Frustration.....

Warning: The post that you are about to read is more a vent and frustration.

For those of you who continued reading. This post came to be while I was laying on the couch wrestling Jakers to sleep. I am really frustrated with the fact the children's schedule completely relies on myself. Because it has made me prisoner in my life or atleast that is how I feel. For example there was a H.E.O.S (Helping Every One Successed) Meeting tonight which is basically a support group for families of children with IEPs at our school. I made the arrangements for the boys to go down to Ma and Pa's while I went to the meeting, because for certain issues its just better for them to go down to there rather than stay home with Daddy. But I knew I was cutting it close and that our bedtime routine would be thrown off up to an hour because I wouldn't be home til 7:30. But that when it hit me that them going to bed depends on ME, homework ME, Therapy ME, getting up and to school on time that would be ME, making sure everything is sent in when its suppose to that would be me aswell which is probally why its frustrating to the teachers because I always forget til the last minute and they usually send a note home to remind me. (mental note to put CharChars shirt for tie dye in his bookbag). But I know that I can't go anywhere or do anything for me because they need all of me. I laid on the couch wrestling Jakers for 1 hour and 25 minutes because we were off schedule and his melatonin took FOREVER to kick in tonight. While I was running around tonight trying to atleast get them inbed by 9pm it hit me how much circles around me... What happens if I can't do it all??? What happens if something happens to me?? How much better of a parent could I be if I had just a little bit more time??

Signing Time = FAMILY

I know the title doesn't really make sense but you'll understand why it really does. Family isn't blood relation anymore. When I was younger my aunts would fight over who was going to get me when I was out of school. But after I had my first child earlier in life than we expected I was no longer worth fighting for. After 2 of the 3 boys got dx'd as special needs my "family" seemed to drift apart more. But then we found www.signingtime.com and now we have a HUGE family. We came to www.signingtime.com to teach the boys ASL so that Jacob ho was nonverbal would be able to communicate with us. Little did we know but www.signingtime.com was going to give us a much bigger gift, which we will never be able to repay Rachel and everyone at www.signingtime.com . We started going to the wednesday night chats to ask questions and learn new things. Rachel then started using www.Twitter.com to let us keep track of her whereabouts and the random things she loves to tweet about. So then we started meeting more and more people and learning new things. But thanks to Twitter and www.signingtime.com we met Erin, Melissa Pam and many more who I consider some of my best friends. We are there for each other for anything day or night for ANYTHING some of us might never actually meet some of us might see eachother all the time. The one thing that amazes us is that even though our children's special needs is what brought us together in the begining that and www.signingtime.com its usually the farthest thing from our conversations. We are now family, we are the support system that we all need. I am so grateful for the relationships I have and proud to call all my signing time friends FAMILY!!
I lubs You Guys!
Rachel thank you so much for creating www.signingtime.com I don't know what we would have done if we wouldn't have found signingtime. You've help me create a WONDERFUL support system and a whole new family.

Back to School

The boys have now completed 2 weeks back in school. We are going into our second year in the year round school schedule. I have to say that we love it. I think it has been the best change for our family. The 9 weeks in 3 weeks off schedule with 6 weeks in the summer is great. Just enough time off and the kids are ready to go back. This year we also had the chance to loop Hunter with his teacher () so it was an amazing transition for him. Charlie is such a social butterfly he is fine in almost any situation in school. His teacher is great. She lets them have fun but keeps them in order.

We are waiting to find out about Jacob's start date for school. It should be towards the end August once traditional schools start up.

We also should have some big announcements comming soon about our service dog. We also are working on getting some of the clutter out of the house and keeping things organized.

Til Next Time...

Cheap Summer Entertainment....

FireFlies.... Lighting Bugs...

The past few nights since our Carowinds Family Bonding Adventure (Yes I know I haven't posted the pictures yet... Kiss My Booty I mean hold your horses)

The boys have been having a ball in the evening running around the yard catching fireflies... Well of course now we have some new vistors in the house with us. Jacob has a new friend! He played like this for 45minutes tonight... I just had to show you guys.. He was so cute I loved the squeal each time and him hollar "It fries"

I will finish editing the Carowinds pics as soon as I can get them to sleep!

Where are YOUR Boobies!!!!

I had to post this it was soooo cute.... Some might find it offense but I thought it was cute..... Not sure who taught him his body parts but he's gotten mixed up along the way....

Will do a good post later.....

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day NaNa

Well Its Official...

David is The Boy's FATHER!!!!

As everyone knows.. Today was the big day. We went to the lawyer and then to the Clerk of Courts.. He finalized the paper work. The adoptions are final and David is now the father of 3 Crazy, Busy, Beautifully Blessed Sons. We are so glad that this 2 year process is finally OVER. We have also made sure that all the i's have been dotted and t's have been crossed so that there is NO chance that he could come back in a few years and decide he wants become an active parent. It is a huge weight lifted off of us and a big relief its one less thing I have to worry about. Now I can strictly focus on Hunter and helping him overcome his issues he has been having... As I type this Jacob is stacking pepsi and mountain dew cans into different designs... I really need to get him into cup stacking... But that is for another post... Time for Tuck in's I'll do the Hunter update later..

Now to lock up the Zoo

Pump It Up Party....

This afternoon we attended at Birthday Party at www.pumpitupparty.com
We decided this was a great place to have a party for multiple age groups. You go into a Arena and your group is the only ones in there. The boys LOVED it there. They were all over the place but with all the staff there it was easy to keep the Zoo herded in. We will be going back there soon hopefully. The parents even got involved in climbing and sliding and jumping. We always match the boys when we are going out somewhere big, so that if heaven forbid one is to get lost I can remember exactly what he is or atleast was wearing last time I saw him. They got balloons before they left so when we got home we did the ritual of writing the names and message on the balloons and sending them to heaven. We all included a purple one for Miss Maddie http://remembermaddie.com/

Well I will post another update after I put the boys to bed... I'll update everyone on Mr. Hunter

Signing Time....

This post is for many reasons... One because my EBFF is giving away some Signing Time DVDs on her website http://www.theflockofbirds.blogspot.com/ You have to check it out. She has lots of give aways. You get to learn all about her crazy life and my Buddah Rhett. But back to the real reason for the post.

As most of you all know Jacob has Autism and limited verbal very little actual verbal conversations. We started ST! with him when he was 12 months and though he wouldn't speak to us or look at us he would sign to us. Now he is a speaking, signing crazy man! We are always looking to expand our ST! Collection and do what we can to raise awareness on the benefits of using ASL with Children who do and don't have any special needs.

Rachel's DVDs are amazing. My sons can watch them OVER and OVER and OVER again and never get bored. She explains the signs so well and has lots of repetition of the sign in the video so your sure your child is learning how to sign it and so are you! We listen to the CD in the car and sign the songs as we go down the road.

ST! has helped my son so much that they have recently put him into a PreK class and he is academically doing better than most of the kids in there. Thats amazing considering he is a year or two younger than all his class and he is autistic! ST! is the reason for this.

Chapter 1

Its deffinately been one of those nights... But to start with lets just get the first blog posted... I can do more once The Monkey goes to sleep....