It is safe to say that God has certainly seen fit to test me the last couple of days. I hope I have lived up to His expectations, because I'm EXHAUSTED!
But can I first start with a bit of a vent that has nothing to do with the original intent of this blog?.......
It is offensive, people, at least to me, to 1) ask me if I dye my children's hair and most certainly to walk up to me and say 2) "I know you dye that baby's hair!" I mean seriously? Am I the only one who thinks it is ludicrous to even think about dying a child's hair? But especially a special needs six year old's? I am offended because, yes, I do believe that if I were to do such a thing that would make me one of the most selfish morons on the planet! And while we are at it, it is not necessary to ask me where my children get their red hair. For years, I have excused such questions because some people are just trying to make small talk. I realize this. But anyone who has taken BIO 101 knows that red heads, we are dying breed. Furthermore, red is the most recessive hair color (which explains why "dying breed" is appropriate). Just because my hair is not "carrot-top" red like my boys' hair, does not mean that I must not have contributed to their genes! In fact, for ALL THREE of my children (albeit, my daughters is a much darker red, almost auburn--coincidently, like mine used to be before Father Time got the best of me) to be red-headed BOTH parents would have to carry AND contribute the "red" gene. Again, all of this would have been taught in a freshman level biology class. So please people, when you see me with my children, if you must comment, just compliment on their hair color as being beautiful and leave it at that. It is NATURAL and I am their biological mother, meaning they got it from ME and their father.
Okay....back to my original post.
This week has been one of the hardest weeks I have had in a very long while.
Sunday night, Connor woke up at 2:30am and did not go back to sleep. That was a LONG morning. I did end up sleeping most of the morning away on the couch, which unfortunately meant I was then a day behind in my homework and housework...and errands, I had errands I needed to run on Monday. Woke up just in time to get some lunch and get Connor off the bus for ABA therapy. After ABA therapy it was time for sound/auditory therapy, and then almost immediately after that had to go pick up my daughter from Hayfield Secondary (Honor band practice). Then dinner, homework, baths and BED.
Monday night, was even WORSE with Connor. He woke up just before 12:30am and didn't go back to sleep until nearly 6am. This time, I obviously did not send him to school, and we slept until about 10:30am. Thankfully Holly woke up and got my older kids up and ready for school, because I was out cold. I got Connor up, gave him a bath, showered myself, and the two of us were out the door to run errands. We had a good time, the two of us, although albeit, it's much harder with him in tow. We first went to the post office to mail off the notice of intent for homeschooling. Then to the PX to drop off a box in the FedEx self-service drop off. By this time it was lunchtime and I was famished. So I got to eat lunch with my little boy at the food court. Then to the commissary we went! By the time we got home with the groceries, it was after 1pm. I still had to do sound/auditory therapy with Connor, do a couple loads of laundry and make dinner for the kiddos. Then we were off to the older kids Tai Kwon Do and Jui Jitsu.
Tuesday night was a little bit better. Connor stated to fuss a little bit around 11pm. Fortunately I was still up trying to get some pharmacology homework done, since I was by this time a couple days late on the homework. I ran in to Connor and took his braces off really quick. He did sit up in bed and indicated that his feet were hurting. I concluded that the couple of difficult nights were due to his tendons being tender because of all the extra PT and stretching I had been doing with him since finding out Monday before last that he's in danger of needing another surgery on his feet. Fortunately, after I took the braces off and laid him back down, Connor went right back to sleep and slept through the night. THANK GOODNESS!
Wednesday was nother busy busy day, trying to play catch up. Before 10am, I had already cleaned both bathrooms, including the showers, emptied the dishwasher and reloaded it, finished folding two loads of laundry and put them away, dusted the living room, dining room and library, swept and mopped the luandry room and stripped Bryan's bed and got it in the wash. Then took a shower and worked alittle on homework, but I just haven't had much time to work on homework at all this week. Connor came home, ABA, then we rushed to eat dinner as soon as ABA was over and off to Bryan's baseball tryouts--which went better than I expected, frankly (proud). So then we were home and again it was showers and homework. Ana needed time and "talk" time with me, and I ended up staying up until nearly 10pm with him talking with her, but it was a good talk. Then I was up another hour finishing up laundry and such.
Today, I think has been the hardest day this week. I put Connor to bed with no braces on because of the experiences we had had the previous nights (Wednesday night), so he slept through the night, thankfully. I don't think I would have survived this day without a full night's sleep...well, okay I only got about 5 hours, but it's better then one or two like Sunday or monday night. Alarm went off at 5:30am. Because my kids (older ones) had stayed up later than usual the night before, I didn't want to wake them; wanted them to get a little extra sleep, so I got Connor ready for school and out the door by myself, with no help from them....that is a CHORE. Then I jumped on Skype and was able to talk to the hubby for a few minutes, which was nice because I had not been able to talk to him much all week. Woke the older ones up and got them off to school, and then I left out for a parenting class. The class, frankly, was a bit of a waste of time. I need individualized/one on one time to figure out how to work with Anastasia specifically. These general parenting classes are all the same. I have the fundamentals and basics down. And for the most part, I do mess up from time to time, I follow what all the experts say to do. *sighs* So after the parenting class, which ran for over an hour and a half, I got home just in time to eat some lunch and work on my sociology alittle bit. I got a couple things written for that class, but still have a lot of reading and a couple of quizzes and one blackboard assignment to complete. YIKES! And no, I'm not done with pharmacology and haven't even cracked the history book this week. *frowns* Fortunately, it was exam week for psychology class and I've already taken the exam (took it before spring Break). But these three other classes and the kind of week I have had is not going well at all. So anyway, I left out to pick up Connor from school after getting some quick lunch. I didn't stay in the clinic for OT today. I sat in the car and read about half of the first chapter of two that I need to read for sociology during his session, but the therapist says it was a bit of a rocky session. During the OT session, I got a phone call from the pediatrics clinic saying that some paperwork I had dropped off the day before (Oh yeah, forgot to mention that I ran paperwork up to the hospital on Wednesday to be filled out by the doctor for Connor's respite care) was ready to pick up. So after we left from OT, we went to the hospital, picked up the paperwork and then ran it to ACS/EFMP. By the time all of that was done, it was nearly 4pm and I hadn't even done sound therapy yet! So we came in the back door, dropped off our things, and immediately went out the front door to walk around the neighborhood with our (Connor) headphones for sound therapy. Well, sound therapy is 30 minutes, so you guessed it! Connor finished just in time for the kids to get home from school. I will say that the evening could have been a lot harder. The weather was so nice today and Holly made a delicious meal that I really wanted to sit and enjoy instead of scarfing down like every other day this week, so the kids and I decided against going to martial arts tonight. So I did have a nice hour or so sitting on the front porch, watching the kids play in the neighborhood. Dinner was delicious and Connor, after sitting at the table for about 20 minutes refusing to eat, ended up eating everything on his plate. Meanwhile, Ana was finishing up some homework and Bryan wanted to practice throwing and catching a baseball. I was feeling VERY overwhelmed and torn in a million different directions, so fortunately, Holly took Bryan outside to play with him and throw the ball back and forth. I'm so thankful that she's here. Yes, she's so busy with her school and fire/rescue stuff that there is alot she doesn't do around the house because she just doesn't have the time, but with stuff that counts like having a conversation with one of the kids, to let them know they are appreciated and wanted, or taking them to extracurriculars or throwing a ball back and forth (small stuff, but it means so much!). So I proceeded to shower Connor and get him ready for bed. He smelled so "yummy"! I love the smell of a freshly bathed baby. yes, I know, he's not a baby, but I still use the Johnson's baby bath and lotion because he doesn't know to keep his eyes closed, etc during a bath. Then on to the kitchen. It wasn't too big of a bess, but that took a good chunk of my time. By the time that was done it was nearly 7:45pm and I still needed to vacuum the two bigger kids' rooms desperately. I had meant to do it earlier in the day, but just didn't have the time. I finished vacuuming their rooms right at 8:20. Went to put Connor down for the night, when to my horror, Connor had pooped and dug into it and smeared it all over him and the bed. At least he was laying in bed and it was ONLY on him and the bed. Stripping the sheets and remaking the bed is much much easier than having to scrub and shampoo carpets! So, back in the shower Connor went. At this point, I'm almost in tears, because I'm exhausted and I still have a good 2-3 hours of sociology homework to do, which I still haven't started because frankly, my brain is spagetti and I just can't concentrate on the material. It was nearly 9:15 by the time I got Connor back in bed. Then hubby called. I feel so terrible because I wasn't the best conversationalist. But all I could think of was all the things that I still have to do. I needed a shower desperiately because I was icky feeling, I still had three loads of laundry to do tonight and of course that sociology homework that is lingering over my head.
So here I am. I've been working on typing this for the past hour and a half now. I've got the last load of laundry in the washer. Connor woke up about 45 minutes ago fussing. He is not doing well with the Dorsal flexors on at night, which is what he needs to wear...those or the Ponsetti braces, but he sleeps worse in those most nights. We have the FRCs, but he's already started to crack the fiberglass on them. I ended up taking him out of them and he is not sleeping in nothing on his feet. Hopefully he can get some sleep and go to school tomorrow becasue tomorrow is another busy day of housework and homework; and of course ABA and sound therapy with Connor and I need to take the kids to pre-bowl for Saturday b/c Bryan has baseball try-outs.
So yeah, it's been tough. I have had no time, other than the time I've spent typing this, to myself all week. I've been running running running with very little breaks and I feel like I'm still so very behind on everything in my life. But time to sign off of here for now. Laundry and sociology awaits, and it is midnight. Hey, TGIF! Hopefully God approves of how I have managed this week. But a clone or some extra help would be absolutely fantastic, Amen.
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