A new year of Possiablities!

OH MY GOSH..................I'M BACK IN THE TECHNOLOGICAL WORLD!
I am so happy to report that we offically have internet in our home again!
I get to blogggggggg...........WHOO HOO!

Ok, enough celebrating.....on to the updating.
The last time I was on here, I don't even think we had celebrated Christmas yet!
The Holidays went great, with lots of presents for the kids and more good food then I needed to eat!

January has already brought alot of changes to our house. Starting with Rob, who finally got his hearing test results, and subsequently a hearing aid for his left ear. Its been an adjustment with all of the extra noises for him that he didn't used to hear..... little things that we all take for granted, like the sound of the coffe pot perkilating in the morning or a clock ticking are all part of his day again, and for a while it was an overload of sensations, but he is doing much better now.
I have regularly made "adjustments" for him for so long- Like offering to switch places at a table so that he could talk to someone, or reminding friends when they hollar at him from another room that "he can't hear you".... so it has been a real change for me as well to remember that he CAN sit across from someone at a table, and he CAN actually hear people from across the room now! Its AMAZING!! I think my favorite experiance has been seeing his face light up when the audiologist first put the hearing aid in, I wish I had a camara, he was just in awe of all the sounds that he had forgotten about!

Along with the Hearing test, we also got refferals for him to start Physical Therapy for his vertigo (simular to training that they give figure skater's so they don't get dizzy) and he also had an MRI to check for a small tumor incase that was causing the problems(It came back negaitive)
and Last but not least, he is Schedualed for an ENG on the 21st so that we can mabey find a cause of the vertigo --(Electronystagmography (ENG) is a diagnostic test to record involuntary movements of the eye caused by a condition known as nystagmus. It can also be used to diagnose the cause of vertigo, dizziness or balance dysfunction by testing the vestibular system)

I am really hoping that this will help give us some answers and give him relief from the daily "personal Earthquakes" as he reffers to them! LOL I love my Hubby, he can find humor in anything!


Its seems as if the Guys in our house are Genetically engineered to gravitate toward the Doctors office!
With all of this going on with Rob, I have also been trying to handle matthew. I finally broke down, after 4 years, and took him to the Doctor to see if she had any ideas as to ways to help him to not have accidents during the day. I didn't realize it until I was talking with the pediatrician, but Matthew hasn't had a COMPLEATE week without some sort of potty accident in the last 4 years that we have been potty training!
Well the doc of course gave him a compleate physical, which showed that he has some weakness in his ankles, and need some allergy meds. She also had his blood drawn, and sent us for a bladder function/kidney reflux x-ray test. (Blood work came back good, No thyroid issues, kidney and liver function normal, and no enimea- Bladder xrays also came back normal) I sort of figured all of these things would come back normal, so I'm not suprised. If anything I'm a little peeved that my poor baby had to go thru all the sticks, and needles, and cathiderization for the tests! but at least we have concreat medical evidance that there is nothing internally wrong. The Doc Mentioned some nerve testing as our next step to make sure that the right signals are being passed along, and I intend to push again for the OT evaluation that I think he needs.
Aside from the bladder issues, I have also recently been dealing with quite a bit of over-active impulsiveness from him as well. I think in part it has something to do with all of the holiday madness, and birthday fun for himself, me and his sister......BUT, I am absolutly exhausted and at my wits end! Even his teacher is commenting that he is figgitting on the rug, and having a hard time staying on task. Today, he got in trouble for taking his arm out of his sleeve and swinging his long sleeve around repeatedly. I kept him home from school yesterday, hoping that if I could give him a day to stay with me and get some one on one attention and discipline it would help, but the day ended with my just being physically and mentally exhausted. I took him to the dollar store to get some balloons for his sister, and I ended up having to physically hold down his arms in the check out line so that he would stop touching the conveyer belt and debit card buttons! twice he jumped out of the van into the parking lot instead of waiting for me to come around and open the door, and to top the night off, he got sent to his room for running through the living room and jumping feet first onto the couch and catapoling back off!
On an up note today's home time seemed better, we are experianceing some warm weather, so I was able to let the kids play in the back yard with the dog and chalk and stuff for about 2 hours this afternoon..........it was a nice little break!
For some positive news for Matthew, He has mastered about 2/3 rds of the skills that he is graded on in school and is compleating the remaining tasks (following rules, staying on task, ect.) with regular consistancy. As for the State testing, he tested 37 out of 37 for the information and subjects that he needs to master to move on to 1st grade! he is accidemically at the top of his class, and we couldn't be prouder of him!

Now onto the Girls in this family!

My little Sissy Bug is now offically 4 years old! a few weeks ago, she decided she finally wanted to cut her hair, so I took her to Great Clips, and we cut off 8 inches and donated it to Locks of Love. So she now has a cute little sholder length bob, that she LOVES and so does mommy!!! No more knots and tears in the morning, it's so much eaisier now!
Samantha really enjoys her preschool class (most days!) and her teacher couldn't be more perfect for her and is a pro at dealing with our little girls' "strong personality" while still enjoying her loving princess side! I love going to her class and hearing her sing her ABC's and Days of the week and Months of the year songs, it is so much fun to watch her learn and grow into the little kid that she is becoming--attitude and all!!!

and last but not least, Mommy:
its funny, I have so much to say about my family, and I had to sit here for a few min. to figure out what to say about myself......guess that's how it goes when your the mom!
I started back trying to lose weight again recently. when everything happened with Rob losing his job and all of the battles that we had, I sort of gave up on losing weight and became more focused on surviving. Not an excuse I know, but I did manage to gain back all but a pound of the wieght that I lost at Weight Watchers! on the up side I have lost 7 pounds already!!
I recently went to a LapBand seminar, and this really seems like a procedure that could help me alot, BUT my insurance often won't pay for it, and I just can't afford the 14,500 dollars that the surgery costs, plus any complications from my surgery as an infant with my stomach and my hernia..........so those plans have been put on hold, until I am sure that it is possiable and we can figure out how to pay for it!
I am excited to say that I am going back to College on the 20th of this month full time again. I have finally made a decision as to what I want my major to be..........drum roll please......... I plan to get a k-6 teaching creditental as well as a bachelors in Mathmatics to be followed in the future by a single subject creditental to teach 7-12th grad mathmatics. I realized after being in the kids class rooms this year that I really enjoy that environment, and that it sounds like alot more fun than being an accountant! so since math comes so easily to me,. and I want to have a bachelors degree in something other than just liberal studies, I decided to go for math......leaves me lots of options!
So this semster I am signed up to take: ASL II and English with Rob, and I am taking Sociology and possiably Child Development if I get into the class. Right now it is wait listed.
That is all the news I can come up with for myself, unless of course you are intrested in hearing about my dirty dishes, bathrooms, homework, gas bill........well you get the picture!

Thanks for reading my lengthy update, and I can't wait to come back this weekend and get some of the pictures I've been waiting to share uploaded for your viewing pleasure!!