I've gotten several "Since you are home all day..." comments lately. To you, I say... well, I politely say that I am not. Ever.
I am home this morning for the first time in weeks. It's only a couple hours and while I most definitely should not be sitting here typing, I just need a second to not be doing anything else.
STRESSED, doesn't even begin to describe it, people.
And believe it or not, just parenting four children and trying to keep a house in decent shape has nothing to do with it. I wish that's what was stressing me out! Not that it's easy or boring, of course ;)
First of all, here's a typical day here (By the way, soon you may be able to SEE a typical day here. *More on that later. And, no, it's not a reality show as so many of you have hilariously suggested ;)
Monday:
6:00 Nathan leaves for work (*more on that later)
6:30 Kids up, quiet time and start morning responsibilities (make bed, put PJs where they go, etc)
7:00-8:00 Fix breakfast for littles, clean up breakfast from littles (they help). Teeth, lotion, hair (quite a process for Brynn since she rolled in the grass the night before). Clothes, lunches, folders, backpacks. Kisses. Bus stop.
8:30 AG and I out the door for PT.
8:45-9:30 PT
9:30-10:00, en route to gym. While en route, on phone to confirm IEP meeting (*more on that later), pre-op appointment (*more on that later), and dance gig.
10:00-11:30 gym (that's NOT normal, but I saw an opportunity to squeeze it in, so I did.)
12:00 Home, feed baby and lay her down for nap. Feed myself and jump in the shower. Start laundry, run dishwasher. Get baby back up.
1:30 Out the door for OT
2:00-2:45 OT. While in OT, school calls to say Brynn needs clean clothes. (There are clean clothes in her backpack, but they don't see them.)
3:00-3:30 Go home, get clean clothes, take them to school, see other clean clothes in her backpack, change B into clean clothes, go back home.
3:30-4:00 AG potty (*more on that later), swap over laundry
4:00 kids home from school, afternoon responsibilities, snack
4:20 Nathan home from work
4:45 I leave with Layla and Cale for their dance classes
5:00 Nathan leaves with Brynn and AG for group therapy
5:00-6:00 Layla tap
5:45 Brynn done with group (*more on that later), Nathan starts dinner.
6:00-7:00 Cale hip hop
7:15 Home, dinner, homework
8:00 Kids go to bed, clean up dinner, kitchen
8:30 Mommy and Daddy sit down to fold laundry and never get back up (*more on that later).
A friend of mine used the phrase "addicted to being busier than everyone else" :)
I shared that to explain, not complain! And I certainly am not saying you shouldn't ask me to be anywhere or do anything, ha! Also, to clarify why I may not have returned your email/phone call just yet or didn't make it to your event, or flaked on something else completely etc. I promise I'm not pumped full of excuses. I just flub sometimes. Additionally, if you see me running around wearing two different shoes, no makeup, and jeans with paint on them... that's why.
It's chaotic, but we manage it pretty well, I think. And manage to squeeze in playing together, reading together, snuggling together (most days). Nathan and I make a damn good team.
.
NOT trying to be a martyr, of course, just a mom.
Break down your day and I would imagine it looks quite similar. Now, make yourself some coffee and be considerate of other people's time.
This seems like a good time to address the rumor that we are adopting again. I have had no less than 10 people congratulate me recently on our upcoming adoption! Some even saying they heard the specifics of the child we're adopting. Believe me, worse things have been said about us as far as rumors go! But just to clear things up... we're not. (See above). At least not that we know of!
Back to (some of) the highlights:
I'll start with Anna Gray.
Her surgery is scheduled for next week. Once sedated, they will clean out her itty bitty ear canals so they can actually see in there, possibly re-structure those itty bitty canals so they can function, possibly put in tubes, possibly remove her adenoids, and most definitely do an ABR to confirm or disprove hearing loss. So, nothing major- just lots of little stuff. Possibly.
We will not be fixing her tear duct again right now as discussed. Just too much else to worry about. But when it comes to her eyes, it turns out that her vision was much worse than originally thought. Her sweet little glasses should be here any day! We HOPE they are a game-changer, but we'll see ;)
The fact that she can stack blocks and sort shapes and work puzzles and not see... means she's a bonafied rockstar now.
Next up, Brynn and Cale.
They have a genetics appointment coming up, although we don't expect to learn anything new. Just double-checking! They also each have appointments with their developmental specialists... Cale's next month and Brynn was wait-listed. We did go ahead and set a basic IEP for next year, even though I will be homeschooling the two of them.
I'm sure some of you see that day above and wonder how in the heck we are going to fit in school too! We will. We may have to get creative- it's what we do- but we will! And we're excited :)
Brynn is still loving her group and individual therapy and we can see a difference in the way she's processing her feelings. Cale will be starting a group soon with two older boys who fall somewhere on the spectrum. I think he will do super. We are also looking at an all-inclusive therapy, fun program that may work out for next year.
The bulk of the stress- again, I imagine it's comprable to everyone else's. Except it's trying to kill us.
Very few of you know that we have been in a battle with the IRS for 14 months. Long story short, we were paid a significant amount of money (a few years ago) that they now want back (adoption refund). All professional folks (and the BTDT folks) agree that we were right to have been given the money in the first place. Someone is just not connecting the dots. We have exhausted all options and the situation now rests in the hands of our Congressman. I tell you now, because if this doesn't work... it won't be good. It will be bad. Really really bad. And I figure every prayer helps.
There's more, but I'll save the rest for another post. Lots to do! Nathan gets home at 2:00 today and we plan to enjoy it!
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