It's been a while since I posted on my blog. I have been so busy with the last few weeks of school among other things that I have been slacking! So sorry!
I recently posted on my facebook page about my oldest son, Trey, having strep. Well, here is the story behind that status update.......
Thursday morning (the first day of summer break sleep in) Crockett wakes me up at 745am. This is too early for me so I make him lay down on the couch and watch cartoons while I snooze in my chair. Trey wakes up at 945am and comes into the living room just as bouncy and happy and snuggles up with me in my chair. When he starts talking to me I notice that his voice sounds different. I think it's a hereditary thing because when my voice sounds different, I either have a sore throat or I am getting strep. Anyway, as soon as I hear the change in his voice, I ask him if his throat is hurting. He responds with a no and goes about his morning, riding the scooter thru the house and asking for every piece of food in the house.
We get ready and go meet everyone for lunch at Arbys in Southaven and he eats a hearty lunch of a regular roastbeef and some curly fries and a big ole mountain dew (I know! I know! !). We go straight to Target and do a little browsing and the entire time I keep asking him if his throat hurts. He keeps telling me no and by hour 5 of me asking him that, every 30 minutes or so, he finally gets frusterated and yells at me. I can't really blame him cause I know it would annoy me too!
At about 2ish, I tell my mom that I am going to take Trey to the doctor and when she asks why, I tell her because Treys voice has changed and I KNOW he has strep. She takes my word for it now when I think something is wrong and she immediately told me she would keep Crockett while I took Trey to the doctor. At this point Trey begins acting kinda puny and very moody and asks to go to the car. Now if you know Trey, you know he does not want to leave Target EVER!
Trey's pediatrician had an available appointment for 2:30pm so we went straight there. We were pretty much immediately taken back to the room. When we got back there and they asked what was wrong, I told her that I was 99.999999999% positive that he had strep throat. She asked if he had a soar throat, I said no. She asked if he had fever, I said no. She asked if he had nausea, I said no. She asked if he had loss of appitite, I said no. She asked if he was acting sick or out of the ordinary, again I said no. She looked at me like I was crazy but still did the throat swab. As she left the room, the doctor walked in. He looked at his throat, ears, eyes and nose and said everything looked fine. He said, he doubted anything would come of the swab and he wouldn't need medicine but to watch him. As he left the office, the nurse came back and said, "The test was positive." The doctor said, "The test was WHAT?!" She repeated herself and he peeked into the room and said, "Ok, well, I guess momma knows!"
Yep! Momma knows! We got our prescription and went on our way. They also informed me when I was leaving that Schnuks gives free Oral Antibiotics. I walked into Schnuks, gave them my prescription and walked out 30 minutes later with the prescription and having paid nothing. I also read, for those of you having babies, they fill prescription prenatal vitamins for free too!
When we got home, Trey started acting sickly and took a long nap. He woke up the next morning feeling MUCH better and ready to start the weekend!
Now, I know that moms just have that God given intuition about them that allows them to "just know" when something is wrong but momma's of non-verbal children or children with disabilities and lack of communication skills have to read non verbal cues with their children so often, they know something is wrong before outward signs show. Because it has always been so hard for Trey to communicate what is wrong when he is sick, I have always known that his voice changes when it's strep. When he is about to throw up, he swallows alot and his eyes water. When he has to go number 2, he gets all serious, furrows his brow and doesn't think ANYTHING is funny. It also helped me when I was trying to poo poo train my youngest. I watched his non-verbal cues (and they were only non-verbal cause he chose not to tell me about them, not because he couldn't) and I knew and still know, when he needs to go. No fooling this mommy!
Just a little word of encouragement for those that have infants and young children, non-verbal children, limited communcative children or just special needs children in general........you can use this special God given/Supernatural abililty of intuition and "just knowing" to your advantage and you are AWESOME!!! And for those of you without it........FINALLY there is something for you to be jealous of! Eat your heart out! (And I mean that in the nicest way possible!)
Monday, May 31, 2010
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Our Exceptional Child
On Tuesday of this week we had Trey's IEP Meeting. IEP stands for Individualized Education Plan. Children with special needs are on so many different levels as far as their level of special services needed that they do an Education Plan suited specifically to their level of need. It's really a cool thing! For example, my Trey might need ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) Therapy and need specific help on learning math skills but another child only needs OT (Occupational Therapy) and needs help with handwriting while yet another child needs all therapies available. The school system pays for each child to get the help that they need! Our tax dollars HARD at work! Literally!
I made the appointment on a day that I knew John could come because we both want to be hands on and involved in every aspect of his education. So I met him at the school for the meeting. You must also understand that these meeting must include everyone that has any interaction with Trey. In our meeting was me, John, the Vice Principal, the speech therapist, the ABA therapist, the Behavioral therapist, the Occupational therapist, Ms. Gwen (his SPED teacher) and Ms. Hobbs (his Kindergarten teacher).
When we started the meeting, they began telling us how impressed they were with Trey and the strides that he has made this year. Ms. Gwen went over his objectives and goals and said that academically he has met or exceeded all areas that were previously set for him and that socially he has come SO far. She said that Trey's kindergarten teacher, Ms. Hobbs, was upset with her for what she was about to tell us. I was kinda nervous by this statement cause I thought it was going to be bad news. Ms. Gwen then told us that she was recommending Trey for 1st Grade because he was academically exactly where he should be in Kindergarten. He has met all his skills!!! We were ELATED! The reason Ms. Hobbs was upset was because she said that she LOVES Trey and was wanting him to be in her class again next year. So sweet! Ms. Hobbs told us that if she had to say where Trey was delay-wise, she would place him at the developmental stage that the Kindergartners were at when they came back from Christmas! That is only 3-4 months delayed! When he was first diagnosed, he was developmentally delayed 1 year to 18 months. WHAT A TRANSFORMATION!
After learning this exciting news we got more great news. The Occupational Therapist thinks that Trey won't need to go out of the classroom to see her and that she will just be available for things that he needs periodically in the class. She is still going to write it in his IEP for next year so that he CAN have it if he needs it but right now it looks like he tested out of OT. Also, they said, if he had tested this high before he started Kindergarten that he probably wouldn't have even been in SPED at all, he would have been coming out for a few therapies but been in mainstream classroom.
Next year he will be in the classroom 80% of the time and will only leave for a few of the therapies. Now things may change when he begins school next year and he is in the classroom. He may need more time out of the classroom at first so he can transition into full time classroom time but they really think he is going to be ready!
They told us that his best subject is math (surprise, surprise!)---he IS his daddy's child---and his least favorite subject is Art. I was a little disappointed in this because I love artsy stuff but I still have hope in Crockett. They said he would tell them that "Art is for Crockett. Crockett likes ART, not me!" Every time he was going to art, he would tell them this. They said they laughed every time.
The last thing we discussed was whether Trey should go to Extended School Year. They asked if we wanted Trey to be at ESY this year and that it was strictly up to us as it was our call. We went ahead and suggested that he be in ESY with weekly ABA Therapy so he and I don't get out of practice and so he doesn't lose anything that he has learned this far! ESY only goes from the end of regular school year thru June. You still get the month of July off to have a summer vacation.
I can not begin to explain how much I appreciate the teachers, therapists and the assistants that have helped our Trey come so far in such a short time. As a parent of a Special Needs child, the main fear you have is that your child will never have the quality of life that you want them to have. You wonder if they will ever be self sufficient. There are so many times that bring you down and make you think that you will never get past this time in your life. Meltdown after meltdown, conference after conference, complaint after complaint, dirty look after dirty look. And then the day comes that you have a conference or meeting like the one I had this day, where they tell you that your child is beating this thing.....that he is exceeding expectation and not just meeting it! I issue a challenge to all of you parents out there that are struggling......Go to God and ask for His GRACE! Ask God for His PEACE! Ask God for His direction in your life! I have no idea how we would have gotten through these past 6 years without His guidance and direction in our life!
It reminds me of an old song......HIS strength is perfect when our strength is gone. HE'll carry us when we can't carry on! Raised in His power, the weak become strong!
I have had to cling to the HOPE of Philippians 4:13 which says, "I can do all things through Christ who give me strength." I am a different woman for having been blessed with Trey! Go kiss your babies and thank God for allowing you the opportunity to be a parent even when it's not easy. If you are a parent of a special child, thank Him for sparing you the monotony of a "typical" life and allowing you to have the blessing of a "special" life!!
I made the appointment on a day that I knew John could come because we both want to be hands on and involved in every aspect of his education. So I met him at the school for the meeting. You must also understand that these meeting must include everyone that has any interaction with Trey. In our meeting was me, John, the Vice Principal, the speech therapist, the ABA therapist, the Behavioral therapist, the Occupational therapist, Ms. Gwen (his SPED teacher) and Ms. Hobbs (his Kindergarten teacher).
When we started the meeting, they began telling us how impressed they were with Trey and the strides that he has made this year. Ms. Gwen went over his objectives and goals and said that academically he has met or exceeded all areas that were previously set for him and that socially he has come SO far. She said that Trey's kindergarten teacher, Ms. Hobbs, was upset with her for what she was about to tell us. I was kinda nervous by this statement cause I thought it was going to be bad news. Ms. Gwen then told us that she was recommending Trey for 1st Grade because he was academically exactly where he should be in Kindergarten. He has met all his skills!!! We were ELATED! The reason Ms. Hobbs was upset was because she said that she LOVES Trey and was wanting him to be in her class again next year. So sweet! Ms. Hobbs told us that if she had to say where Trey was delay-wise, she would place him at the developmental stage that the Kindergartners were at when they came back from Christmas! That is only 3-4 months delayed! When he was first diagnosed, he was developmentally delayed 1 year to 18 months. WHAT A TRANSFORMATION!
After learning this exciting news we got more great news. The Occupational Therapist thinks that Trey won't need to go out of the classroom to see her and that she will just be available for things that he needs periodically in the class. She is still going to write it in his IEP for next year so that he CAN have it if he needs it but right now it looks like he tested out of OT. Also, they said, if he had tested this high before he started Kindergarten that he probably wouldn't have even been in SPED at all, he would have been coming out for a few therapies but been in mainstream classroom.
Next year he will be in the classroom 80% of the time and will only leave for a few of the therapies. Now things may change when he begins school next year and he is in the classroom. He may need more time out of the classroom at first so he can transition into full time classroom time but they really think he is going to be ready!
They told us that his best subject is math (surprise, surprise!)---he IS his daddy's child---and his least favorite subject is Art. I was a little disappointed in this because I love artsy stuff but I still have hope in Crockett. They said he would tell them that "Art is for Crockett. Crockett likes ART, not me!" Every time he was going to art, he would tell them this. They said they laughed every time.
The last thing we discussed was whether Trey should go to Extended School Year. They asked if we wanted Trey to be at ESY this year and that it was strictly up to us as it was our call. We went ahead and suggested that he be in ESY with weekly ABA Therapy so he and I don't get out of practice and so he doesn't lose anything that he has learned this far! ESY only goes from the end of regular school year thru June. You still get the month of July off to have a summer vacation.
I can not begin to explain how much I appreciate the teachers, therapists and the assistants that have helped our Trey come so far in such a short time. As a parent of a Special Needs child, the main fear you have is that your child will never have the quality of life that you want them to have. You wonder if they will ever be self sufficient. There are so many times that bring you down and make you think that you will never get past this time in your life. Meltdown after meltdown, conference after conference, complaint after complaint, dirty look after dirty look. And then the day comes that you have a conference or meeting like the one I had this day, where they tell you that your child is beating this thing.....that he is exceeding expectation and not just meeting it! I issue a challenge to all of you parents out there that are struggling......Go to God and ask for His GRACE! Ask God for His PEACE! Ask God for His direction in your life! I have no idea how we would have gotten through these past 6 years without His guidance and direction in our life!
It reminds me of an old song......HIS strength is perfect when our strength is gone. HE'll carry us when we can't carry on! Raised in His power, the weak become strong!
I have had to cling to the HOPE of Philippians 4:13 which says, "I can do all things through Christ who give me strength." I am a different woman for having been blessed with Trey! Go kiss your babies and thank God for allowing you the opportunity to be a parent even when it's not easy. If you are a parent of a special child, thank Him for sparing you the monotony of a "typical" life and allowing you to have the blessing of a "special" life!!
Our Guard Bird
I will be the first to admit that I am NOT an outside girl! Those of you that know me, know that I will avoid being outside unless I have nothing to do that day! I don't like to sweat. I don't like bugs. I don't like to smell like the great outdoors or recess when I have just taken a shower. I don't like my feet to get dirty (which means I don't like to walk in dirt when wearing flip flops) and I don't like my hands to get dirty either.
That being said, I had decided to go outside (I know...SHOCKA!) and plant some bulbs that a sweet lady at church had given me and pull some weeds (with my tennis shoes and gloves on, of course) and as I walked out the front door I heard a LOUD chirping and screeching and look up to see a "wounded" bird floundering around on the grass. I knew it was "pretending" to be hurt and must have some eggs somewhere in the area so I begin walking toward it.....the entire time it screeches and screams at the top of its little birdy lungs and flops around and charges me several times. Mawsy always said they were called Killdeer. I found the eggs in a neat little nest on the ground in our flower bed.
I got weirded out and let it talk me out of doing any yard work, because I really didn't want to be attacked by our guard bird.
This was about a couple of weeks ago and since that day there have been several humorous things happen with folks coming to our front door. I had ordered several things on the Internet, one with a Fed Ex delivery and one with a USPS and the first one to show up was the USPS delivery guy. I was sitting inside and watched him pull up to the front of the house and get out. He strolled up to the door, not really paying attention to where he was going and as he stepped on the front walkway, the bird when ballistic and started chasing him. He takes off running back into the yard and the bird back off. He takes a second to catch his breath and formulate a game plan. He then takes a running start and darts to the door, tosses the package at the front door (from about 6 feet away) and takes off back out in the yard. I watched from the front window and laughed so hard I cried. Poor USPS guy! LOL!
The second person, Fed Ex guy, came to our house while I was away but I can only imagine that something very similar must have happened. I say this because the package from Fed Ex was sitting in front of the garage door! Haha! All I can say is the Fed Ex persons decision to put the package by the garage (right next to the front path to the front door) kinda made a little bit more sense than chucking the package at the front door while ducking and dodging the scary Guard Bird!
The third occurrence was when my sister and her kids were leaving my house. Apparently my nephew (who is 3) got a little too courageous and ran toward the bird. My niece, Morgan, gave me this account of exactly what happened. Now if you know Morgan, you know that this may be a wee bit fabricated!
Morgan - "NiNi! Did you hear about the bird in your front flower bed attacking Manning?"
Me - "NO! What happened?"
Morgan - "The bird pecked him in the eye!"
Me - "NO WAY! Are you serious?!"
Morgan - "Yah! Manning ran up to the bird and the bird did a backward somersault and flew up and pecked him in the eye!"
Me - "OH MY! Is he okay?!"
Morgan - "Other than he lost an eye, yeah, he is okay. I'm just kidding....yeah, he's fine."
And that was it. Manning was fine but I bet he learned his lesson even if he wasn't chasing the bird on purpose, I bet he will watch for the warning signs of an Attack Bird or Guard Bird! We have a cat that lives across the street from the house and it came over during the winter and killed the three mice that lived under my lawnmower in my garage. He sat under John's truck everynight and would catch the mice when they came out. Now I keep catching him prowling around my front yard at night and I think, by the sound of my Guard Bird's urgent screams, that he is trying to get at the bird or her babies. I have actually been appreciative of the bird for continuing to keep solicitors and salesmen and so forth out of my yard so I scare the cat away when I can. Hopefully she can keep the eggs safe for a few more weeks and then there will be baby "killdeer" running around! They are so adorable when they just hatch. Long skinny legs and a little body scampering around behind their mommy! Just reminds me of the joys of babies and also makes me appreciate spring and the creation of new life!
That being said, I had decided to go outside (I know...SHOCKA!) and plant some bulbs that a sweet lady at church had given me and pull some weeds (with my tennis shoes and gloves on, of course) and as I walked out the front door I heard a LOUD chirping and screeching and look up to see a "wounded" bird floundering around on the grass. I knew it was "pretending" to be hurt and must have some eggs somewhere in the area so I begin walking toward it.....the entire time it screeches and screams at the top of its little birdy lungs and flops around and charges me several times. Mawsy always said they were called Killdeer. I found the eggs in a neat little nest on the ground in our flower bed.
I got weirded out and let it talk me out of doing any yard work, because I really didn't want to be attacked by our guard bird.
This was about a couple of weeks ago and since that day there have been several humorous things happen with folks coming to our front door. I had ordered several things on the Internet, one with a Fed Ex delivery and one with a USPS and the first one to show up was the USPS delivery guy. I was sitting inside and watched him pull up to the front of the house and get out. He strolled up to the door, not really paying attention to where he was going and as he stepped on the front walkway, the bird when ballistic and started chasing him. He takes off running back into the yard and the bird back off. He takes a second to catch his breath and formulate a game plan. He then takes a running start and darts to the door, tosses the package at the front door (from about 6 feet away) and takes off back out in the yard. I watched from the front window and laughed so hard I cried. Poor USPS guy! LOL!
The second person, Fed Ex guy, came to our house while I was away but I can only imagine that something very similar must have happened. I say this because the package from Fed Ex was sitting in front of the garage door! Haha! All I can say is the Fed Ex persons decision to put the package by the garage (right next to the front path to the front door) kinda made a little bit more sense than chucking the package at the front door while ducking and dodging the scary Guard Bird!
The third occurrence was when my sister and her kids were leaving my house. Apparently my nephew (who is 3) got a little too courageous and ran toward the bird. My niece, Morgan, gave me this account of exactly what happened. Now if you know Morgan, you know that this may be a wee bit fabricated!
Morgan - "NiNi! Did you hear about the bird in your front flower bed attacking Manning?"
Me - "NO! What happened?"
Morgan - "The bird pecked him in the eye!"
Me - "NO WAY! Are you serious?!"
Morgan - "Yah! Manning ran up to the bird and the bird did a backward somersault and flew up and pecked him in the eye!"
Me - "OH MY! Is he okay?!"
Morgan - "Other than he lost an eye, yeah, he is okay. I'm just kidding....yeah, he's fine."
And that was it. Manning was fine but I bet he learned his lesson even if he wasn't chasing the bird on purpose, I bet he will watch for the warning signs of an Attack Bird or Guard Bird! We have a cat that lives across the street from the house and it came over during the winter and killed the three mice that lived under my lawnmower in my garage. He sat under John's truck everynight and would catch the mice when they came out. Now I keep catching him prowling around my front yard at night and I think, by the sound of my Guard Bird's urgent screams, that he is trying to get at the bird or her babies. I have actually been appreciative of the bird for continuing to keep solicitors and salesmen and so forth out of my yard so I scare the cat away when I can. Hopefully she can keep the eggs safe for a few more weeks and then there will be baby "killdeer" running around! They are so adorable when they just hatch. Long skinny legs and a little body scampering around behind their mommy! Just reminds me of the joys of babies and also makes me appreciate spring and the creation of new life!
Monday, March 15, 2010
The past few weeks have been really crazy for me!! Despite my efforts to take dyes out of my children's diets, it was not changing their crazy ways enough to notice. In fact, Crockett has almost been worse since changing his diet. For two weeks I have received calls from Crockett's school and was called to his church classes on Sunday and Wednesday nights telling me that he was uncontrollable and impossible to deal with. He was yelling, kicking, screaming and just acting all around terrible. The first time the school called me, I talked to him on the phone and warned him that if I had to come there that he would get a spanking and he calmed a bit, long enough to make it to nap time and then to the end of school. That was a Tuesday but on Thursday of that same week, he was in time out and was being so defiant that a phone call wasn't doing it and I had to physically go down there and discipline and by the time I got back to pick him up, he was in time out again and crying and carrying on. It was TERRIBLE! There were two things I was struggling with. First, I didn't want to leave Crockett there for the teachers to worry with anymore but the second thing was that I also didn't want to give him the pleasure of going home. He needs to know that he can't just throw a fit and go home. SO, I disciplined at school and made him stay. This way he knew that I was in charge and dictated what he did, not him.
This past Tuesday was better but not perfect. Still a few time outs but tolerable. Then on Thursday, Crockett was broken out and itchy so I gave him a little benadryl before he went to school and he had the best day he's had in a LONG time! When I dropped him off that morning, I was talking to several other parents in his class and they were telling me that Singulair caused behavior problems in their kids. I had researched that before but there was nothing saying that it was a side effect so I dropped it. These moms swore that it affected their children adversely and were so passionate about it that I decided it couldn't hurt to try it. (BTW, out of 9 boys in Crockett's class, 4 of them have some kind of allergy or asthma....kinda sad statistics!)
I called the doctor as soon as I left the building to make sure it was okay to take him off the medicine just to see and they said it was fine. They suggested that we take him off over the weekend and watch him and decide if that was the problem. He didn't have any Singulair on Thursday night and on Friday he was an ANGEL! I had NO problems with him. He never had a meltdown. He did exactly as I told him to with little or no hesitation or back talk. He was just an all around different child in just about every way! I am CONVINCED that is what was causing his attitude!
I am going to call the doctor tomorrow to see if there is an alternative medicine that he can be on and go from there. I am so excited about the prospect of having my sweet sweet little boy back!
Please continue lifting our family up in your prayers as we figure out the right mix of meds that work with Crockett and don't affect him adversely!
This past Tuesday was better but not perfect. Still a few time outs but tolerable. Then on Thursday, Crockett was broken out and itchy so I gave him a little benadryl before he went to school and he had the best day he's had in a LONG time! When I dropped him off that morning, I was talking to several other parents in his class and they were telling me that Singulair caused behavior problems in their kids. I had researched that before but there was nothing saying that it was a side effect so I dropped it. These moms swore that it affected their children adversely and were so passionate about it that I decided it couldn't hurt to try it. (BTW, out of 9 boys in Crockett's class, 4 of them have some kind of allergy or asthma....kinda sad statistics!)
I called the doctor as soon as I left the building to make sure it was okay to take him off the medicine just to see and they said it was fine. They suggested that we take him off over the weekend and watch him and decide if that was the problem. He didn't have any Singulair on Thursday night and on Friday he was an ANGEL! I had NO problems with him. He never had a meltdown. He did exactly as I told him to with little or no hesitation or back talk. He was just an all around different child in just about every way! I am CONVINCED that is what was causing his attitude!
I am going to call the doctor tomorrow to see if there is an alternative medicine that he can be on and go from there. I am so excited about the prospect of having my sweet sweet little boy back!
Please continue lifting our family up in your prayers as we figure out the right mix of meds that work with Crockett and don't affect him adversely!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Receipt Randomness
Today I met John for lunch and we decided to go to McAllisters. When we got there we ordered. We had a nacho appetizer for starters (we were both super hungry cause we didn't eat dinner last night). I ordered a Spud Ole with vegetarian chili and John ordered some kind of Cranberry sandwich and a bowl of chili. I had diet coke and he had sweet tea cause we had a coupon for a free sweet tea. We also picked up a bowl of loaded potato soup for one of Johns friends. And that entire paragraph was unnecessary and acted as filler for this blog.
While we sat at McAllisters and talked, John pulled a receipt out of his pocket and said I had to look at it. He was in Walmart earlier that day and was in self check out and as he went to get his receipt, there was one left from the last person. He pulled it off and looked at it and he thought it was amusing and wanted me to see it. There were two items on the receipt. One singular CORN DOG and one singular MOUSE TRAP. John and I immediately started creating scenarios on what was said before that trip to walmart.
"HONEY.....I am going to walmart to get one corn dog and a mousetrap! Be back in a few!"
"Hey honey, can you stop by walmart on your way home and pick up a corn dog and a mousetrap?"
"Darn that stupid mouse, he keeps eatin my corn dogs. I'll show him......"
"I love corn dogs....I think I'll get one.....hmm....that is marketing genius to have an end cap with Corn Dogs AND Mouse Traps! Leave it to Walmart to know exactly what I need when I need it!"
Excuse me, Ms., could you please tell me where your single serve Corn Dogs are? Oh, and are the Mouse Traps on that same aisle?"
Anyway, you get the idea. SO, what I want to know is if you have ever found a receipt or had a receipt that had random things that just seemed funny to buy together. If so, comment and share the humor with us all! :0)
While we sat at McAllisters and talked, John pulled a receipt out of his pocket and said I had to look at it. He was in Walmart earlier that day and was in self check out and as he went to get his receipt, there was one left from the last person. He pulled it off and looked at it and he thought it was amusing and wanted me to see it. There were two items on the receipt. One singular CORN DOG and one singular MOUSE TRAP. John and I immediately started creating scenarios on what was said before that trip to walmart.
"HONEY.....I am going to walmart to get one corn dog and a mousetrap! Be back in a few!"
"Hey honey, can you stop by walmart on your way home and pick up a corn dog and a mousetrap?"
"Darn that stupid mouse, he keeps eatin my corn dogs. I'll show him......"
"I love corn dogs....I think I'll get one.....hmm....that is marketing genius to have an end cap with Corn Dogs AND Mouse Traps! Leave it to Walmart to know exactly what I need when I need it!"
Excuse me, Ms., could you please tell me where your single serve Corn Dogs are? Oh, and are the Mouse Traps on that same aisle?"
Anyway, you get the idea. SO, what I want to know is if you have ever found a receipt or had a receipt that had random things that just seemed funny to buy together. If so, comment and share the humor with us all! :0)
Saturday, February 20, 2010
I choose not to DYE
I have been struggling with what to do with my Crockett. At four years old he should not be so strong headed and so hard to control. When he goes to his church class on Sunday or Wednesday night, they should not come get me from my class and tell me that he is throwing stuff at other kids, the teachers and being all around defiant. When he goes to his Mother's Day Out twice a week, I should not get a call from them saying that he is calling what his teacher wants him to do (or maybe possibly his teacher) stupid and refusing to do what they say. I will NEVER be one of those parents that thinks that it is someone else's fault that my child is acting like a hellion! Although he could be sleepy and need a nap or be itchy cause his eczema is flaring, it is NEVER okay to be like that to an adult or to anyone, for that matter! It falls back on me and my hand, in turn, falls back on him. Nobody makes MAMA look stupid!!
Wednesday night Crockett was brought from his classroom for the second time in about an hour. He has already had a warning so it was time for the second step, spanking. I don't do bare bottom spankings but I have gotten tired of dealing with this disrespect issue and figured this was my last resource. So, without going into detail, after the smack on the bottom and a good talking to, they said they had no problems with him for the rest of the night.
The next day was MDO. He goes from 8am-2pm and by 11am, I had a phone call from the director saying he was yelling at the teacher, falling on the floor and refusing to get up for time out and either called his teacher stupid or what she was asking him to do. INEXCUSABLE!
I told her to give the phone to Crockett and if what I said to him didn't straighten him up, I would come get him. Crockett answers the phone with the sweetest little "Yes, momma?" I had to remind myself of why I was talking to him. I asked him if he remembered me giving him the bare bottom spanking at church the night before and he said, "yes, momma" and then I asked him if he wanted me to come there and give him another one? He said no and I began asking him if various questions. Trying to make it clear that he what he was saying and doing was WRONG. I asked, "Do we throw toys at our friends? he said, NO. Do we call our teachers names? NO! Do we act ugly to our friends? NO! Do we ever say stupid? NO! Do we do what our teacher tells us to? YES! Do we do our school work? YES! Do we be good until mommy comes and picks us up? YES! Then I reminded him that if I had to come up there and get him early that he WOULD get his bare bottom spanking again and he said, "yes, momma, I be good." And that was that. They said they didn't have another problem with him that day.
In between that phone call and picking him up, I began researching reasons for unruly children (besides lack of discipline). I had spoken previously to a friend, Brandy, about different dyes and colors in food and how it effects her son. I figure it's worth a shot to try this new strategy. SO, effective as soon as I get most of the groceries I JUST purchased out of my house (because I can not afford to waste anything), my boys will be on a dye free diet. Crockett can't have most of the things that have red dye in them anyway so I am thinking that this may help. Here are a few things that I have found while researching that might help you know the signs to watch for in your children!
Dyes can cause an outbreak in eczema or an eczema flare up! Multiple posts suggested that if you are keeping the foods from your child that they are allergic to and their eczema is still flaring, it could possibly be due to dyes which are not able to be tested for an allergy.
Many food that children ingest could have these dyes. Candy such as gummy bears, Skittles, Popsicles, ice creams and lollipops all have food dye. There is also food dye in many cheeses, crackers and breads. The key is to read the label! Some labels may just say artificial color and flavors, which is a catch all phrase. Certain medicines could have dyes (Benadryl & some others have a dye free version available). This hits home with me because many times I use benadryl and have used it to clear up an allergic reaction. If my child has an allergy to dyes, I have been forcing one of these allergies into his system. :0( Many lotions and shampoos and soaps have dyes in them. Some children react to topical dyes and others react only when ingested.
Skin - urticaria/angiodema, atopic dermatitis, sweating,itching, flushing
Gastrointestinal - abdominal pain, nausea/vomiting, diarrhea
Respiratory, asthma symptoms, cough, rhinitis
Musculoskeletal - muscle aches, joint aches, fatigue, weakness
Neurologic - behavior and mood changes, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, migraine headaches, numbness, Cardiac palpitations, arrhythmias
ADHD like symptoms can result from a food dye allergy, especially to the red dye. Many parents of children diagnosed with ADHD have taken all food colorings out of their children’s diets and seen remarkable improvements in behavior. Studies have shown that there is a firm link between food dyes, allergies and ADHD like behavior. This can be very difficult for children, as schools are prone to seek labeling and perhaps special services, when all they need is a modification in their diet.
Most of these symptoms have effected Crockett. The atopic dermatitis, asthma symptoms, behavior, attention and hyperactivity problems. I am truly hoping that taking these dyes out of his diet will greatly effect his quality of life!
Wednesday night Crockett was brought from his classroom for the second time in about an hour. He has already had a warning so it was time for the second step, spanking. I don't do bare bottom spankings but I have gotten tired of dealing with this disrespect issue and figured this was my last resource. So, without going into detail, after the smack on the bottom and a good talking to, they said they had no problems with him for the rest of the night.
The next day was MDO. He goes from 8am-2pm and by 11am, I had a phone call from the director saying he was yelling at the teacher, falling on the floor and refusing to get up for time out and either called his teacher stupid or what she was asking him to do. INEXCUSABLE!
I told her to give the phone to Crockett and if what I said to him didn't straighten him up, I would come get him. Crockett answers the phone with the sweetest little "Yes, momma?" I had to remind myself of why I was talking to him. I asked him if he remembered me giving him the bare bottom spanking at church the night before and he said, "yes, momma" and then I asked him if he wanted me to come there and give him another one? He said no and I began asking him if various questions. Trying to make it clear that he what he was saying and doing was WRONG. I asked, "Do we throw toys at our friends? he said, NO. Do we call our teachers names? NO! Do we act ugly to our friends? NO! Do we ever say stupid? NO! Do we do what our teacher tells us to? YES! Do we do our school work? YES! Do we be good until mommy comes and picks us up? YES! Then I reminded him that if I had to come up there and get him early that he WOULD get his bare bottom spanking again and he said, "yes, momma, I be good." And that was that. They said they didn't have another problem with him that day.
In between that phone call and picking him up, I began researching reasons for unruly children (besides lack of discipline). I had spoken previously to a friend, Brandy, about different dyes and colors in food and how it effects her son. I figure it's worth a shot to try this new strategy. SO, effective as soon as I get most of the groceries I JUST purchased out of my house (because I can not afford to waste anything), my boys will be on a dye free diet. Crockett can't have most of the things that have red dye in them anyway so I am thinking that this may help. Here are a few things that I have found while researching that might help you know the signs to watch for in your children!
Dyes can cause an outbreak in eczema or an eczema flare up! Multiple posts suggested that if you are keeping the foods from your child that they are allergic to and their eczema is still flaring, it could possibly be due to dyes which are not able to be tested for an allergy.
Many food that children ingest could have these dyes. Candy such as gummy bears, Skittles, Popsicles, ice creams and lollipops all have food dye. There is also food dye in many cheeses, crackers and breads. The key is to read the label! Some labels may just say artificial color and flavors, which is a catch all phrase. Certain medicines could have dyes (Benadryl & some others have a dye free version available). This hits home with me because many times I use benadryl and have used it to clear up an allergic reaction. If my child has an allergy to dyes, I have been forcing one of these allergies into his system. :0( Many lotions and shampoos and soaps have dyes in them. Some children react to topical dyes and others react only when ingested.
Skin - urticaria/angiodema, atopic dermatitis, sweating,itching, flushing
Gastrointestinal - abdominal pain, nausea/vomiting, diarrhea
Respiratory, asthma symptoms, cough, rhinitis
Musculoskeletal - muscle aches, joint aches, fatigue, weakness
Neurologic - behavior and mood changes, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, migraine headaches, numbness, Cardiac palpitations, arrhythmias
ADHD like symptoms can result from a food dye allergy, especially to the red dye. Many parents of children diagnosed with ADHD have taken all food colorings out of their children’s diets and seen remarkable improvements in behavior. Studies have shown that there is a firm link between food dyes, allergies and ADHD like behavior. This can be very difficult for children, as schools are prone to seek labeling and perhaps special services, when all they need is a modification in their diet.
Most of these symptoms have effected Crockett. The atopic dermatitis, asthma symptoms, behavior, attention and hyperactivity problems. I am truly hoping that taking these dyes out of his diet will greatly effect his quality of life!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Stranded Loser
At the end of February 2009, I decided to go try out for Biggest Loser in Nashville. It was kind of a last minute thing with very little preparation. I asked my mom and dad to drive me down there and asked my in laws to watch the boys while I was gone. The doors were to open at 8am and I wanted to be sure that I was there at least two hours early so we were on our way at 4am that Saturday morning.
We knew when we left that they were predicting snow for that evening and later in the day but we figured SURELY we would be home by that time! We could not have been more wrong.
When we got to Nashville, it was really really cold and raining heavily. I had my big heavy winter coat and a big umbrella AND a folding chair. The auditions were being held at The Wild horse Saloon downtown and when we got there, around 630-7am, the line was about 300 people long and wound about 5 blocks around the buildings. Let's just say standing in line like that had to show some kind of endurance for those of us out there and they really should pick more people that try out in person if for no other reason than that fact.
It was freezing cold, even with gloves, a scarf and a big coat, so my parents went and parked somewhere for a little while until closer to time for the doors to open. They brought me back some breakfast and a drink and finally by 8am the line started moving. In all fairness, the line moved relatively quickly at first. We moved about 2 blocks and then stopped. It was still a little misty but I could finally put my umbrella and chair up and just wear my hood. That made life a little easier anyway. It was really quite fun sitting around talking to the other people and just learning about them and making fast friends. Mom would come and go from the line and stand in line for me when I had to go potty and just wanted to thaw out a bit.
Finally, around 4:30pm, I got in the door. We were herded in like cattle through the front door, up some steps and made to stand single file between ropes that wound around like rivers on a map through the bar area and around the waiting area and finally ended at a door to the back of the house. Everyone was standing there wondering what to expect when we finally got back to the audition room. You had to have a 4x6 picture of yourself and an application completed in order to get into the holding room. I had been standing in line for 10 hours before I finally got back into the room for my interview. I assumed it would be one on one but it was a group of about 25 or 30 people shoved around a long conference style table. The lady that spoke to us first told us to be loud; be heard! They were looking for people with great personalities so let yours shine through. I didn't have a hard time with that but, by golly, some of those people were down right annoyingly obnoxious. The guy comes in and we have to state our name, age, where we live and where we work. After everyone is through, he asks us questions about things like, how you handle conflict.....basically just questions to get everyone talking so they can see how we interact with each other. You had to SHOUT over each other to be heard or you would be overshadowed. Good grief, some of those people were just shouting and interrupting until finally the instructor had to ask them to give someone else a turn. It was so crazy! And then it was over! 10 hours of standing in line for about 15 minutes of time with these people!
I left there with a feeling of accomplishment for having stood in line all that time and for actually doing something instead of just talking about it but I knew nothing would ever come of it. There were just too many people there.
While I was back in the interview room, it had started snowing. When I finally got out around 5:30pm, I was starving. I hadn't eaten anything since that morning so we stopped in the outskirts of Nashville and grabbed a bite to eat at Blue Coast Burrito. We finally got back on the road around 730 or so. As we drove, the snow got heavier and heavier and the roads got worse and worse. Just outside of Jackson, TN we stopped and got gas, went to the restroom and grabbed a little snack. The snow there was about 6-9 inches and my mom and I were in heaven! In case you didn't know, we LOVE snow!
It was around 915 or so and we were about 20 miles outside of Memphis.....maybe 45 minutes from home and the traffic was moving at a creepy crawly pace. There was ice and snow piled up on the road, as well as off the road. We had to keep slowing down and stopping and starting and finally we got to the point where we were only moving maybe 10 feet every 15-20 minutes. Finally we were at a stand still for about an hour and we didn't know what was going on. The snow was coming down harder and harder and the roads were getting even worse than they already were. The opposing traffic had stopped too so we figured they must have shut down the interstate. Mom, Dad and I got out of the car and talked to the drivers of other cars, including the big rig drivers who informed us that they had indeed shut the interstate down. There was no getting off the interstate either cause we were a LONG way from the next exit and that was an incline and it was closed as well. SO, my mom and I did what every normal person would do in a situation like this. We made the best of it and built a snowman! Yes, at 10 at night! We took pictures and then got back in the car and hunkered down for the night. Thankfully we had just gotten gas and gone to the bathroom so we were all set. We had a small bag of chips and a few candies to snack on. We didn't want to drink much because the thought of wading through that knee deep snow was not something that sounded even the least bit interesting!
I had the entire back of the Explorer to myself and I covered up with my coat and my parents and I talked until we finally fell asleep (well, I did anyway) at about 2am~ish. Because we had filled up, dad was able to turn the car on and off all night and get it nice and warm in the car when it got cold. It actually was not near as horrible as it sounds. Now if I had brought my kids with me, that would have been horrible but thankfully my inlaws volunteered to keep Trey too just before I left. What great inlaws I have!
So, I woke up the next morning at around 9am to my dad saying that the traffic was moving. I was a little stiff but all in all I had rested fairly well! It was slow going for most of the rest of the trip. The first few exits we came to were closed because the off ramps were on an incline and impassable. We finally found a place to stop and go potty, stretch our legs and get a bite to eat. After all was said and done, there was 13 inches of snow and we finally got home on Sunday morning at 1130am.
A few days after we got home, I received a call from Action News 5 and they wanted to do a story on my wacky weekend. Ironically, a year ago today is when that story was on Channel 5 news one of the top news stories for the day! It was even one of the teasers that they did during the evening to peak interest and get people to watch.
That weekend is one that I will remember fondly for the rest of my life. Some people may have looked at that entire experience as a negative and very annoying experience but I did not. I am a person who looks at a situation and realizes that you make it what it is. You can be stranded on the side of the road in over a foot of snow and be angry and mad and still be stranded. OR you can do like I did and get out and enjoy it. Take pictures in the snow, build a snowman, update facebook every few minutes, and crack jokes with the family about the irony of the situation.
Thank you God for the experiences in my life that allow me to appreciate the little things! These turn out to be the defining moments that make you who you are today! Enjoy your life and realize that if you can't change it, make it fun!!
We knew when we left that they were predicting snow for that evening and later in the day but we figured SURELY we would be home by that time! We could not have been more wrong.
When we got to Nashville, it was really really cold and raining heavily. I had my big heavy winter coat and a big umbrella AND a folding chair. The auditions were being held at The Wild horse Saloon downtown and when we got there, around 630-7am, the line was about 300 people long and wound about 5 blocks around the buildings. Let's just say standing in line like that had to show some kind of endurance for those of us out there and they really should pick more people that try out in person if for no other reason than that fact.
It was freezing cold, even with gloves, a scarf and a big coat, so my parents went and parked somewhere for a little while until closer to time for the doors to open. They brought me back some breakfast and a drink and finally by 8am the line started moving. In all fairness, the line moved relatively quickly at first. We moved about 2 blocks and then stopped. It was still a little misty but I could finally put my umbrella and chair up and just wear my hood. That made life a little easier anyway. It was really quite fun sitting around talking to the other people and just learning about them and making fast friends. Mom would come and go from the line and stand in line for me when I had to go potty and just wanted to thaw out a bit.
Finally, around 4:30pm, I got in the door. We were herded in like cattle through the front door, up some steps and made to stand single file between ropes that wound around like rivers on a map through the bar area and around the waiting area and finally ended at a door to the back of the house. Everyone was standing there wondering what to expect when we finally got back to the audition room. You had to have a 4x6 picture of yourself and an application completed in order to get into the holding room. I had been standing in line for 10 hours before I finally got back into the room for my interview. I assumed it would be one on one but it was a group of about 25 or 30 people shoved around a long conference style table. The lady that spoke to us first told us to be loud; be heard! They were looking for people with great personalities so let yours shine through. I didn't have a hard time with that but, by golly, some of those people were down right annoyingly obnoxious. The guy comes in and we have to state our name, age, where we live and where we work. After everyone is through, he asks us questions about things like, how you handle conflict.....basically just questions to get everyone talking so they can see how we interact with each other. You had to SHOUT over each other to be heard or you would be overshadowed. Good grief, some of those people were just shouting and interrupting until finally the instructor had to ask them to give someone else a turn. It was so crazy! And then it was over! 10 hours of standing in line for about 15 minutes of time with these people!
I left there with a feeling of accomplishment for having stood in line all that time and for actually doing something instead of just talking about it but I knew nothing would ever come of it. There were just too many people there.
While I was back in the interview room, it had started snowing. When I finally got out around 5:30pm, I was starving. I hadn't eaten anything since that morning so we stopped in the outskirts of Nashville and grabbed a bite to eat at Blue Coast Burrito. We finally got back on the road around 730 or so. As we drove, the snow got heavier and heavier and the roads got worse and worse. Just outside of Jackson, TN we stopped and got gas, went to the restroom and grabbed a little snack. The snow there was about 6-9 inches and my mom and I were in heaven! In case you didn't know, we LOVE snow!
It was around 915 or so and we were about 20 miles outside of Memphis.....maybe 45 minutes from home and the traffic was moving at a creepy crawly pace. There was ice and snow piled up on the road, as well as off the road. We had to keep slowing down and stopping and starting and finally we got to the point where we were only moving maybe 10 feet every 15-20 minutes. Finally we were at a stand still for about an hour and we didn't know what was going on. The snow was coming down harder and harder and the roads were getting even worse than they already were. The opposing traffic had stopped too so we figured they must have shut down the interstate. Mom, Dad and I got out of the car and talked to the drivers of other cars, including the big rig drivers who informed us that they had indeed shut the interstate down. There was no getting off the interstate either cause we were a LONG way from the next exit and that was an incline and it was closed as well. SO, my mom and I did what every normal person would do in a situation like this. We made the best of it and built a snowman! Yes, at 10 at night! We took pictures and then got back in the car and hunkered down for the night. Thankfully we had just gotten gas and gone to the bathroom so we were all set. We had a small bag of chips and a few candies to snack on. We didn't want to drink much because the thought of wading through that knee deep snow was not something that sounded even the least bit interesting!
I had the entire back of the Explorer to myself and I covered up with my coat and my parents and I talked until we finally fell asleep (well, I did anyway) at about 2am~ish. Because we had filled up, dad was able to turn the car on and off all night and get it nice and warm in the car when it got cold. It actually was not near as horrible as it sounds. Now if I had brought my kids with me, that would have been horrible but thankfully my inlaws volunteered to keep Trey too just before I left. What great inlaws I have!
So, I woke up the next morning at around 9am to my dad saying that the traffic was moving. I was a little stiff but all in all I had rested fairly well! It was slow going for most of the rest of the trip. The first few exits we came to were closed because the off ramps were on an incline and impassable. We finally found a place to stop and go potty, stretch our legs and get a bite to eat. After all was said and done, there was 13 inches of snow and we finally got home on Sunday morning at 1130am.
A few days after we got home, I received a call from Action News 5 and they wanted to do a story on my wacky weekend. Ironically, a year ago today is when that story was on Channel 5 news one of the top news stories for the day! It was even one of the teasers that they did during the evening to peak interest and get people to watch.
That weekend is one that I will remember fondly for the rest of my life. Some people may have looked at that entire experience as a negative and very annoying experience but I did not. I am a person who looks at a situation and realizes that you make it what it is. You can be stranded on the side of the road in over a foot of snow and be angry and mad and still be stranded. OR you can do like I did and get out and enjoy it. Take pictures in the snow, build a snowman, update facebook every few minutes, and crack jokes with the family about the irony of the situation.
Thank you God for the experiences in my life that allow me to appreciate the little things! These turn out to be the defining moments that make you who you are today! Enjoy your life and realize that if you can't change it, make it fun!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)