My Boys

Just a quick update on the boys here.  It’s hard to believe that I have a 4.5 year old and an almost 3 year old!  Seriously, where did the time go?

Both boys will be starting soccer in April through Happy Feet Soccer Club.  With a little support from the head coach, I managed to successfully get both boys on the same team.    John will be playing down a level into the 3 year old division which is fine with us because he’s a more than a little timid on the field.  Nathan will play up to the 3 year old division since he’s our rough and tumble child.  The will both be Lions this year wearing blue.  They seem excited (mostly about the prospect of wearing shin guards) so we’re excited for them.

John’s IEP staffing was last week.  It went surprising smoothly.  Almost to the point that I’m waiting for the ball to drop and things to blow up.  Although the general consensus was that from an academic standpoint John does not qualify for the PreK program in the school district, his need for regular peer interaction and intense speech needs outweigh the guidelines for enrollment.  We’ll take Nathan for his PreK screening the first week of May.  Hopefully he’ll qualify for the program as well (it helps that John is already in).  If everything pans out they’ll both start in August and I’ll have a newborn ready to arrive any day. 

Speaking of the baby, tomorrow is the 20 week ultrasound.  Yay!  I had a dating ultrasound about 4 weeks ago and they moved my due date up 8 days.  So middle of August it is.  Unless, of course, this ultrasound tomorrow changes things again.  For now though, the official due date is August 13 and I believe PreK is scheduled to start on August 14.  No problem, right?

Nathan is in the midst of the terrible twos.  Lots of crying and occasionally tantrums.  Although they seem to be short lived, the tantrums can drive me up the wall.  Really, his tantrums tend to be as simple as dropping to his knees and not wanting to stand back up.  This is fine as long as I’m not trying to run out the door to pick John up from school or attempting to get Nathan to gymnastics.  I’m surviving.  But there is no denying that Nathan’s lungs and vocal cords are waaaaay more progressed than John’s were at this age. *sigh*

Going Strong

The process for moving the playroom downstairs is moving forward.  It’s a slow (and tedious) process, but we’re trekking along. Most of the successes of the past week seem to be based in this task, so here they are…

1.  Finally called the electrician to get power dropped on the far side of the basement.  We also need a few other little electrical things done so hopefully we can officially check those off the list soon. 

2.  Having spent so much time in the basement recently has prompted me to get way more laundry done than before.  I figure if I’m down in the basement I might as well throw a load in.  Low and behold, there was actually one day when all the laundry was done!  I’ve even gotten some of our spare pillows washed.  Yay! Maybe this will be one of those long-term perks of having the playroom in the basement.

3.  We’ve continued to purge toys.  Seriously – how many remote control trucks do two boys need?!?!?!  I’m shocked at how many toys we have acquired in just 4.5 years.  Granted, we’re not great about parting with outgrown toys (because thus far there has always been another child on the way), but I am committed to NOT having 12 of everything in this house!! 

4.  Spent one day making tons of phone calls.  I don’t know how the list of people to call grows on me – but it sure does.  Nonetheless, we now have a free family portrait session, ENT appointment, hearing test, and dermatologist appointment all scheduled. Now, we just need to actually make it to those appointments…..

5.  Bills are paid for the month.  It’s always nice when that is checked off the list.  And since I got everything paid and all the books balanced…I caught an accounting issue.  Good news – it’s in our favor!  Matt’s boss forgot to forward his January expense report to the main office for reimbursement.  So this month we’ll be getting an extra reimbursement check (for a pretty hefty chunk of money!).  We’ll be able to tuck some of that $$$ into our savings for our upcoming vacation in May! 

Bottom line – productive week!  Keep on going, keep on going, keep on going…. 

Maybe if I keep plugging away – we’ll be organized enough to have a new baby in August!

Solo Survival Success

This week Matt has been on the road.  He left Sunday afternoon.  Anticipated return home is Friday night.  Meaning: I’ve been on my own this week.  That in and of itself feels like it should be a success sometimes! 

But moving onto this week’s successes…..

1.  This week was super busy with lots of appointments.  I can honestly say that to-date, we’ve been on time (or early) for every.single.one.  We’ve met friends for coffee, had meetings, an ultrasound, a doctor appointment, speech therapy sessions and three gymnastics classes.  Phew!

2.  Despite Tuesday being our busiest day of the week – I managed to cook dinner at home.  (Let’s not talk about the rest of the week.  It’s been a week of eating on the go).  But Tuesday was a success.  I made Table for Two’s crockpot Beef and Broccoli.  Quite good!  The boys enjoyed it and it was the perfect amount for the three of us.

3.  I seem to have mastered the nap time battles (at least for the moment).  I’ve been allowing both boys to lay in mommy’s bed and watch one 30 minute TV show.  Then Nathan heads off to his bed on his own accord and John sleeps in my bed.  Sometimes I nap with John, sometimes I sneak out to get things accomplished around the house.

4.  I’ve continued our quest to clean out the basement.  Another two bags of trash and a giant pile of recycling at ready to depart the house on appropriate days.  I also have a large bag of items to donate and a few items that I need to sell.  Purging feels good!

So there you have it – a week of surviving on my own.  Complete with appointments, activities, and a little bit of crock pot cooking.

Accomplished

Small Successes – I come and I go!  But I really do LOVE the concept.  I love counting up those little things each week and celebrating the (sometimes) mundane.

This week is full of success!  So let’s cut to the chase….

1.  After spending a day in the basement rearranging, purging and organizing, I’m happy to say I feel like progress is being made.  Slow progress, but progress nonetheless.  Seriously, why do we still have three old mainframes that we haven’t used since at least 2008? (And that’s the most recent one…let’s not talk about the one I have from when I was in college)

2.  I have already taken a load to be donated and dropped it off.  Yay for clutter out of the house!  And double yay for my clutter blessing someone else.  That’s what it’s all about!

3.  The previously mentioned mainframes, an old printer, and a keyboard that still has an PS/2 connector are already loaded into the back of the van (Thanks Charles!).  Tomorrow is an electronics recycling day downtown so I’ll be headed there to drop off all that too! 

Pretty excited about the progress being made!  Getting rid of clutter makes me sooooo happy.

February…and the winds of change are blowing in

Ahhh…February….that time where you start to see tiny glimpses of spring in the future.  You know, that random 65 degree day or the fact that it’s not pitch black both when you wake up and tuck the kids in bed.  It’s amazing what those little “looks ahead” do for my mental state of mind.

Last night I found myself daydreaming of the garden plans for this year.  Marigolds by the lamp post again (last year’s attempt at something different didn’t do it for me).  We’ll certainly need basil, cilantro, strawberries, and maybe some cucumbers this year.  And I’m trying to figure out if we can transplant our surprise lilies to a different location this spring (preferably one where my husband won’t view them as weeds and run them over with the lawn mower).  Hmmm….is it too early to be thinking about such things?

Also in my daydreams are playroom storage, design, and functionality.  We’ve been in cleaning/decluttering mode around here recently – which I always seem to associate with spring.  We’re in the process of moving our playroom downstairs, Matt’s office to the other side of the basement and attempting to find a way to separate the two as best as possible.  This is a process.  I’m thinking it may take all spring and a chunk of early summer.  But slow and steady will win the race….AND – I can guarantee that it will be done by August.

Why? Well, because in August we’ll be needing the current playroom to serve as a nursery.    Yay!  Garcia baby #3 should arrive in mid to late August 2013. 

So there’s the big news!  Super excited!

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Back to My Successes!

I love Small Successes!  Sometimes they are enough to keep me blogging when I feel like I have nothing to report.  Sometimes (when I have a ton to report) they hold me back.  Sometimes I skipped them for months because I just don’t blog the way I dreamed I would when this blog started. 

That having been said – I’m back to the original point – I love Small Successes! It reminds me of what I’ve accomplished each week.  There’s simply nothing like celebrating the little things because those are the things most often overlooked.  So behold…here are my successes this week:

1.  I dug the “to-do” notebook out of the pile of “to-deal-with-later.” So I now have a list (albeit long) of things that need to get done.  Blogging was on this list.  I’ve written 4 (this is 5) posts today.  Check all five of those off the list.  Look! It’s getting shorter by the minute!  Now to tackle some of the more pressing issues like faxing papers to doctors’ offices, completing some sewing projects that have been looming forever, and knocking some gift-buying out. 

2.  We took John for allergy testing.  I was originally pretty apprehensive of doing it, but it has been recommended by John’s pediatrician, his speech therapist, his teacher and most recently an ER doctor following a 4AM ambulance ride to the hospital.  The results show he’s basically allergic to the great outdoors during the spring, summer and fall.  (Oh, and cats)  So we’re trying some meds first. In 8 weeks we’ll re-evaluate to see how he is responding.  Right now we’re trying to avoid allergy shots – although they may very well be in his future.

3.  (This is really Nathan’s success!)  Nathan peed in the potty!  Just once and after leaking on the floor….but it looks like we may be on the way to potty training.  I’m cautiously optimistic.  While I love the idea of not buying diapers, I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to potty train him while driving John all over town for different appointments, preschool, and practices.  I know other families do it so I’m sure I’ll figure it out.  But with John I just committed a week at home and we did it.  I’m thinking it may be a different story this time around.

4.  (And it should be noted that this is really John’s success!)  We had John’s parent/teacher conference early this morning.  He got an absolutely glowing review from his teacher.  Apparently he’s a great listener, rule follower, super smart, has excellent fine motor skills and is generally a hard worker (at least for 2 1/2 hours, 5 days a week).  On his writing skills tests he needs a little work on drawing a person and he called a ‘crescent’ a ‘moon’ on his shapes test.    Not bad if you ask me!  Top that off with a conference with his school speech therapist who claims he has met or surpassed all but one of his speech goals for the school year (and it’s only October!).

Yay for Small Successes!    I’m excited to get back on the bandwagon with them again.  Not to mention that I now have the aforementioned “to-do” notebook back in my arsenal…I’ll be getting so much more done!