I'm BACK!

 First off, I can't believe it's been almost 3 years since I last posted!  Somewhere along the way, Blogger made some changes and I couldn't access my account or maybe it was my ADHD brain, not knowing my password for the 100th time.  And oh yeah, I was diagnoses with ADHD back in 2003, but I finally decided to get on meds in 2018 after baby #3.  I don't love everything about the meds, but overall they seem to be helpful.

I left my O.T. job, that's occupational therapy for those of you who don't know, because my sassy #3 had oral motor delays that made it near impossible for me to give her what she needed and hold a full time job.  She went through speech therapy as an infant to help her be able to feed and recently was re-evaluated for speech for the actual speech part.  Basically, I just want to be able to understand her and more importantly, not have her get frustrated because we can't understand her.  With leaving my OT job, came a new opportunity to work at my kid's preschool.

Year one I barely survived as a 2 year old teacher.  You guys, I'm use to dealing with kids with special needs, but I had a 2 SPD kid, a kid with DS, a kid with ADHD, a kid with Attachment disorder, a kid with high functioning autism and auditory sensitivities, and a kid who was non verbal/developmental delays, plus some 'typical kids".  Mid year, my co-teacher had a meltdown and left without warning.  Needless to say, it was a crazy year but I love those kids!

Year 2, I was in the non-stop infant room.  Babies are sweet but non-stop in a childcare setting.  So this is year 3 and I am the support staff lead.  I have a sensory room to use as needed with the kids who are enrolled in therapy.  I meet weekly with therapist and modify classrooms and educate teachers as needed to support these kids.  I am the advocate for the kids in many ways.  And occasionally I point out to the teachers that their expections of children in their class aren't realistic.  Let's just say, that doesn't make me popular.  But like I said, I'm here for the kids.  I'm an advocate.

Overall, I've learned a lot about me, yet I still struggle.  I want to advocate for those who struggle and be the one that fights for them, other times I want to rehab those recovering from illnesses or those dx with autism, but sometimes I have this fantasy of being a SAHM, gardening, cooking meals and homeschooling my kids, but unfortunately those can't all happen simultaneously.

Mother's Day 2017

Mother's Day started out with a french toast breakfast followed by everyone at the table coloring, including Mac-A-doodle.  Later, the two littles and me took naps, followed by a delicious meal made by JV and BV which including desert, my favorite part of a meal!  The rest of the day was spent outside in the gorgeous daylight that was given to us today.

FUNtography

Here are some of my favorite pictures...

A Boy and His Bear

Mother-Daughter Love

Jump Shot Jackson:

Blue Eyed Baby:

Cheese!

That's My Sister!

Sweet Sleeping Baby

A North Carolina Snow Day!

It finally snowed in North Carolina! 

Goose's winter gear still fit from his Kindergarten year in Minnesota, and I lucked out and found some of his old snow pants and boots for Bubbie, although they were a bit too big.  BV had to work today, but before leaving he dug out the sled for us.  After getting dressed, we headed outside for some playtime.

 Someone is happy about the snow!

 He tried to show Bubbie how fun sledding could be, but...

 ...he didn't find it as thrilling.  Soon after the meltdown we headed in for lunch and naptime.

Meanwhile, Goose and I headed back out for some more snow fun which included...

 ...football..

 ...sledding...

 ...eating snow...

...and of course...

A SNOWBALL FIGHT!

The Polar Express

This weekend we headed to the mountains with some friends to ride The Polar Express.  We stayed in a nice cabin, watched a Christmas movie and even made Gingerbread Ninjas!

 We somehow managed to get one family picture.

He's got his golden ticket!

 The big boys were quite impressed when Santa made an appearance on our train!