I can't believe I haven't written here in a while. I used to love it and lately I just don't get around to doing it.

Life is hectic around here. My biggest wish would be to get thru the day without a major meltdown from Tyler. Only way to get that is to not be home.

I started volunteering for this nursery that provides emergency care for children birth to six years old. I have learned that it's not all a 911 emergency. It may just be a meeting, class or work.

I even heard that they suggest Mom's bring kids for Mom can get some Me time!! How cool is that??

I got to lay down and cuddle with one little girl and it was so sweet. I like doing it and hope I continue to like it as I do it more.  The one thing that I like is that I just sign up for when I want to come. I can decide the hours and if I feel like I need a week off I just don't sign up.

Work is pretty good. Both my clients seem to do being doing well for thier age. Next month, I will be at my job for six years. I just wish someone would tell me why I only make about 9 an hour??

One of my clients is in a retirement home and I have been seeing that side of taking care of the elderly. Yesterday, I got to let a bird sit on my arm. Hopefully, they will give me a print of it. 

Well, got to make my lunch and dinner for work.

A little of this and that

Hey all, I haven't forgotten about this blog. I guess you could just say that I have been very busy.

I am juggling being a Mom, wife, work, pets, cooking and exercise in my daily routine. I suppose cooking goes into the wife and Mom category

I bought a couple cookbooks on my kindle and gave myself a challenge to pick one meal from each book each week to cook. One is casserole and one is crockpot cooking.

It's been a bit of a challenge due to the fact that I am not a really organized shopper and might not have everything all planned out when I do my shopping. I do the crock pot cooking on a day where I get it ready and it cooks while I am at work. I usually do the casserole cooking on my day off.

I have thought about preparing a meal for Tad and the kids on a day where I work second  shift and not home to eat but so far it's just wishful thinking.

I spend a lot of time at the Y doing zumba. Then, my next favorite thing to do is swim. I am teaching myself to learn how to swim under water. I recently discovered blowing bubbles under water. It's funny cause when Amiah is potty trained and does the next level of classes that's something that they will learn. So, Amiah and her Nana can learn together.

Speaking of Amiah. Her personality is blooming. She is starting to use sentences like please, Nana or please, Papa. Or thank you, Nana. My favorite is when we are outside and she wants me to jump on the trampoline she says, jump, Nana.

Tyler is doing alright except we have been dealing with behaviors that are not age appropriate. Sometimes, I just want to think we beat the autism or developmental disorder and we are on our way!!  But then his behaviors and struggles smacks me in the head and has to keep me on my toes.

I take him to counseling bi weekly and we are looking into a adhd group with other boys. I take him with me to the Y about twice a week and that's sometimes skipping doing all the homework. Sue me that I am trying to keep his weight at a healthy place. He was gaining pretty fast and has a bottomless pit for a tummy and the weight just hangs around.  However, we must be doing something right cause he has grown taller but not gained any weight since Spring.

Work is going pretty good. Both my clients physically are well but the memory stuff seems worse. I suppose it's natural. I been debating working more with the second shift client and less or none at all with the first shift client but can't make up my mind. I think the truth is that I like the variety both clients give me. It also helps that not all my income is wrapped up in one client. Easy come easy go.

I mentioned Zumba!! I am down 33 lbs. It comes off slowly but I was able to give all my clothes away and buy new ones. I am finding that the majority of the shirts that I love are Old Navy. I don't like them if they don't come down far enough. I hate showing my belly. So, a few of the shirts that I bought and thought they were okay are actually too short for me. Good thing that I bought all second hand clothes. I am becoming a clothes hog. Clothes shopping is sort of fun now. It's not so much the shopping that's fun but more so the collecting of clothes.

William seems to be doing alright on his job. I am having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that my kid is going to be 18 years old. He will be officially grown but reality are 18 years really grown? He maybe almost grown but always gonna be my baby.

I am going on my retreat for Mom's of special needs children on Oct 19th. It was really fun and relaxing. It also was very eye opening to see that I wasn't alone. It also showed me that there are families much worse with conditions that beat what we deal with.

Our 5th wedding anniversary is October 24th and Tad and I plan on spending the Sunday when I come home from the retreat together. It's hard to believe it's been five years already.

Well, it's late. Hope everyone is well.

We made it thru the first week of going back to school. I am not sure who it was harder on me or Tyler? I lost about an hour of sleep every day and by 5 pm or so I felt like it was time for bed. I only did zumba once due to just trying to get some rest and ease into our new routine. I was going to do zumba today but they didn't have it cause they were redoing the floors.

I been buying clothes that are much smaller. It's fun to get new things and see the difference in the sizes of my clothes. I am donating a lot of my old stuff to the church that I babysit at for their rummage sale. The church does zumba too but I haven't seen the need to pay to go.

Well, it's late and I need to get some sleep so I can deal with the church kids driving me a little crazy. 

Tyler starts school on Monday. I have mixed feelings about it. I know school is good and it beats him watching way too much tv. However, I like the care free summer days of swimming at the pools, acting like a teen at Magic Waters and being flexible with dinner and bedtime.

Zumba during the week is right at dinnertime and eating dinner together as a family is important to us but I also love zumba.

Well, I better get to bed so I wake up for zumba in the morning. 

Summer went by pretty fast as always. It's pretty much my favorite season. I love to swim and even more so love swimming outdoors under the sun. It's just so relaxing. I didn't get out as much as I would have liked but I can't complain.
Tyler got to go to summer camp for overnights twice this summer. He really has a great time. He tends to latch on to the camp counselors though. I suppose that's okay. Tad and I took a little break from cooking when he wasn't home. It was kind of nice.
Sunday, we are going to go to Magic Waters one final time before they close for the season. It should be fun. 

My vacation is over now. I went back to work yesterday. I had a pretty good week off and enjoyed the time off but now I am going to be broke. I am tired of being broke.  I been working on eating healthier and working out for quite sometime now and don't feel like I can afford it much longer. I am not the kind that can go hungry and I need low calorie foods like yogurt, string cheese and plenty of fruits to keep me within my calorie goal. I am kind of upset right now. It just seems like we can't get our act together and figure out a way to make things work with all the bills getting paid.
Today, I sent Tad off to pay 20 dollars for a dresser that needs a bad paint job and I am going to try to make it nice for Tyler. I want to make things easier for him to find things on his own and organize and label his dresser drawers. It seems like even a splurge of a dresser is really too much for us.
I would like to take Tyler to see a movie before school starts but the reality is that I just can't afford it.

Sorry for ranting on about this. I just feel like letting of some steam. I am gonna go make some orange honey muffins that I wanted to make last week but I lost the recipe.

I am on vacation as of today!!! I love my job but lately I feel like I need at least one or two vacations per year. I like to have one in the winter break and then again in the summer. It's going to be tight around here for a couple weeks because it's unpaid since I used my vacation check for Christmas shopping for my kids.

Today, we are hitting up Magic Waters. That should be fun!!!!!

I took Saturday off to give myself a 3 day weekend! It was pretty nice.  I tried to have some balance between spending time with family and just having some alone time. I had a really nice time at the pool with the boys on Saturday. We got the packet of coupons from the park district so it should be the beginning of our summer fun.

Sunday, the kids came to the Y with me and I did Zumba and the kids played raquetball with me. I like playing it but I am not very good at it. It's almost easier to play on your own cause you don't fear clobbering someone. lol  I got the chance to sign Amiah up on my Y membership and a class coming up next month. I remember taking Tyler to the same class when he was her age and I think she will enjoy it. I have to take her to the Y so they can take her picture

Today, I drove out to Rochelle to visit my friend Susie. I don't travel much so it was kind of scary but I felt like if Tad said I could do it then I could. I don't mean as in give permission but if he felt like I would be okay then I knew it was something that I could probably do.

Oh and last night, William and I watched Jack and Jill!! It was about twins and so funny!!! I loved it. I don't watch movies too often but I love redbox.  It's the next best thing to lifetime. If I could pick one cable channel it would have to be lifetime channel.

Today, Tad had some stuff to take care of so I stayed home with Amiah. Before, he actually left we went up to the donut shop and had some donuts. It's the same place that I went to as a kid but it's a different name now. It was kind of fun sitting there with Mymy and thinking of the fun times as a kid and remembering how much fun I had with my big sister before my parents lost the house.

I came home and Tad did his stuff and Mymy and I stayed outside the whole time he was gone. We blew bubbles and have some fun with that. She helped me water the plants and I must admit they are looking very good. We played in the backyard with the dogs and I noticed the nests that Tad had found. We even came in and got a carrot for the bunnies. I love how she pretends to eat something up.

I loved spending some one on one time with her. Between work and everything else I don't get to play with her as much as I would like too.

I just put in for an unpaid vacation and as much as I am nervous about the small checks I am looking forward to time with the kids. I split my vacation up between being home with the kids and then being home while they are with their Dad's. It works out though that I will have a couple more days after they get back home. So it's perfect.

I am off tomorrow and we will probably hit the pool since we got the coupons from the Rockford Park District. I have to pay for myself but it makes getting out and doing fun summer stuff a little more affordable. Plus, I did have to buy the coupons so it's kind of a push to get out there and do things so not to feel like any money was wasted. 

Ashley left town to go back to her new home. :(  I wished I could have seen her more while she was here but I guess a little is better than nothing.

Today, my client wanted to go to an event and we caught the last hour of it. It's always nice when I get to experience stuff with my clients outside of staying in the house. I almost had to pay for myself and get paid back but they let me in for free. I think any organization should waive the fee for a caregiver especially if it's just a cover charge to get in.

I babysit for the church tomorrow and I hope I get a child again. Last week, I had two kids come in but the parents stayed in. It didn't stop me from playing with them though.