The past couple of months have been pretty eventful for the ol' Johnson family, and a lot of things have been getting neglected...like home organization, for example. Piles of clutter have been creeping up everywhere, various cupboards and drawers are starting to spill out their haphazardly piled contents, and my duster hasn't seen the light of day for weeks. I see two reasons for this:
1) We have way more stuff than we have places to put it, and
2) The fact that we are moving in a few months has only encouraged my housekeeping apathy; I'll have to do it all in a little while, so why bother now?
As much as I can't wait to get out of this apartment, it IS home for the time being, so I've decided to start sprucing things up, one little project at a time. I'm quite pleased with the results; there's something rather satisfying about hauling everything out of a cupboard, scrubbing it out and neatly replacing the contents. Catharsis for the home is catharsis for the soul, I suppose. Besides, I'll have that much less to do in the upcoming cleaning/painting/packing/moving insanity that is fast approaching. It's an exciting but daunting prospect.
On the Emmett front...no more answers yet. We took him for a bunch of blood tests but the genetic testing needs to be redone, and now he needs a small intestine biopsy as well because they suspect he has celiac disease. Oh, and the medicine they prescribed to calm him down for medical appointments makes him hyper instead. Heaven help me! He is still doing fantastic in school though - this morning it occurred to me that I can't remember the last time I asked Em to "use his words". He's come so far since February! He's also obsessed with pigs right now and loves to watch "Charlotte's Web 2". In fact, the other day he came up to me and introduced himself as "Wilbert" the pig and started oinking. What a character!
Seth is doing great as well...walking like a pro, and saying about 10 words regularly. He is SO different than Emmett, I feel like I don't know what to do with him sometimes. When Emmett gets upset, he wants cuddles, songs, etc...any kind of mama attention. Seth doesn't want that at all - if he wipes out he gets MAD and throws a little "life is NO FAIR!!" style tantrum. You need to distract him or just let him burn out on his own...he's my little Mr. Independent. Figuring out how to parent Seth the way he needs to be parented has been a real learning experience - I'm really enjoying him though! My Sethers is moving from baby to toddler so fast, I'm trying to soak up all of his "babyness" before it's gone.
I've booked us in for a family portrait this Friday...I probably don't need to add anything to our current chaos, but I want to document our family as it is now - time is going so fast. Life is really chugging along, and I've got to try to savor the good moments when they come (and handle the disappointments and trials with some sense of decorum). Every day I'm reminded of the fact that my little family won't be little forever.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
We bought a house!
Yep, we did it. James and I have joined the ranks of the property owners. We bought a townhouse in Mill Woods today, and we're pretty durn excited about it. :)
It's 1200 sq feet, 3 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath with a little patio type yard in the back. It's not much, but it's ours! I'm not going to post pictures yet because frankly, it needs a really good cleaning and a lot of paint, but we're going to fix it up nice. We don't take possession until June so now it's a matter of sit and wait (and pack, and plan!).
I remember when Emmett was a baby, and housing prices went through the roof...I really felt like we'd never be able to afford our own place. I'm so glad that wasn't the case. I know it's going to be a lot of work (and money!) but I think I'm really going to enjoy fixing up things the way we want them and turning it into OUR home!
It's 1200 sq feet, 3 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath with a little patio type yard in the back. It's not much, but it's ours! I'm not going to post pictures yet because frankly, it needs a really good cleaning and a lot of paint, but we're going to fix it up nice. We don't take possession until June so now it's a matter of sit and wait (and pack, and plan!).
I remember when Emmett was a baby, and housing prices went through the roof...I really felt like we'd never be able to afford our own place. I'm so glad that wasn't the case. I know it's going to be a lot of work (and money!) but I think I'm really going to enjoy fixing up things the way we want them and turning it into OUR home!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Adventures in House Hunting
The past 2 weeks have been crazy stressful - we found a (great!) realtor, put an offer down on a house 2 hours after we started looking, sat in limbo on that for DAYS, realized they were trying to screw us over big time on the deal, and walked away from our "dream" house. Sigh.
Yesterday we went out again, and this time we took the kids with us. They were SO good and sweet! Emmett *clearly* has a HUGE crush on our realtor...he was calling her by name and asking her to "Come here!", following her around, etc and was SO sad when she had to leave. We also think that he thought we were looking at the realtor's own house, because he kept asking to see "Jaclyn's room"! Seth was his usual charming self, trying out all the stairs he could find and just wandering around and clapping. We discovered the boys' #1 criteria for a house - ceiling fans! The last place we looked at had a couple of them, and both boys were absolutely enthralled - it took a lot of coaxing (well, forceable removal essentially) to get them away from those fans!
We've decided to put down an offer today on another place...fingers crossed this one works out! In any case there is a lot of "sweat equity" work in our future...at our price point the stuff that's available is in most cases a little run down looking. James and I aren't afraid of a little hard work though, and the thought of renovating things to our taste is pretty exciting. The last time I was allowed to paint/decorate how I want, I was 16 and living at home, and that was a looong time ago. Mostly I am just super ready for us to have a space of our own and a place for the kids to grow up!
Yesterday we went out again, and this time we took the kids with us. They were SO good and sweet! Emmett *clearly* has a HUGE crush on our realtor...he was calling her by name and asking her to "Come here!", following her around, etc and was SO sad when she had to leave. We also think that he thought we were looking at the realtor's own house, because he kept asking to see "Jaclyn's room"! Seth was his usual charming self, trying out all the stairs he could find and just wandering around and clapping. We discovered the boys' #1 criteria for a house - ceiling fans! The last place we looked at had a couple of them, and both boys were absolutely enthralled - it took a lot of coaxing (well, forceable removal essentially) to get them away from those fans!
We've decided to put down an offer today on another place...fingers crossed this one works out! In any case there is a lot of "sweat equity" work in our future...at our price point the stuff that's available is in most cases a little run down looking. James and I aren't afraid of a little hard work though, and the thought of renovating things to our taste is pretty exciting. The last time I was allowed to paint/decorate how I want, I was 16 and living at home, and that was a looong time ago. Mostly I am just super ready for us to have a space of our own and a place for the kids to grow up!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Yesterday was a good day
Progress! For the past couple of weeks it seems like all we've been doing is waiting - waiting for meetings, waiting for people to call me back, waiting for stuff in the mail, etc. And yesterday it all came at once!
1) We got James' marks back for 3rd year, and he passed! We were pretty sure that he had, but we had never had to wait that long to get his marks back before (he took his test Feb 26) so we were sweating it a little bit. That means that James is officially in his last year of apprenticeship, and will get a raise (from 70% of the journeyman rate to 80%). That also means that we can go ahead with buying a house! I'm in the process of finding a realtor right now, and James and I have been scouring MLS. We've got a few places in mind and our fingers are crossed that we'll find something suitable. Our budget is definitely in the "teeny tiny" category, which limits us a bit, but I think we'll find something that works. My strategy is that I keep my standards low, and then I won't be disappointed. ;)
2) I heard back from the nurse at the Glenrose, and they will be mailing me a prescription for some anti-anxiety medication for Emmett. He really struggles with anxiety, both with little everyday things and big scary things (haircuts, medical appointments). These pills will hopefully help him with those big scary things when they happen.
3) I met with Emmett's teacher, SLP, OT and PT yesterday to write up his IPP for school (ah, the land of special needs is full of abbreviations!). Basically, I sat down with everyone who works with Em at school and we discussed his strengths, weaknesses and made some specific goals for him for the rest of the school year. It was so great sitting down with these women who have been getting to know my son and had some great insights for me. I was happy to learn that Emmett has a little group of friends in his class and he loves to spend time with them and do what they do - he has some issues participating and trying new things, so watching his friends do things is going to be huge for him. He's happy at school and his speech is really improving...at home I've noticed less and less of using just one word and a big jump in using short sentences. The staff at his school are so nice and accommodating - they didn't even seem to mind that Seth was in the meeting or that he continually added his own opinions, at top volume!
Life is so busy right now, and it looks like it will continue to be in the months to come. I am really looking forward to summer in my own place, with my own (landlord's-dog-poop-free) backyard, with everything unpacked and just being able to relax with the boys. I can feel that time is coming, but there is a lot to be done first!
1) We got James' marks back for 3rd year, and he passed! We were pretty sure that he had, but we had never had to wait that long to get his marks back before (he took his test Feb 26) so we were sweating it a little bit. That means that James is officially in his last year of apprenticeship, and will get a raise (from 70% of the journeyman rate to 80%). That also means that we can go ahead with buying a house! I'm in the process of finding a realtor right now, and James and I have been scouring MLS. We've got a few places in mind and our fingers are crossed that we'll find something suitable. Our budget is definitely in the "teeny tiny" category, which limits us a bit, but I think we'll find something that works. My strategy is that I keep my standards low, and then I won't be disappointed. ;)
2) I heard back from the nurse at the Glenrose, and they will be mailing me a prescription for some anti-anxiety medication for Emmett. He really struggles with anxiety, both with little everyday things and big scary things (haircuts, medical appointments). These pills will hopefully help him with those big scary things when they happen.
3) I met with Emmett's teacher, SLP, OT and PT yesterday to write up his IPP for school (ah, the land of special needs is full of abbreviations!). Basically, I sat down with everyone who works with Em at school and we discussed his strengths, weaknesses and made some specific goals for him for the rest of the school year. It was so great sitting down with these women who have been getting to know my son and had some great insights for me. I was happy to learn that Emmett has a little group of friends in his class and he loves to spend time with them and do what they do - he has some issues participating and trying new things, so watching his friends do things is going to be huge for him. He's happy at school and his speech is really improving...at home I've noticed less and less of using just one word and a big jump in using short sentences. The staff at his school are so nice and accommodating - they didn't even seem to mind that Seth was in the meeting or that he continually added his own opinions, at top volume!
Life is so busy right now, and it looks like it will continue to be in the months to come. I am really looking forward to summer in my own place, with my own (landlord's-dog-poop-free) backyard, with everything unpacked and just being able to relax with the boys. I can feel that time is coming, but there is a lot to be done first!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
And the journey continues...
It's 2:30am, and I can't sleep (it seems a lot of my blog posts are a result of insomnia!). Four years ago exactly I was tossing and turning as well. I was in the hospital, extremely pregnant and with my waters broken, waiting for my baby to make his or her long awaited entrance into the world. I wasn't in labour, just being monitored and watching for pot to boil, so to speak. I didn't have a private room so James had been sent home and told to come back if I made any progress (you can guess how much sleep HE had that night...zero!). I was so excited (I'm going to be a MOM!!) and nervous (this thing is coming out of me, and I'm going to be solely in charge of it! Are they nuts??!?). Of course that "thing" turned out to be Emmett, who finally arrived on the scene around dinner time that day. It was an exhausting and emotional day, and I will never forget the moment I looked at my son for the first time, saw he was a boy and James and I said to each other "Emmett! We have a little boy, Emmett!".
Now I'm up again in the middle of the night, after another long and exhausting day. We had the family conference to wrap up Emmett's assessments and get a diagnosis. Essentially, Emmett is about 25 months old mentally. He is severely delayed in his communication and learning. We're not sure why, but we suspect the cause may be genetic. We will probably be undergoing some genetic testing to see if we can isolate the cause.
I'm still processing everything...a lot of the behaviors that I'm concerned about, and that were leading me to believe he may have a form of autism, could be explained by the fact that mentally he's only 2. They aren't totally ruling autism out at this point but right now he doesn't meet the criteria for that diagnosis. We also aren't sure what this means long term...he will continue to progress but he has been classed as having below average intelligence and will probably never fully catch up to his peers.
So that's where we're at right now. Obviously, it's upsetting news and not what we wanted to hear, but it's reality. The good (great!) news is, Emmett has been blessed with SO many family and friends that love him and will support him. He's in a great program with excellent teachers and other professionals. He's got all the tools he's going to need to live up to his full potential in life, whatever that may be. We are clearly living in the "right" place, at the "right" time...there are so many programs and resources we can access.
Today is Emmett's birthday, and we are going to celebrate him. He has changed my life forever, and if I had the choice of doing it all over again, I would without a doubt. That sweet child is and always has been a huge blessing to our family, and I love him for exactly who he is.
Now I'm up again in the middle of the night, after another long and exhausting day. We had the family conference to wrap up Emmett's assessments and get a diagnosis. Essentially, Emmett is about 25 months old mentally. He is severely delayed in his communication and learning. We're not sure why, but we suspect the cause may be genetic. We will probably be undergoing some genetic testing to see if we can isolate the cause.
I'm still processing everything...a lot of the behaviors that I'm concerned about, and that were leading me to believe he may have a form of autism, could be explained by the fact that mentally he's only 2. They aren't totally ruling autism out at this point but right now he doesn't meet the criteria for that diagnosis. We also aren't sure what this means long term...he will continue to progress but he has been classed as having below average intelligence and will probably never fully catch up to his peers.
So that's where we're at right now. Obviously, it's upsetting news and not what we wanted to hear, but it's reality. The good (great!) news is, Emmett has been blessed with SO many family and friends that love him and will support him. He's in a great program with excellent teachers and other professionals. He's got all the tools he's going to need to live up to his full potential in life, whatever that may be. We are clearly living in the "right" place, at the "right" time...there are so many programs and resources we can access.
Today is Emmett's birthday, and we are going to celebrate him. He has changed my life forever, and if I had the choice of doing it all over again, I would without a doubt. That sweet child is and always has been a huge blessing to our family, and I love him for exactly who he is.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
A little bit of everything
I've been meaning to post for awhile, but didn't have anything "major" to blog about. So I figured I'd just update on a few little things:
Weight Loss
I lost another 3 lbs in February! I figure that's pretty good considering February was pretty insane for me...with James being in school I was pretty much a single mom and was transitioning Emmett into school at the same time. I just discovered this morning that my scale is broken, so this will probably be my last weight loss update for awhile. I'm not at my goal yet, but all my pants are too big so I'm happy with that. The next couple of months will be crazy as well, so I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing - watching portion sizes and making good choices most of the time. I'm also trying to carve out some me time a few mornings a week to work out at home...lately I've been kickboxing.
Seth
My little one is growing in leaps and bounds! He took his first steps a couple of weeks ago, and it's starting to dawn on him now that walking *could* be a better way to get around than crawling! He usually starts out walking and goes as far as he can with that until he falls down (which doesn't take much!) and then finishes with crawling. He also now says "Emmett" clear as day, which is so awesome! He usually goes down for a nap while big bro is at school, and often "Emmett" is the first thing he'll say when he wakes up...he misses his brother! He's turning into your typical annoying little brother, following Emmett around and bugging him all the time. Usually this does NOT end well, but once in awhile Em will play with him and it makes him SO happy!
Emmett
My eldest is SUCH a grump in the mornings, until I mention the magic words: "school bus". Yesterday I wasn't getting ready fast enough and I got "Come on mama, time for SCHOOL BUS!!" You should see him waiting in front of our house every morning, he's practically bursting with excitement. His bus drivers love him and it's a great start to his school day. He also understands the whole birthday thing this year, and is VERY excited for his 4th birthday next week. He's getting cupcakes at school, a friend party, *and* a family party so he's going to be in heaven! He is still obsessed with Cars (in fact we're watching it right now...sigh...) and we got him Mater, Sheriff, Red (the firetruck) and Chick Hicks for his birthday - he's going to flip when he opens them!
My Hubby
James survived school again this year...he got the highest mark in the class on his blueprinting project and passed all of his subjects. Now we're just waiting for his final exam marks...he thinks he did pretty well. He's back at work, but they've actually got him doing materials handling for the time being - a complete overhaul of their warehouse. Word must have got out that James was a parts handler for 4 years, because he's been put in charge of the project! James has a real knack for organizing so he's right in his element.
Assessments
Emmett's big appointments at the Glenrose are scheduled for Mar 8-10...I'm a bit nervous but looking forward to getting a complete picture of what he's dealing with and how to help him. I'll update on that once he's been assessed.
Weight Loss
I lost another 3 lbs in February! I figure that's pretty good considering February was pretty insane for me...with James being in school I was pretty much a single mom and was transitioning Emmett into school at the same time. I just discovered this morning that my scale is broken, so this will probably be my last weight loss update for awhile. I'm not at my goal yet, but all my pants are too big so I'm happy with that. The next couple of months will be crazy as well, so I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing - watching portion sizes and making good choices most of the time. I'm also trying to carve out some me time a few mornings a week to work out at home...lately I've been kickboxing.
Seth
My little one is growing in leaps and bounds! He took his first steps a couple of weeks ago, and it's starting to dawn on him now that walking *could* be a better way to get around than crawling! He usually starts out walking and goes as far as he can with that until he falls down (which doesn't take much!) and then finishes with crawling. He also now says "Emmett" clear as day, which is so awesome! He usually goes down for a nap while big bro is at school, and often "Emmett" is the first thing he'll say when he wakes up...he misses his brother! He's turning into your typical annoying little brother, following Emmett around and bugging him all the time. Usually this does NOT end well, but once in awhile Em will play with him and it makes him SO happy!
Emmett
My eldest is SUCH a grump in the mornings, until I mention the magic words: "school bus". Yesterday I wasn't getting ready fast enough and I got "Come on mama, time for SCHOOL BUS!!" You should see him waiting in front of our house every morning, he's practically bursting with excitement. His bus drivers love him and it's a great start to his school day. He also understands the whole birthday thing this year, and is VERY excited for his 4th birthday next week. He's getting cupcakes at school, a friend party, *and* a family party so he's going to be in heaven! He is still obsessed with Cars (in fact we're watching it right now...sigh...) and we got him Mater, Sheriff, Red (the firetruck) and Chick Hicks for his birthday - he's going to flip when he opens them!
My Hubby
James survived school again this year...he got the highest mark in the class on his blueprinting project and passed all of his subjects. Now we're just waiting for his final exam marks...he thinks he did pretty well. He's back at work, but they've actually got him doing materials handling for the time being - a complete overhaul of their warehouse. Word must have got out that James was a parts handler for 4 years, because he's been put in charge of the project! James has a real knack for organizing so he's right in his element.
Assessments
Emmett's big appointments at the Glenrose are scheduled for Mar 8-10...I'm a bit nervous but looking forward to getting a complete picture of what he's dealing with and how to help him. I'll update on that once he's been assessed.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Oops.
I noticed a few days ago that Seth had a bit of a rash on his back. It's not unusual for Seth to be a bit rashy so I didn't pay much attention to it. When I undressed him last night I discovered that he was now covered in big red welts.
Oops.
So, off to the after hours clinic I go...I've never had to wait there more than 45 min or so, so I figured I would be fine with just a bottle and a few diapers.
Oops.
After 2 1/2 hours of waiting (and 2 hours past bed time), Seth had explored every inch of the clinic and was DONE. It was all I could do to keep him from screaming his head off. I resorted to wearing his pajama top as a hat for comedic effect and was ready to start making origami out of the paper covering the exam bed when we were finally seen. He's got hives all over his little body from some kind of allergic reaction (to what I'm not sure, but our scented laundry detergent is the #1 suspect right now - good thing I just used the last of it yesterday and had just bought some fragrance free stuff). By the time we got out of the clinic it was 11pm and we were both incredibly tired. I had a prescription but I didn't think he'd tolerate another stop at the pharmacy and we had to be up at 6am, so we just went home to bed.
Oops.
Did you know that the Shoppers Drug Mart on Whyte and 109th street is open at 2:30am? Cause it is! Did you know that doctors at the after care clinic prescribe weird liquids that cause pharmacists to make a "What the hell?" face and phone 4 other pharmacies looking for the stuff? Cause they do! Poor Sethers had to settle for some OTC stuff and an oatmeal bath in the middle of the night. By the time I got to bed I was supposed to be up in 2 and a half hours (to drive James to school so I would have the car to take Em to school) so I woke James up and told him he could just take the car and I would walk the kids to the school in the stroller.
Oops.
The fact that the stroller is currently located in the trunk was the very first thought I had when I woke up this morning. About an hour after James left. Thankfully my friend down the street has a very nice jogging stroller that I was able to borrow....phew! Hey, at least I'm getting my exercise today (72 blocks for 2 round trips).
Something has to go right today...right?
Oops.
So, off to the after hours clinic I go...I've never had to wait there more than 45 min or so, so I figured I would be fine with just a bottle and a few diapers.
Oops.
After 2 1/2 hours of waiting (and 2 hours past bed time), Seth had explored every inch of the clinic and was DONE. It was all I could do to keep him from screaming his head off. I resorted to wearing his pajama top as a hat for comedic effect and was ready to start making origami out of the paper covering the exam bed when we were finally seen. He's got hives all over his little body from some kind of allergic reaction (to what I'm not sure, but our scented laundry detergent is the #1 suspect right now - good thing I just used the last of it yesterday and had just bought some fragrance free stuff). By the time we got out of the clinic it was 11pm and we were both incredibly tired. I had a prescription but I didn't think he'd tolerate another stop at the pharmacy and we had to be up at 6am, so we just went home to bed.
Oops.
Did you know that the Shoppers Drug Mart on Whyte and 109th street is open at 2:30am? Cause it is! Did you know that doctors at the after care clinic prescribe weird liquids that cause pharmacists to make a "What the hell?" face and phone 4 other pharmacies looking for the stuff? Cause they do! Poor Sethers had to settle for some OTC stuff and an oatmeal bath in the middle of the night. By the time I got to bed I was supposed to be up in 2 and a half hours (to drive James to school so I would have the car to take Em to school) so I woke James up and told him he could just take the car and I would walk the kids to the school in the stroller.
Oops.
The fact that the stroller is currently located in the trunk was the very first thought I had when I woke up this morning. About an hour after James left. Thankfully my friend down the street has a very nice jogging stroller that I was able to borrow....phew! Hey, at least I'm getting my exercise today (72 blocks for 2 round trips).
Something has to go right today...right?
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