Weekend

It's J's nap time here. We are expecting a winter storm later today, just when it seemed things were getting warmer. Regardless I know spring is just around the corner. One last chance for snow pictures, right? Nothing exciting going on today, I'm tired from staying up late last night at Studio Calico. Dh and I are working on taxes this weekend. I've been thinking about a list of things I'm grateful for:

1. I'm grateful for my health, for my life, for my happiness that is not dependent on things or situations.

2. I'm grateful for my family, and my pug. Even the worst days together are still better than my best days without them.

3. I'm grateful for my friends. I have really loyal friends who love me for me. Who remind me to choose my battles.

4. I'm grateful for this hobby. It's simple, it suits me.

5. I'm grateful for photos, all the photos I've taken. The good ones, the bad ones, all of them. They mean more to me than most possessions I own.

Here is another Cosmo layout with Everafter:

Supplies: Cosmo Cricket Everafter Patterned paper: Something special, Something true, and Something old; plus white Bazzil Cardstock, American Crafts Thickers, and Maya Road chipboard hearts.

Instructions: Print journaling on white cardstock. Add patterned paper blocks and stripe. Adhere paper and photo. Add title stickers and embellishments. Easy!

Hope you are having a great weekend. March, coming in like a lion! 

TGIF

It's Friday, hooray! So excited for the weekend. I'll be staying up and chatting over at Studio Calico tonight until midnight. I'll probably pop in at about 10pm or so, I have some things I'd like to finish first. So, if you are up, come say hi! I haven't decided which add-on I want, but I have to get the bicycle stamp. Gotta, lol.

I've been cleaning out my scrap room again, as all the websites for the winter blahs recommend organizing as a cure. I am taking some of the old idea books that I have to the library, I saw they had some other scrap idea books on the shelf and I figured they could use mine.  I'm also giving some stuff to the local pre-school, toys and stuff I thought they might like. It does feel good to get rid of stuff.

I'm embracing the terrible twos, and doing layouts about our lives regardless. I don't really want to look back and think that everything was wonderful and I want to do it again. I want to look back and say, how cute was he? But how tough was that! Otherwise I'll just cry I guess, thinking my best years have pasted me by. I am so thankful for all the other moms who posted yesterday, just knowing that I am not alone is so comforting. Thank you! Have a great weekend, I'll be posting tomorrow. Until then, a bedtime layout. I think the Cosmo Lil Man plane paper is so dreamy.

Supplies: Cosmo Cricket Lil Man Patterned paper: Mischievous Max, Silly Sam and Cheerful Charlie; Cosmo Cricket Lil man "unforgettable' Rub-on; plus Making Memories Love Notes clip.

Instructions: Create a box in photoshop for both picture and journaling, then print. Cut patterned paper into a square and a rectangle and arrange as shown. Add photo and journaling, adhere clip and apply rub-on to bottom of page.

See you later!

Stay on the Sunny side. . .

This week has been very trying. I could divert your attention to something funny or witty, but I feel that would be a dishonest representation of my week. I'm finally coming to the conclusion that I'm living with a child going through the terrible twos. He has every symptom of this dreaded illness that makes grown people cry. His favorite word is "no," even though he can't say it very well. He just shakes his head no to anything you ask him. He is argumentative, in so far as a non-verbal child can be. He is disagreeable just to be so, and he melts down at the slightest dip in blood sugar. And because he is bigger and stronger than most children his age, somebody normally gets hurt in his outbursts. And that somebody is me.

I accidentally got in the way of a flailing sippy cup, and took it in the mouth. It hurt. And then I was on the receiving end of a head butt when he threw himself on the floor when his favorite toy stopped working. In those instances I've just been at the wrong place at the wrong time. This week he has clogged toilets, thrown a brand new soccer ball down an irrigation drain, and made a mess all over the entire house with a sippy cup on carpet. And that's just off the top of my very sleepy head. Why didn't the pediatrician or any of the other so called "child experts" that I've dealt with in the past two weeks make this diagnosis? Makes me wonder.

I think I'm also dealing with a case of the winter blues. Too much winter, too much inside. I'm bored, cranky, and edgy (although understandably so as I don't know when I'll have to dodge the next blow from my toddler). I took J and went to Michael's yesterday, just to get out, to see something new and different. Only, they didn't have anything new and different from the last time I went, about a month and 1/2 ago. This is the case with most stores I've been to, so it's really easy not to shop or spend money if they don't get any new merchandise in. You know? Kind of a bummer.

I did take some of my very smart blog readers advice, and decided to really do some homework on the jumbo loan thing. Which I found out that in my area, the term jumbo loan refers to a loan greater than $625,000. (holy crap!) But, good news for me! However, I am in the process of contacting 2 different mortgage specialists to discuss terms and conditions, which unfortunately are subject to change at a moments notice in this economy, but it is at least somewhere to start. I did make an inquiry with a real estate agent, which I had not wanted to do. I hate to get any one's hopes up that we might buy something and then not do so. But I really needed the information, so I have someone I'm talking to to get accurate and correct local information should I need it. So, we are just getting some info and trying to figure out what, if anything is possible.

I've been kind of unmotivated and uninspired this week. I think it is hard to scrap about the terrible twos, or speech issues or the mortgage meltdown, or even the winter blues. So I choose instead to focus on what I am grateful for, and believe me I had to dig. :)

You are Layout

Supplies: Cosmo Cricket Everafter Patterened paper: Something old, Something new; Cosmo Cricket Everafter Ready, set, chipboard; Cosmo Cricket Everafter Rub-ons "Remember", plus white Bazzil cardstock, Pilot black pen.

Instructions: Make a square from grey patterned paper. Cut other patterned paper as seen, adhere, and add photo and embellishment. Using a ruler, draw square stitched border around patterned paper on white cardstock. Remove patterned paper square and run cardstock through printer to add journaling. Adhere square in the middle of stitched border.

Hope your week is going well. Grey's is on tonight!

Sign of the times

My dh found out that most likely we will be in this area for the next 10 years, which is huge for us. Being military, we are used to moving. So dh has his heart set on us getting a house. Me, I live here in the real world and I have been musing how to make this work. Maybe you can point out something I've missed.

We live in jumbo loan country here. The starting point for houses or even townhouses is 1/2 million. Even now, even after the housing bust. I read an article in the WSJ this morning, talking about how no banks want to give jumbo loans (greater than $417,000). So that puts us coming up with not only 25% down, but possibly having to put down enough money to bring the price from 1/2 million to $417, 000. Yikes! If I had that kind of cash, it's long gone in the stock market. 

See, the people here can't afford to go much lower in their home prices. They bought when things were 3/4 of a million dollars. Do you see the catch 22? It's sad that in the height of the craziness, we were smart enough to stay out of real estate market and rent. And now that we want to buy, we would have to come up with hundreds of thousands of dollars in a down payment, even with dh's proof of employment.  What a mess. I hate to break dh's heart, but I unless he wants to drive an hour to work and an hour back, I think we are going to have to stay put. I've worked hard to clean up this rental, and I'm happy with it for now. I just feel bad I can't give him what he wants. He's a good guy who doesn't want much, and he deserves much. Funny, seems like the American dream is becoming, well, a pipe dream.

Drive-by

I'm feeling better and because I have left so much stuff go while I was sick, this is a drive-by posting. I have so much to do! This is Scribble Scrabble's New Ruth's collection, such pretty colors. Have a great Monday!

The Snot Diet

All you need is one virus, lasting approximately 2 weeks with a copious amount of snot. That's it. Individual results may vary, but with taste buds covered and totally out of commission, I have lost 7 lbs and counting. That's with my valentine's day chocolate sitting untouched. Nothing tastes right. I've wondered if perhaps I don't have a cold, maybe it's tuberculous or something. But then I think I know too much and it's not a zebra (what we call a medical mystery. Medical problems that are common are horses, medical problems that are uncommon are zebras). 

And while I am certain I will get no sympathy for my unintended consequence, I am a little upset about the weight loss because I recently found a pair of jeans that I love. And I bought two pairs. And even after washing them on hot water and drying them on heat, they don't fit right now even with a belt. And I'm still sick. Maybe I'll finish the layout tomorrow, sigh. There is always tomorrow, right?

Shopping List

As I sat here last night trying to add the journaling to a layout, drowning in my snot, I said to myself, "Self, you are entirely too sick to be scrapping, or even be awake." So, I stopped layout short of adding journaling. I will post that one this weekend sometime. Instead, today I'll focus on my CHA wish list. I didn't go to CHA, but I saw the previews. It's not a very long list, but before I forget, I figured I should write it down (it's only 5 things):

1. Basic Grey Marrakech (select papers)

2. Basic Grey Lime Rickey (select papers)

3. American Crafts thickers from Baby and Backyard (respectively)

4. Maya Road pins

5. Pink Paislee Fetching (paper, sticker book, chipboard elements, etc.)

See, not a very long list. But I already have the new Cosmo and Scribble Scrabble.  Also on the list should be anything Studio Calico puts together. Maybe it is a long list? I have absolutely no idea what I am going to do with those Maya Road pins, but I gotta have them. I'll figure it out later. :) I rarely buy all of one line of paper, I like to get just my favorites.  Any of this on your shopping list? Hope you have a wonderful weekend. I'll be updating.

It's too nice to wipe my nose with. . .

I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. Three times fast. Just kidding. :)

My sister is doing well, thanks for asking. She has a follow up appt tomorrow with her doctors at Duke. She wants to go back to work asap, she is insanely bored at home. I think that is a good sign.

I have been feeling a little scatter-brained lately, and I don't want to forget the important things I want on my pages. So I found this little journal in the $1 bin at Target. The inside has Kraft paper, which I thought was kind of neat. I'm constantly making lists on the back of random things like envelopes and paper bags anyway. So I covered the outside with some happiness called Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday and I stamped the inside pages with Van Dyke Brown ink and my ever growing collection of Studio Calico stamps:

Thoughts Journal

Supplies: Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday Patterned paper: Wednesday (front and back); Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday Rub-ons; Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday Ready, Set, Chipboard Butterfly; Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday Ribbon; plus Scenic Route Rub-ons, Pilot black pen, Van Dyke Brown Ink, and Numerous Studio Calico Stamps.

Instructions: Cut patterned paper into 6 x 6 square. Punch 2 holes with hole punch aligned to journal (you can do this by turning the journal over and using a pencil to draw inside the holes). Adhere to journal. If you don't have a pre-made journal, no worries. Two pieces of chipboard or cardboard with 6 x 6 paper in between with holes punched will work just as well. Cut and curve the binding piece of patterned paper around journal spine. Trace and punch holes and then adhere. Insert Ribbon and tie. Apply Rub-ons and butterfly. Stamp inside pages with stamps and ink.

I've been wanting to do this project for a while. It was important to me to have my handwriting on the cover somewhere. I'm excited to use the pages, the stamps really make me look forward to journaling around them, or on them, or with them. So, that's all I'm up to today. That and desperately trying to get well. Happy Thursday! Greys is on tonight!

Thank you, snow much

We are having some unexpected snow today, and it was hard to photograph this layout. The glitter on the snowflakes sparkle in real life. I just love the Cosmo Lil Man papers, they are so beautiful. They look just like fabric, it's amazing!

Snow Layout

Supplies: Cosmo Cricket Lil Man Patterned Paper Dapper Dan; plus American Crafts rainboots thickers, black pen and KI glitter snowflakes.

Instructions: It looks simple, but not exactly. First print journaling via computer on patterned paper. Print photos on photo paper, trim sides of large photo, then use exacto knife to cut out the remaining side and the two smaller photos. Adhere photos, title stickers and embellishments as seen. Using a ruler and a pen, draw line on photo and background patterned paper.

I'm still sick, the cold is lingering. My voice is all raspy and weird. I hate NyQuil. I mean, it's good for a cold but it doesn't taste like cherry. Never was, isn't and never will be cherry, Yuck! I think the FDA should make them take the "cherry favored" off the label. I'm just saying. 

J seems much better. He ran a high fever for about a day, and that's it. Still, I think this is a snow day that we will sit out. We had so much fun that one day in the photo, love snow pictures.

Thank you to everyone who posted on the POTD thread yesterday at 2 peas. I saw you all, and it really made my day. It was like my birthday all over again. Thank you so much. Have a great day everyone!

PS The new Cosmo blog is having a giveaway later today, check it out!

Chocolate fixes everything, right?

My house has been ravaged by illness. It's the quickest way I know of to kill a 3 day weekend! It started Sat night for me, and by Sunday morning I was a zombie. Some colds are just a little sniffle and a lot of cough. This, this was more like a plague. It's been years since I had such a high fever, chills and general malaise (fatigue/body ache). It was completely debilitating. My dh is a trooper though, totally took care of my son, who despite our very best efforts is sick today. This is only his second illness ever, and he is still not yet been sick enough to go to the doctor for a cold/flu. Yet. I have my doubts about this evening, it could be interesting. I feel much better now though. I have a theory about things that are so noxious, they blow in and out like bad weather. 

Update: I'd like go all Donald Trump on the pediatrician (your fired!), but things are rarely that simple. We have hearing tests and speech evaluation referrals in the works. If I go request his records now, she could refuse to submit the proper referrals and then I would be up to my eyeballs in bills from the insurance. So, it's best not to cut off my nose to spite my face. However, I have declined the behavioral specialist referral, stating "It's a diagnosis of exclusion, and we have actual speech issues that need to be addressed." That said, dh and I have stepped up our approach to the hitting issue. It's one thing to empathize with his frustration, but the action is not acceptable. Mainly I just take his arm in my hand and bring it to his side and tell him "stop" and amazingly, it's working. I don't think 2 year olds like being told what to do (shocker), because he has definitely decreased that behavior. I used to think telling him the same thing over and over meant I was doing something wrong. Now I think it means I must be doing something right. Even though the sacrifice is often my sanity.

And this is how I know he is my son. Now that we have a date for the speech evaluation, little dude has added 1 phrase and 3 new words to his vocabulary this week. "I go; good, boat and plane".  One of the words he has had for a while is "ball." I think he must be trying to communicate something about the ball being good, good throw or catch or something because he walks around saying "ballgood." But to me it sounds like "it's all good." Makes me laugh, and that works for me!

Lastly, I wanted to show you my valentine's day present. Dh and I ordered chocolate for each other from Norman Love. I got milk chocolate and he wanted dark chocolate. Here are some pics from my box: (sorry Julie)

It was good. Hope you had a great weekend. I'll update with some projects soon since it looks like I'm going to live. :)

Quirky Valentine

On our way out the door today, and I have to call my dad. It's his birthday. 

Love Layout

Supplies: Cosmo Cricket Chemistry Patterned paper:  Head over heals, Wink, and Forget me not; Cosmo Cricket Lil' Man Patterned paper: Mischievous Max; plus Bazzil white and black cardstock, 7 Gypsies stickers, Maya Road chipboard hearts, American crafts thickers, and Staples paperclip.

Instructions: Cut patterned paper into different sized rectangles as shown. Print journaling on white cardstock via computer. Add photo. Adhere patterned paper, embellishments and title as desired.

Pap-pap Layout (as seen on AMLT GDT)

Supplies: Cosmo Cricket Lil Man Patterned paper: Dapper Dan, Silly Sam and Jumping Jack; Cosmo Cricket Lil Man Ready Set Chipboard Buttons; plus Black and white cardstock, October afternoon alpha stickers blue, and studio calico ribbon.

Instructions: Print journaling on white cardstock via computer. Make a rectangle out of striped and white checked patterned paper, using the strips on the top and bottom and the checks for the middle.  Adhere journaling over strips at the top. Add red checked patterned paper strip, adhere photo on top and embellished buttons (with ribbon tied). Add title stickers last.

The first layout is for dh, the second is of my dad. I tried all the October afternoon stickers with the lil man line and they all look pretty good, similar reds, oranges and blues. I'm doing better now (from my previous post), I'll post an update soon. 

Happy Valentine's day everyone!

A postcard from the edge. . .

Dear me,

Going to the pediatrician today was a huge waste of time and a big mistake. Let that be a lesson to you, no good deed goes unpunished. You wanted the appt, well you got it.  There is nothing medically wrong with your child, you suspected/knew that. You wanted an Audiology referral, you should have just taken it from the nurse when she offered it. No reason to see the pediatrician. And what you got after that was a boatload of lousy advice. 

Honestly, my pediatrician gave me a behavioral development referral, because maybe his behavior was related to not talking and being unable to communicate and maybe not. I call BS. My son is two, he has normal two year old behavior. Granted it's at the extreme end of the spectrum because he is strong willed AND can't talk, but it doesn't make him a problem child, a brat, or otherwise. I feel mortally wounded, and scarred as a mother to be told that my son needs to see a behavior specialist. Because he hit the door when he wanted to leave, and you know can't talk (and was then told he was getting a shot--double whammy).  Because he yelled to get my attention when speaking with the physician. You would think the doctor didn't spend every minute of every day with kids. Or maybe that says something. Maybe my child is so horrible that she felt like he was the worst she has ever seen and she was doing me a favor straightening him out now. 

My path ahead is that much more confusing. I feel like no one has mine or J's best interest at heart. Decisions are being driven by laziness on the part of this pediatrician or greed on the part of all these specialists. I mean, shouldn't everyone take a 2 year old to a behavioral specialist if this is the case? $$$ I'm sure mine is the only one to ever whine, yell and hit a door, right? 

It's been another set back, another disappointment, another dead end. Call the speech therapist and pray. Go forth, consume much guacamole. And make sure you put a compression bandage on that wound that is your heart. You are going to need it to guide you because J still needs you and the forecast is cloudy. So pull yourself together, get your game face on, and forget today. Every last pathetic word.

Sincerely, Me 

Options

Some Cosmo Cards that I made for my sister and my dad:

Valentine Birthday Card

Inside: Isn't that sweet?

Supplies: Cosmo Cricket Chemistry Patterned paper, plus Black and white Bazzil Cardstock, American Crafts Ribbon, Martha Stewart heart punch and Studio Calico patterned paper. 

Instructions: Print out photo. Print journaling on a white cardstock square the same size as your photo. Mat with black cardstock. Add ribbon and punch hearts out of patterned paper and adhere as accent.

Everyday (Get Well) Card

Inside: I'm thankful your Ok! Get well soon.

Supplies: Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday Patterned paper, Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday Ready, set Chipboard Butterfly, plus Scenic Route Rub-on and Maya Road Ric Rak Ribbon.

Instructions: Cut patterned paper as shown, cutting white butterfly outline on paper in half. Add ribbon to either side. Adhere chipboard butterfly in the outline. Apply rub-on.

My father is this big tough guy that has a birthday on Valentine's day. I struggle every year to find that one card that is both a Valentine and a birthday card. I usually have no options, the one I find is the one I get. Since I started making all my own cards, now I have options! The second one is a get well card for my sister. Nothing says get well like the bright colors of Girl Friday.

Monday at the class was bad, bad. J just totally lost it, and now we are leaving 45 mins into an hour long class. Isn't this supposed to be fun for him? And it's just free play basically, they can run around and do what they like. I know that he gets upset when they change activities. I think that has to do with his not being able to express himself in words. I called the pediatrician and threw down the gauntlet. We haven't been able to get in to see her in 4 months, and were still going to have to wait a month. I called and asked to speak to someone other than the front desk. I had to throw out there that I was a physician assistant, that my child was suspected to be speech delayed and that we needed to see a pediatrician to rule out medical problems and that if we couldn't have an appt by the end of the week that I wanted the records and would be changing doctors. We have an appt tomorrow. :P. Why does it always have to be like that? I'm a reasonable person, but making a child wait for an appt for 4 months who is having problems is ridiculous. J is just so frustrated at not being able to speak and has taken to having all kinds of tantrums. I'm feeling like it might be a while before I can go out in public with this child again, and that makes me feel like a little claustrophobic. I don't know what to do. I cried all the way home from the class and spent the better part of Monday talking to dh about what to do. We will see what the pediatrician says tomorrow. 

An update on my sister, she is doing well. The infection is either gone or very under control with the medication. I got her meals from Home Bistro, it is was what she requested. It's hard for her to stand and cook or go to the grocery, so this way they are delivered to her door and all she has to do is heat them up. She said she has ordered them for gifts before and they were well liked. I have no affiliation with the company, I just post the link in case anyone else is in a similar position trying to find a get well gift.

Happy Wednesday, it's a beautiful sunshiny day here so I'm sure we will be outside this afternoon. PS Crayon does come out of pillow cases with Tide and Oxyclean.

Monday, monday

Mondays are not nearly as much fun as Fridays. I did manage to get a layout done from the new Studio Calico kit Fortune Cookie:


I still have a couple of things in various stages of completion. I've got my sister's get well card in the works, a journal that I want to cover and start using asap (because my memory is only getting worse) and a January layout that just needs pictures. I just didn't do as much as I was hoping to this weekend, it was such beautiful weather. I did clean a level of my house, 7 loads of laundry and emptied the dishwasher 5 times, but I know that doesn't count. :)

Friday was lots of fun. Traffic was a little bad on the way, so it seemed like it took a lot longer to get there than it did to come home. I met Nicole and her daughter and Cindy Liebel and her daughter. (Cindy has pics on her blog). We shopped for a little while, hard for me because J didn't want to stay in the play area along and he didn't want to do what I was doing. I wish I would have just put him in his stroller on one of my many trips to the car to get something to distract him with. I think he would have felt more secure and I would not have had such a hard time with him. I knew that the paper and stickers would blind me and make me forget important things. I walked around like "I've only seen images of that online!" It's been far too long since I went to a LSS.

We all went to Chick-fil-A and had a nice lunch. The owner of the store came with us and offered me the opportunity to teach if I wanted. I thought that was really neat. And then we drove home. I wish J hadn't been so cranky, fussy and feisty, but I guess that's the way it goes with small children. I had a good time and I hope we can do it again soon.

J and I are off to the play group here in a few minutes. I'm hoping for a better Monday than last week. Have a great day!

PS Does crayon come out of pillow cases in the wash? Hypothetically speaking of course?

TGIF

Happy Friday all! This is new Scribble Scrabble Evelyn's Collection:


The title is what the label on my shirt in the picture says, but you can't see it when it is black and white. Sorry about the strings hanging out of my pants, I was so pregnant when I looked down I couldn't see them! I'm really loving the colors-muted green, deep red and light blue with accents of yellow. All the papers are just gorgeous, the look like fabric and have a wonderful shabby chic feel. I kind of miss the signature big Scribble Scrabble swirl, but I agree these little swirls look really nice with the flowers, and you get a ton of diecut flowers in a pack.

Off to meet Nicole. Very excited to have something to do, to get out of the house and go out into the world. I haven't been to a LSS in so long, I'm not sure I will know how to act. Should be a good time, we are bringing all the kiddos. Have a great Friday everyone who stops by! I appreciate you all, you have helped me so much this week!

Wow, is it really Thursday already? Here are a few more layouts I did for A Million Little things:

Be Mine

Supplies: Cosmo Cricket Chemistry Patterned Paper; plus Making Memories Love notes clip and White and Kraft Bazzil Cardstock.

I don't know if you can tell, but the layout at the top has navy blue patterned paper, part of Basic Grey Granola. It's really neat in person, but kind of shows up black in a photo. This is sort of a drive by posting. I was invited to go shopping and have lunch with Nicole S. tomorrow, so I'm trying to plow through my to-do list today. I feel much better, thanks for all the concern. I think it was just a 24 hour bug, not an ulcer. :) My sister has been released from the hospital, and is going home on antibiotics. I'm working on a get well card for her, and I would like to get her something too. Maybe pajamas? I'm not sure. If you have a great idea I'd love to hear all about it, definitely taking suggestions.

I will have a new Scribble Scrabble layout for you tomorrow. I just don't have time to upload today. Happy Thursday everyone!

Introspection

A few more layouts from the guest design team position at A Million Little Things:

I had the worst stomach ache yesterday, it was very bad. I told dh that my sister had finally given me an ulcer. J keeps choosing Kung Fu Panda for his tv time, and it has all these Chinese proverbs in it that keep giving me pause. The one yesterday seemed to really speak to me:

A man often meets his destiny on the path he takes to avoid it.

Kind of a round about way of saying we are not in control, and when we think we are, it's just an illusion. Thank you so much for all the well wishes, I'm really touched. I keep starting to do a layout about her, and then I stop. It's too much right now I think. Maybe in a day or two. 

I'm really examining where I want to go with scrapbooking. And I don't mean design teams or publishing. I mean, me. What do I want out of this? What do I want to leave behind? What do I really want to say? What is going to mean the most to me in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years? What will I wish I had written down? That's what I'm trying to figure out. Otherwise, nothing much going on here, it's still snowing at the moment. I hope you have a great day!

A couple of layouts for the guest DT position at A Million Little Things:

My sister has an infection, one that is common to the hospital post op. One that I warned her surgeon about and begged them to put her on prophylactic antibiotics, which they did not. They wouldn't put her $100 antibiotics, instead just spent thousands of dollars in xray and lab tests, just to end up putting her on those same antibiotics. It's no fun being right. I'm beside myself with worry, I know how bad this bug is, and of course the hospital is minimizing this for my mom and my sister because they are 100% at fault. I feel so very very helpless. The Shakespearean weather (a snow storm) is the perfect backdrop to today. Maybe it will all be ok somehow. I hope so.

Monday

I had a wonderful birthday. My dh was home, which is normally not the case for my birthday or his birthday. I would describe the vibe of the day as peaceful. I heard this quote on a cartoon video J wanted to see, "Yesterday is history, tomorrow a mystery, but today is a gift. That's why they call it the present." I think that sums it up perfectly. We ate dinner at the Cheesecake factory, and I had Baja chicken tacos with guacamole, because there can be no birthday without Mexican food. I got a book, a beautiful CD case/holder, and an open ended ticket to replace my photo printer if needed/wanted this year.

I got a call from my mom this morning who is at Duke with my sister now. She arrived over the weekend. Yesterday my sister spiked a fever of 101.7, this prompted her doctors to start doing blood, urine, and stool samples, a chest xray and a CT scan looking for an abscess. There are other patients on her floor with the same low grade fever, so it's just not clear what exactly is going on at the moment. My sister and my mom are disappointed, they were hoping to return home tomorrow as the bad weather is to begin tonight on the East Coast.

We had a tough morning at J's class. He started off doing so well, esp with circle time. It went downhill from there. By the end he was just crying inconsolably for the last 10 mins. I went to the car to get him water, and he seemed to just want to leave. So I came in and grabbed our coats and told the instructor we were going. It was about time for the end of class anyway, but I still felt bad leaving so abruptly. But I knew he was just done, and I was certainly done trying to figure out the problem. It's so good for us to go the class though. I think it helps me realize that all kids are difficult, throw temper tantrums, and are unreasonable, at least some of the time.

On Sat. we went to check out pre-school programs in our area. There is a waiting list here for pre-school for at least 6 months, average is about a year. So if we want him to start that part time by the time he is 3, we have to get on a list now. We weren't thrilled with the first place we looked, and the tune of $12,000 per year really opened my eyes that this is big business.  In our area, we have very elite schools for young children too, that you have to apply to. It's like college really. And don't kid yourself, there is competitive parenting at every single turn.  And this past week at J's class and then seeing all the 2 year olds at the open house for this one school kind of opened dh's and my eyes to the fact that perhaps J's speech is significantly lagging behind his peers. 

I've beat myself with the worry stick half to death, wondering what I've done wrong. We read to him a lot, and he seems very bright with a good memory. He just seems to have difficulty using words to express himself. He does not have any symptoms of autism or anything like that. And I have no doubt if we weren't in such a competitive area as far as children and education are concerned, giving him the next year or so to catch up wouldn't be a problem. But, there seems to be no time to just let a kid be a kid, if he doesn't start really speaking soon he will be behind his peers a year or more by the start of formal school. So, I need to contact the pediatrician this week. I'm hoping to get a referral for speech testing and I'm hoping they say everything is just fine. I don't think my child has a big problem, I think that the education system is selecting for more verbal children earlier and earlier. My father was a late talker and he is a genius, really. And Einstein didn't talk until he was 4. And my friend told me this tale that is often told in Germany regarding little boys: 

There once was a little boy who did not speak. His parents were puzzled and frustrated that he refused to speak. Yet he seemed happy. One night a few years later at dinner the little boy said, "the potatoes are cold." And his mother said, " You spoke, that's wonderful! Why have you not talked before?" and the little boy said, "Everything was fine until now." 

I have not been in much of a scrapping mood this weekend. So here's a pic of one of those everyday moments that I love:

Happy Monday!