was telling us, "I rolled down the steps, just like I did at Nanny's and Pap's!" LOL. In December, he took a tumble down the inside stairs at my mom and dad's. Luckily they are carpeted, as is the floor at the bottom, because he fell rolled quite a bit further, and he narrowly missed their buffet at the bottom of the stairs.

They say bad things happen in 3's and I hope we're not in for another close call with Ryan (or worse) this week!

Wordless Wednesday

She didn't want her cousin, Cameron, to leave...can you tell?

It's About Time

Brooke has been walking for just over a month now, but just today she learned and mastered how to stand up in the middle of the room without holding on to anything : ). It may sound silly, but I've been anxiously awaiting this milestone because I just think it's adorable to watch babies stand up on their own : ). She's getting so darn big and "grownie"! Here are some pictures I took of her on Friday (I didn't get any from today uploaded yet).

She happens to look JUST like my sister in this one!

A Conspiracy?

It felt like there was one against me last night, to keep me from going to sleep. I stayed up a little later than usual last night (I'm not a night person) and right before I was about to go to bed at 10:30, Brooke woke up. I brought her downstairs and tried snuggling her back to sleep, but it wasn't working, so I thought she might be hungry and got her a bottle. She drank about 4oz., but was still wide awake. Finally around 11:30, I took her upstairs and laid her in bed beside me while I watched TV. She was laying there sucking her thumb, but not going to sleep. In fact, a few times she even sat up and smiled at me and started waving her blanket around. LOL. How could I be mad at that?! I did start to get a little annoyed, though, not knowing WHY she was wide awake that time of night when she's normally sleeping, so I decided to try laying her in her crib to see what she did, around midnight. I was hesitant to try to go to sleep right away myself because I figured as soon as I did, she would start fussing. Around 12:15, it seemed that she'd fallen asleep so I tried to go to sleep myself. I think everyone has had those times where you're SO tired but sleep won't come. That's what happened to me.

As I finally started to drift off to sleep, my idiot neighbors decided that 12:45 was a good time of night to get their 4-wheelers out and go for a ride, but not before revving them up several times, right outside my bedroom window pretty much. Right after they left, Ryan started having a coughing spell. He's had a cold for a few days and a bit of a cough, which of course is always worse at night. The cough attack wasn't bothering him, but it was bothering me. I went over and offered him a drink, which he refused. I propped his pillow up and tucked him back in. He finally stopped coughing and got in to a good sleep again and I think I finally passed out about 1:30 and I woke up at 7:45. :::::yawn::::: To some people, that may be a good night's sleep, but I'm used to about 2-3 hours more than that : P.

Early to bed for me tonight! Hopefully it's a quiet night!