Back again

Hello, out there! This is my first post since about 6 years ago. Not sure why I stopped posting and reading blogs. Sometimes I just get out of the habit of doing something. This is something that I did love at one time and life got busy with kids and it went on the back burner.  I think that I put a lot of things on the back burner while raising young kids.  We used to play card games with our dear friends and that got lost along the way.  Over Christmas, we played some card games and board games with my parents and my kids and that was a lot of fun! Over the last year, we have played cards with some friends of ours off and on.  Our schedules never seemed to work out for us to get together.

This year has been a big change for us because we have been homeschooling our son.  Things have been going smoothly so far.  He always does the work that I ask him to do.  He likes to get things done and move on to the next subject.  Our daughter is still in public school and is doing well.  Some day I want her to join us in homeschooling.  She likes her friends and we are happy with the elementary school that she attends.  Our son needs more one on one attention that the public school just can't provide.  There is a shortage of paras in the public school system.  He really doesn't need one all the time but classroom sizes are large enough that he kinda was falling through the cracks.  I am trying to do what I think is best for each of my children.  I get questions from people asking if my daughter is sad that she doesn't get to stay home and do homeschool. This really bothers me because she does not want to homeschool!!  I am not favoring my son.  I am doing what is best for him.  What is best for my daughter is for her to stay where she is at.  Thanks for allowing me to blow off some steam!

hello out there

Hi all!  I have been thinking a lot about the blogs these last few days because our dear friend Forrest passed away.  I looked up some old conversations between everybody.  I loved it when we all posted stories and never used our real names.  One of my favorite times on the blogs was when Forrest would talk in his alter ego.  My alter ego was/is sunset.  Fun times.  RIP Forrest.

prayer please

I am asking for prayer from my closest of friends and family. Pray for peace from anxiety for Nathan. Nathan has been screaming, crying, and refusing to use the toilet. This has been going on for about a week or so since Nathan has started preschool. He hasn't had any accidents at preschool. I have asked him nicely and bribed him with candy but he refuses to pee in the potty. He is holding it in and wetting himself. Maybe this is the one thing that he thinks he can control. Maybe he feels out of control in his life. There are new kids in his class but he is in the same preschool room with the same teachers. He has a new speech pathologist and para working with him now. I am at my wits end. I have been crying all day. Nathan refused to change out of his pajamas and put his clothes on. He sat in time out for about 40 minutes. It seems like he is always in time out. I have been spanking him as well. Maybe he doesn't like the spankings. I am also at my wits end with Chloe as well with potty training. Accidents all the time. We are using pull-ups though. Nathan doesn't care if he pees in his pants. He will sit in it and not tell me and he doesn't want to change out of his pee clothes. I don't think my nerves can take much more of this. I am considering going to talk to a doctor or counselor. Maybe I need anxiety medicine or depression medicine. I really don't like the idea of being on a drug. All of your prayers are needed and welcomed.

this summer

This summer has gone by rather quickly. It has been one of the most social summers that I have had in about 5 years. I love that our church has a coffee playground group every Tuesday morning. The kids love the bounce house and having lunch in the coffee shop. I have noticed that Nathan has been more social with the kids at church. He is actively wanting to play with them. I think this makes him more comfortable for Sunday School and Rainbows because he sees the same kids.

We have spent a lot of time at the pool. I enjoyed our Sunday evening swim in July because there was no evening service. The kids loved playing with some of the other kids from church at the pool. Good times.

Last week we went to someone's house for a playdate. Chloe just loved playing with the 3 year old girl. I have been meeting another family for a playdate on Wednesdays this summer. Even though their kids are older; my kids still enjoyed some social play time.

We had our struggles as well. I don't want to dwell on them. Potty training has had it's ups and downs. Chloe is still working on it. Nathan has had some anxiety and other problems that we are working through. I praise God that He will give me the strength to persevere. : )

remember me

Ok. So I was supposed to do better at posting to my blog this year. My New Year's resolution didn't turn out so well. I guess I'll try again and see how I do.

Things have been stressful; so I usually don't post here or at facebook much when I'm depressed. I think that things are turning around. I think the winter weather with little sun doesn't help when your already down. We also don't get much exercise either during the winter months.

Nathan has made so many improvements lately. I'm excited to see God to continue to heal his mind and body.

I'm optimistic about the future. I hope this summer goes well with Nathan playing tee ball. Chloe is getting to be such a big girl. Looking forward to warm weather!

msg

I went grocery shopping with a friend recently. She showed me what items typically have msg in them. I didn't even know what msg stood for. Monosodium glutamate. Apparently, msg can trigger migraines. I plan on cutting back or eliminating chips with flavoring like ranch or bbq. There is msg in ramen noodles which I usually eat about once a week. I'm hoping that changing our diets a bit will help Nathan's issues. Both he and I have problems with attention span. I'm also considering buying some organic foods. Chloe drinks organic milk. I'm going to try to limit red and yellow dyes. I can't believe that there is red dye in Flinstone vitamins.

I never thought I would ever go the organic and healthy route in eating. I know that something needs to change with our family. I'm hoping that changing our diet will help us feel better, less cranky, less whiney, less tired.

I'm back!!

For New Year's I thought I would try to post more on the blog site. A friend of mine told me that she uses hers as a journal. I think I'm going to try to do that too. I use to agonize over every word that I used and would re-write paragraphs. I really don't have time to do that anymore. Starting now, I am going to use a stream of consciousness (sp?) type of writing.

This year I am going to focus on the positive instead of the negative aspects in life. I often stress about things not being perfect. I am going to accept the imperfection to help my nerves.

I hope this year is more stable than the ups and downs of the previous year. The up of last year was going to Maui. The down was Nathan's diagnosis of autism. I will probably talk more freely about autism on the blog because I don't feel like I can talk freely about it in other avenues of my life. Happy New Year to you all!!