Summer Synopsis...

Well...my week-long absence from posting has not been intentional...but summer is flying along. I worked 5 days last week, which I haven't done all summer. So, as a result I haven't had much time to do anything on the computer. Katie is at respite today and Mary is at another VBS - so I have a little time to get caught up on housework and spend a little time blogging and surfing....

Last week was good - just a little crazy. Work always adds to the mix. Bill has been continuing to work long hours as well -- he is on vacation starting this Friday and I can't wait. We have some fun things planned for next week including the Carfax 250 at MIS. We are so thrilled to have all-access passes thanks to a great friend of mine from Moody who has connections. My parents are going to watch the girls and we are hoping to have a wonderful day. We didn't get to do anything major for our anniversary in July - so this will make up for that :).

The girls are doing well. Katie continues to swim daily - I told Bill that I wonder if she could ever become as good as this amazing swimmer whom I just love watching every day on the Olympics. Bill & stayed up way too late last night watching the relay....AWESOME..that's all I can say :) Mary was thrilled to be able to do a second VBS this summer... Outrigger Island if you are familiar with VBS formats.

Mary also had her first Build-a-Bear experience yesterday. I'll try to get a picture of her when she gets home from VBS. She & the bear hav matching shirts --- it's cute. Yes, it's a High School Musical Build-a-bear. What will they think of next?

All right - lots to do, so I had better go. More later - and hopefully some pics too :)

Monday Update.... or a collection of random Monday thoughts.

Well, I'm overdue for this post--

We did finish Mary's room. I had posted pics on my facebook page but realized I didn't put them on the blog, so here they are. The one is really dark..but the other two will give you a pretty good idea of how pink it really is. It's like walking into the inside of a piece of Hubba Bubba.


She loves the room - I'm just glad it's done & clean. And..she is feeling much better after 4 days on antibiotics....Thanks Dr. Tom. :) I was just thankful that I was able to get her into the Dr. on such short notice.

She appears to have loved camp. They went horseback riding in addition to cleaning, grooming and feeding their horses. She was able to go to Lake Michigan every day -- what a treat. I'm so glad she was able to go, just wish she wouldn't have been feeling so badly. We are hoping to do it again next year...and now she knows that it's okay to let an adult know if your sick --especially if you're at camp.

Katie had respite care today and Mary & I went and saw this movie today. Even though the critics have really given this movie poor reviews - (and I was dreading having to go see it) it was actually very cute. We came home and I took on the project of cleaning out the girls closets and dressers so that I know what they need for school. Yikes -- what a job. If you know anyone that needs a ton of nice girls size 12 or ladies small clothes, let me know....I have tons of it -- and most of it is in excellent condition.

Well, I guess that's it for tonight. I don't know why Blogger won't let me upload pics, but I'll try in the morning so you can see Mary's room. School starts 4 weeks from tomorrow - so it looks as though I'm actually going to survive the summer :)

11 years and counting...

Well it was quite the weekend to say the least. I have yet to recover as I sit here with my eyes half open. Katie is at respite care today. She & Dorie went here today (which of course made big sister jealous...but we're working on that). Mary & I have plans to go to the park and do some fun things this afternoon. I just wanted to get some things done around the house first...then I can relax without feeling guilty.

Saturday was our 11th wedding anniversary. Hard to believe. We had a great time. We had been given a gift certificate, so we were able to go here for dinner (otherwise, even for an anniversary dinner, this place is way out of our price range...but it sure was delicious.) We had a sitter for the whole evening but called it a short night and came home to watch the race. I know, we're pathetic...but that's just how we are.

On Sunday we did "church" and then came home to tear down the swimming pool, re-level and re-surface the area and then put the pool back up again. It was a lot of work, but the pool looks much better. It was becoming very sloped -- so we should be good for the rest of the summer now :)

Overall, it was a great weekend..but actually a very emotional one for me. I did a lot of thinking, and a lot of talking with both Bill & my Mom about how Katie has changed our life so much, and how she will continue to change our life forever. I think it was part of the ongoing process of having a special needs child...you have to grieve the loss of certain things.. the loss of your hopes and dreams for them - or at least the loss of what you had thought your hopes and dreams were - we have new ones for Katie now... but it's all a process. Obviously when Bill & I were married 11 years ago we never dreamed or imagined the things that have happened over the past 11 years -- and I don't think any couple imagines that they will be parenting a special needs child. But one thing is for sure - we are a team, we are in this together. It is a process of learning and loving and figuring things out day by day. So, happy belated anniversary honey. I love you.

Weekend Update - Holiday Edition

Well, it's been quite the week....

Mary & I went to see Wall-E on Monday while Katie was at respite. Cute movie with a good 'earth-friendly' message. We will definitely buy the DVD ....so if you get a chance to take a child (or even by yourself) go see it!

Wednesday brought a massive rain/hail/thunderstorm to our area. We were without power from dinner time Wednesday until noon on Thursday. Autism and no electricity don't really go very well together (I think I have blogged on that previously -- as in last summer when we were without power for 4 days). About 2 hours after the power had gone out, Katie was so crazy..she was beside herself b/c her precious videos wouldn't play. I literally sat at the table with her curled around my legs. I was rubbing her back and I prayed, "Lord, I need you to take over here. Please either turn the power back on or do something to help Katie." Within 15 minutes she was asleep, and she slept all night. Thank-you God.

The other good thing that came out of the storm is our new generator. My parents bought us a generator as an early/late birthday, anniversary, Christmas present. They know that with Katie, it is too difficult for her to not be able to watch TV and to not have lights on. She is very OCD and she has to have lights on/off at specific times. Autism is (as I always say) such a complicated illness. So now, we are all set for future power outages (and I won't lose the food in my fridge/freezer, as we have a deep freeze that I use to stock up on meat when it goes on sale..so we really didn't want to lose that either.) Thanks Mom & Dad.

The power came back on and we had a good Thursday. Katie didn't get to go to speech either time this week which was kind of a bummer. Ruth was sick on Tuesday and on Thursday we were without power and trying to get the generation situation under control. She goes back Monday before respite. I'm hoping to get an update on how Ruth thinks she 's doing with the blending of the two different vowel sounds. I'm not too overly optimistic as I personally have not seen a lot of improvement with that at home....

Gas continues to hover anywhere from 4.04 to 4.19 in our area....thank goodness for Bill's motorcycle. It's saving our gas budget in a big way!

Oh, and by the way HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!!!!

P.S. The tooth fairy also came this week - I'm not sure how I forgot that. Earrings were the "prize"...good thing the tooth fairy is so educated about what children want when their teeth fall out that she keeps a supply on hand.....

A Little Bit of "Peace"

Good Morning. I've already had 3 cups of coffee with that awesome coffeemate that I love. I'm home alone. I know, shocker. Last week I started using respite care for Katie. Unfortunately the county we live in doesn't have any money available to help pay for the respite, but, we're making it work. A wonderful woman named Dorie who is also an aide at Katie's school and works with autistic children is now Katie's respite care provider. She also lives really close to our home, so that's an added bonus :) Respite care is intended to provide the primary caregiver (me) with a break. Time for myself, time to get things done --errands that are difficult to do when Katie is with me (groceries, the bank - Katie hates the bank, even the drive-thru), and time just to not have to watch her 24-7. I had planned on 4 hours today, and when I dropped her off at 9, Dorie said, do you want to pick her up at 5? I was like, "seriously????" how awesome. Don't get me wrong, for those of you who know me personally, you know that my girls are my life, and I love Katie more than words could ever express. But, I am human, and getting older , and she wears me out! I need a few hours to myself each week to help me be a better mom to her...and Mary..and a better wife, too. One of my friends who is a single parent to two boys with autism told me that I needed to set up respite, especially for the summer, to help me keep my sanity. I tend to get very emotionally crazed when I don't have a break from 24-7 "motherhood". I also am not working very much this summer, so I don't get that time away either...so this is going to be good.

As for Mary, she is at VBS this week. My parent's church is having their VBS program all week, so she is loving that. She is also spending several nights sleeping over at PaPa and Grand-moo's so that is fun for her, too! :)

Okay, sorry for the "rambling" nature of this post, but I think I'm going to get back to my list of "to-do's". Have a great Monday.