Catching up...

I've caught a lot of flack from folks for not updating my blog. Honestly, I'm not a blogger. But I love those who give me flack and don't ever let it be said by anyone that I didn't give into peer pressure.

So this is my gorgeous little Maggie posing for her morning shot with the waffle.









And this is Maggie as a Kangaroo and her best friend Molly who just shed her Piglet costume. They love fighting over the slide.








This is a picture from our hotel room at Carolina Beach. I've got a thing for sunrise on the ocean and shrimp boats. Don't know if it's a Forrest Gump thing or just the riggin's on the horizon? Or maybe just a fetish?









This is Maggie and Molly playing a duet.

mother's day photo

kids are so fun. I was hoping to get a nice shot of the three of them for mother's day to frame for the grandmas and this is the only one I got worth framing. Shows the true nature of things around our house. Maggie is only happy when she has conquered. (How do you spell that?) Still only have one hand.. sorry this is short.

on chopping bushes

One should not attempt to prune shrubberies with power tools while reasoning with a four year old, mentally planning dinner and hurrying to rescue baby from crib jail. One might inadvertently chop one's fingers off.

Ok.. so I didn't chop them off, but it felt like I did. Healing nicely now although I still can't type very well. Gone are the 90 words a min days. At least for now.

I can't beleive how gorgeous my yard is right now. We're finally in our new house. It's always such a thrill to spend spring in a new place. You never know what's going to pop up where! I spent the morning taking pictures of the flowers around the yard and the kids. They really love it here and spend hours outside exploring and playing. They finally have a "fort" of their own and a forest to boot. We call it the "14 acre woods" I guess a giant inflatable pooh and tigur are in order for Christmas back there :)

I miss my friends from Indiana, but as is the case every time we move, I've sort of filed them back in the file of great people I know around the country. It seems funny. There are folks that I have met who no matter where we live we might as well be neighbors. They make good use of the phone and internet and stop by when they are in town. I'm discovering that Indianans aren't quite that type. It was so hard breaking into the social circles there and make friends, and now that I've left the geographic location, I'm out of the circle once again. Oh well. At least if I'm ever stuck there again I'll know nice people to stop and say Howdy to eh?

Big Week

My baby boy was officially diagnosed this week with Asperger's Syndrome. Not only do I have to read a ton of books on it, I have to memorize how to spell it. Heaven forbid they include the physicians desk reference book in spell check. ugh. This is a major relief and also a bit sad for me. I guess there was a silly part of my brain that thought this was a phase. Something he'd grow out of. Every time I saw progress I thought.. aha! here we go! Now he will be "normal". But really, as an artist and musician and mother, I have to say that NORMAL is extremely boring. And even with all the challenges we've had as a family with our little boy, I wouldn't change him for the world. Granted, there are a lot of families out there with children who don't even speak, that would be hell, but in this case I shudder when I hear people talking about the cure for autism. I've come to a point where I realize that I love my son just the way he is. I don't want him "cured" or "normal". What other 4 year old boy knows how to make dinner, read or protect his sisters to the bitter end against the evils of time out? Most little boys his age are loud and wild and I just really have a hard time with them. My boy is gentle and funny and sweet and he loves to watch for bugs outside but doesn't squish them. He loves to crash his cars but always says he is sorry to them. He loves his family and is just the best thing since sliced bread!

Ugh... mothers can be so mushy sometimes :)

foiled again

I think I'm going to change the name of this blog to Autism Sucks. I spent all morning at my son's preschool trying to get him into some extra classes because since he's been out of school he's started pooping his pants again. Yah.. fun huh? There have been other regressions too, but this is the most worrisome and by far the most disgusting. Poor kid. He works so hard and tries so hard and he just doesn't understand half of the things we're trying to teach him. On the other hand he's only just turned four and already starting to read. Ugh. Autism sucks. It's like having a kid with a big spin the wheel game with all kinds of random possible outcomes. Anyway.. there was "no room at the inn". His special ed teacher couldn't even help me squeeze him in for more than just three days with some older kids which really really didn't sound like fun for him. I checked at the school across the street and they have two weeks open so I"m going to take him and his little sister there. At this point it seems like the best I can do. Hopefully having him back in a seriously structured environment out of the home will help him reorganize and in the mean time I can organize myself a little bit better. I hate having to juggle kids all over the place. I hate driving them all over the place and I hate not knowing what my child needs to make him happy and comfortable. There are way too many days when I feel like a failure as a mother.

tuckered out

Can we say long day? Loooooooooong day!!! And here I am finally able to sit down and work on my lesson for church tomorrow and all the copy stores are closed. At least the kids are all in bed and asleep! That's the key. It's easy to get them locked in a room... theoretically in bed. It's the asleep part that's golden.

I have to admit that it's going to be really nice when my friend comes to get her kids. And here's some advice for you all. If you are thinking that you've got it hard and you can't stand your own kids any longer, just offer to babysit a few more for a week straight. You'll be more than ready to get back to the peace and quiet that was your old hectic life of only three kids!

Went to a BBQ at our neighbor's house today. My sweet little boy has been reverting at lightening speed since he's been out of summer school. Tonight he pooped all over our friends basement, up the stairs, got it on the door some how and in the hall. Luckily it's a very good friend, so she was cool about it all and as my husband got busy scrubbing the carpets, I got busy scrubbing the boy. I didn't even know what to say to him. He hasn't done this kind of thing since he was two years old. I'm terrified of the idea that without school he falls apart. I'm the kind of person who always wanted to home school my kids. Have a really open and creative environment.. you know? He's the kind of kid that needs rigid structure and every minute scheduled. It's the opposite of me and I'm not sure how I"m going to give it to him later in life. Ugh. Summer school starts again on Monday, but he's only scheduled for therapy. I'm hoping they will let him come full time again.

guess we'll see. Autism sucks.