New Year's Eve

I obviously changed the blog. I even took down the tree last night, but the whole time I could hear my grandmother & mother in my head talking of bad luck. LOL. I was thinking then that maybe if I change this my luck will change! Whatever! I don't believe in those superstitions anyways.

Today is my sister's birthday. She is coming to visit. That is her birthday present from my mom. I am excited to see her. I am also worried how stressful it is going to be. MM gets so stressed out by my nephew. I don't know why she doesn't like him. He will be 4 in January and is really cute & funny. He has a wonderful zest for life, excited by everything. I guess he is too loud for her. Please send up a little prayer that she enjoys their visit. It is much too difficult for us to go anyhwere. It is so kind of my sister to come here AGAIN. I just want to have a nice visit.

Wishing you all much health, wealth & happiness in the new year. 2009 HAS to be better than 2008, right?

Please

Direct your attention to the poll on the right. Thank you!

Merry Christmas!

Hope you all have a wonderful, stress free family holiday. It's raining, thundering & lightning here. Ah, gotta love Christmas in Dixie! I can't be happier cause I have seen enough snow to last me a life time. Those of you that are buried in the snow, I felt your pain many a time.


Check out this poem posted by a fellow mommy autism blogger.

Off to bed now, for I can't wait to see the little one's face in the morn.

Feeling Grinchy

It is hard to have Christmas cheer when you have to work 12 hour shifts the 2 days before & the weekend after. I only have Christmas day off. I had to run around like a fool yesterday trying to get everything done. This is the first year MM is really into the Holidays, I mean REALLY into it. She has watched the Grinch more times than I can count along with Charlie Brown & Shrek the Halls. I keep asking her if we are "Knoxes" since we live in Knoxville cause the Who's in Whoville. LOL
It is going to suck missing out on all the little things she wants to do the eve. We bought a plate for Santa's cookies, which we also made yesterday. Did you know Santa loves sparkles (sprinkles)? I have never seen a cookie with so many "sparkles" in all my life- nearly half a bottle! She will set them out with her Dad along with a glass of milk. She bought carrots yesterday, the ones with the green stuff on them. She wants to set those out for Rudolf & his friends (which she then goes on to name every time). She has the Reindeer Mix of oats & sparkles (glitter) to put out on the lawn so he sees our house. I will miss evening pajamas. I will miss pulling off the last paper link on the bell she made, counting down how many sleeps till Christmas. I will miss out on her excitement cause I will be working. She will be in bed with visions of sugar plums dancing in her head before I get home.

All of this has put me in a really foul mood. Why can't I be a SAHM? Boohoohoo

Should I or Shouldn't I?

I know I really have a lot on my plate. I also work full time on top of doing all the extras we have to do with MM. However, when I opened my email this morning, there was a message from autism speaks. They need a chapter advocate in this area to help get the ball rolling in the new congressional session for insurance. As you can tell, I am very passionate about ASD & fighting insurance has been something I have become very good at. I think that things need to be fair cause the people who are on Medicaid (actually TennCare) here get all kinds of services. I, who work & am a state employee, have to pay out the nose for EVERYTHING and get very limited services. Now, don't get me wrong, I have better insurance than most. However, things need to be fair & easier to for people to get help. I really feel a conviction in my heart to reply to this & see what happens. Can I put one more thing on my plate? Any advice here?

Monday Morning Movie & On the Mend

She is feeling better. She actually has started eating again. She has not had a fever since Friday! WoooHoooo! Now, I need to get my behind in gear to get all of this Christmas stuff done.

Still Sick

Title says it all.

I had to take her back to the doctor on Monday. Even though she was on antibiotics, she woke up with a high fever. She had also started vomiting the night before. Ugh!!! Well, it turned out they think she has some sort of funky drug resistant strep. She was then placed on two different antibiotics. Yesterday, fever back up & diarrhea. I am debating whether to take her back this afternoon. Poor kid. With her autoimmune issues when she gets sick, she gets really sick.

DUH!

I swear, before this is said & done, I am going to choke out Ms. X (that is MM's teacher). As I posted the other day, she was sick with a UTI. We sent her to school, with a note, stating she would need more frequent bathroom breaks. My mom picked her up Thursday and she was soaked. Not just a little wet, soaked all the way down to her socks in her DAFOs. My mom immediately asked Ms. X if she knew she was wet. Of course, Ms. X was surprised stating she did not know. My mom then asked if she got her bathroom breaks. Ms. X stated she refused. I have told her and put it in writing that she still must go & sit on the toilet. She doesn't really understand potty all the time and she must be made to go. Then, here's the clincher, in her usual Ms. X style, she said she was at speech and probably did it there. She still has to go back to the classroom, get her things and be picked up. ALSO, if Ms. X did her job, she would have to zip up MM's coat. Ms. X is always so quick to blame everyone else and does not take responsibility for things. I was LIVID to say the least. This is starting to border on neglect. I could not even address it on Thursday cause I would have made a complete a$$ out of myself if I had gone to the school. I tried to call the principal Friday morn and she was not there.

I guess I am going to have to call an IEP and get these things, which to me seem to be common sense, addressed. Don't let a five year old, who is functionally around 2.5-3 years, refuse the potty. Zip up the coat. Put on the hat. Help her eat. I am going to threaten to come over during the school day and take her to the bathroom, feed her and get her drinks. My mom would do it on days that I work. It is ridiculous & neglectful. I am also about ready to file a formal complaint with the state. She goes the whole school day without eating or drinking many days. She also does not go to the bathroom at all cause she lets her refuse. NEGLECT!

DUH!

Joining the Sick Club

Poor little MM. She got up at 5 this morning and came right into my room. Ususally she plays for a while in her room before coming out. She crawled up into bed with me. She was really wet & it smelled bad. We cuddled for a few minutes, then got her changed. She tried to lay back down with me, which is unusual for her cause she is usually hungry right away. She kept getting up & saying she had to go potty. She was also almost crying while holding herself - she never cries with her high pain threshold. After about the 20th time, DH & I got dressed and took her to the ER, assuming a UTI. She does have a bad UTI, but also a right ear infection & tonsillitis! Oooops! I thought she just had a runny nose & cough. It is so hard to tell with her ASD how sick she is. She is usually just "off". I should have known something was up yesterday when she wanted to stay with Mommy instead of going to Nana's.

Please pass the bad mommy award this way for missing the other infections.

So, she is home today with Daddy & I. I had planned to go get a lot of my Christmas shopping done this morning. No wonder I am not in the mood this year. It is always something!

"THAT Bus"

Forgot to share this little gem from MM's play on Tuesday. A grandmother, her daughter & the daughter's 3 children moved in across the street in August. There is a little girl over there that looks to be MM's age. I must admit that I have been too self-absorbed to go over & introduce myself. However, the road goes both ways. We have been out in the yard playing while they were out too. When we were at the school, DH recognized the grandmother behind us in line to get in. I turned around and said "I believe you are our neighbor. My name is Meghatron's Mom." I extended my hand & the she began to talks. Boy did she talk. She told me her name, about her daughter & the grandchildren. She had a granddaughter who is in kindergarten as well. She then went on to say she had no idea a child lived across the street until she saw "THAT BUS, you know, THAT BUS, the bus for THOSE kids".


OOOOKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY.


THAT BUS. THOSE KIDS.



So, I replied,

"THAT BUS is what my child rides to school and yes, she is one of THOSE KIDS. She is a kindergartener in Ms. X's class here at this school that your granddaughter goes to as well."

And I left it at that. I didn't go into why she rides THAT BUS or why she is one of THOSE KIDS. MM doesn't have to be the poster child for disabilities every day. I also didn't know if the lady was ignorant or not. I just wanted to be like every other family member there, excited to see my kindergartener in her first play, enjoying the moment.


And I did.

Here comes my Pilgrim Woman



And a little video of her singing & doing the movements!
VIDEO REMOVED


I AM SO PROUD!


EDITED TO ADD:

For some reason the video doesn't work in my blog, so CLICK HERE.