the worst blogger in the world

...that seems to be me... ;)

Well, I just wanted to post real fast... Today is the day... Baby Aiden will be making his debut a little after 4pm (CST) today.
Austin will be staying with my grandma tonight for sure, Mike hasn't decided wether or not he'll stay just one night at the hospital with us, or more...

I'm nervous... Terrified... and Excited... but mostly just hungry right now... The boys are eating lunch, but becuase of the section today I can't have any... :( I'll be heading to the hospital soon to be admitted (at 2pm) and then the section is scheduled for 4.

I'll update as soon as possible and I promise to get some pictures posted.

Not Me Monday!

Well, its that time again...
Its been a while since I’ve actually participated in MckMama’s fun little blog carnival...
But I’m sure you remember it...

You know... it’s the one chance we get to tell all about those things that we certainly would never ever in our wildest dreams do... especially not to then publicly blog about it... where anyone could read it...

I thought you might remember it...

So lets see ....

Last week, I most certainly did not ask my grandma to start watching my son for me... (Which she volunteered for... by the way) and then wonder to myself if I was making a big mistake...

I was not surprised at all to come home Tuesday afternoon to a perfectly clean house... and to find many of my things rearranged.... I was not slightly irritated going through re-rearranging the things how I wanted them... (which might have been the reason they were that way) and explaining to my husband that it was ok if he put the things on his dresser back where he wanted them... that he didn’t have to leave it where she put them...

I did not spend the rest of the evening Tuesday sitting on the couch wondering what I should do, since all of my normal duties had been taken care of during the day...

I did not come home Wednesday to basically the same thing that I came home to Tuesday (including the re-arranging...)
We did not enjoy possibly the best Crock-Pot Chicken I’ve ever made...

I did not spend the rest of the evening Wednesday thinking that maybe my grandma watching Austin was the BEST decision I had ever made in my life...

Thursday was Austin’s IEP at school...
I did not cringe when my grandma said she wanted to go along (she needed to know where Austin’s new school would be)...
I did not spend the morning trying to come up with reasons why she could ride to the school, but not come in the meeting...
I was not terrified of what her input would be...
(We all know that as far as what’s best for Austin... she and I don’t see eye to eye... she’s the type that thinks do it for him... its too hard for him to do...)
At the end of the meeting I was not pleasantly surprised that she kept her mouth closed when it came to her views on things... and actually didn't have anything negative to say about the whole visit...


This weekend I did not have to re-arrange Austin’s bedroom.... My grandma did not take it upon herself to move his furniture around ... which of course did not leave Austin to have a breakdown after she left about where things had been moved to...

Hmmm... I guess that’s about all of my Not Me’s from last week...
Be sure to check out MckMama’s page for her Not Me’s as well as everyone else!
And add your own! It really is great therapy!!!

PreSchool

Tomorrow is Austin's first day of Preschool!!!
I'm really excited, I won't lie, I am a bit nervous about it... but over all I'm really excited! I think he's really going to enjoy it!!

Today we went shopping and picked up the rest of his school supplies...
It took us three stores to find a backpack... but I wasn't really surprised considering that the big kids started school over a week ago... but we finally found one that he loves... and we were able to find everything else he needed... I've already got his bag packed and ready to go...

Yesterday I tried his uniforms on him and washed them all, so they are all ready to go as well.
I think I'm going to get him dressed before I leave in the morning so that I can get some pictures of him... but I'm not sure...

So wish him luck tomorrow at his first day of preschool... I'll be sure to post about how his day went

LSU Fan Day

Last weekend we went to LSU Fan day...

We had a great time!

We were able to meet a lot of the players and coaches... got autographs, took pictures, and just enjoyed an early taste of LSU football excitement.

Here's my favorite picture from the day... Its Ausitn andCiron Black...

Austin’s IEP

Ok, So I’ve gotten a couple of questions about it... and I’ll do my best to post the answers.

Our state offers Early Steps for children under three with Development Disabilities... Austin was of course included in this because of his SMA.

Once he turned three he was tested to see if he could receive services through the school system... We had to go do a huge evaluation. They tested everything you could imagine from Hearing and Vision, to Gross Motor skills and fine motor skills, Cognitive ability, Speech, everything.

In order to receive services through the school system he would have to qualify in three areas.

He of course qualified for PT to work on gross motor skills (though just barely... I found out at the meeting that he wasn’t nearly as far behind for his age as we thought). They also decided to qualify him for APE (adaptive physical education) which kind of goes hand in hand with the PT. He also was qualified for OT... his evaluator told me that although she didn’t see a need for it now, there was no way to know whether he would or would not need it in the future so she qualified him based on the possibility of him needing it. He was also marked down for some in class assistance (if he would have been in school).

So he qualified...

Since he turned 3 in the middle of the school year, he wasn’t able to get into the preschool classes that they offered, but he was eligible to receive the services (PT, OT, and APE).

In April they called to tell me that they were making the list of preschool students for the next school year and a spot would be held for him if we wanted it... After thinking about it, we jumped on the opportunity to get him in.

Yesterday I met with his teacher to go over his IEP for this school year.

I was amazed at how much they were willing to do for him at just a simple request.

Some of the major points of the IEP:
Some one will be waiting at the drop off area to help him to his class and will carry his backpack if he isn’t able to... (I’m not sure if he’ll be able to, especially considering how long of a walk it will be).
Some one will be available to help him get to the cafeteria and to carry his tray to his seat at lunch time.
He will receive at least 30 min a week of each PT, OT, and APE. (he has certain goals in each area)
We will provide the school with an umbrella stroller (for now since he doesn’t have a chair) for his “bad” days when he is having trouble walking the long distances to certain areas of the school.

Other than that its just saying that he has the right to be in a class room of his peers and there were other areas for accommodations that would be made for testing and such things... but preschool doesn’t really have any tests... so that didn’t apply to his situation. It also states that he will be included in all activities ranging from Assemblies to Field Trips, and that accommodations will be made so that he is able to participate in the activities as needed.

There are goals in there for every aspect of his day... including on how to make him more independent and even to help him with things such as personal hygiene. Most of the personal hygiene areas that they will work on will be potty training related (which he pretty much his... even over nights... YAY!)

Other than that its pretty much just preschool stuff...
He’ll be encouraged to go to the restroom with as little assistance as possible (but there will be assistance if its needed)
He’ll be encouraged to feed himself with a spoon/fork and drink from a cup with no lid with as little assistance as possible... (and will as little spillage as possible... but again... he’s only three so they expect the messes).
He will receive instruction in small group form...
He will be taught to use scissors on his own with little to no assistance (of course with lots of supervision).

He will be in an ECSE (Early Childhood Special Education) class at this point. Mainly because the school system doesn’t offer class for 3 yr olds, they are only included in the ECSE classes if they are eligible for other services. However, they do divide the ECSE classes by ability both physically and mentally, so all the children in his class will be close to the same ability level as he is.


I’m very excited about the opportunity and I really think Austin’s going to enjoy it. He will be re-evaluated at least once every 3 years (to make sure that his needs are being met and that he is receiving the services he needs). However if either myself or his teacher notices something and feels that he should be re-evaluated before that time, we can put in a written request for an early re-evaluation and then one would be preformed at that time.

I think that just about covers all of it. If you’ve got any questions about a specific point just ask... I tried my best to cover all the areas of it, but I’m sure that I missed some points...

Update

Well, I guess I'm a bit behind...
things have been insanely busy around here... seems like I don't get a chance to catch my breathe somedays....

Austin is doing fantastically well.
I registered him for preschool earlier this month and today I met with his new teacher and we went over his IEP for the new school year.
It honestly sounds like its going to be a fantastic move for Austin. I'm getting excited about it!

I'm doing really good... Getting bigger and bigger everyday... but I suppose that's good since that means the baby is getting bigger and bigger as well...

Mike's doing great! He is healing up from his surgery like you wouldn't believe.

I had a doctor's appointment last week and we had another ultrasound... baby is growing right on track.
And we got the news.
Its a boy!

So in less than 4 months Austin will have a baby brother...

I guess that sums the las t month up pretty well...

4th of july

no news here... just a few pics