My Honey B

I thought I would say hi and gab about what I've been up to since we returned from vacation since I've been so terrible at updating my blog with posts that don't contain pictures. ;)

All the kids are doing good. Danyelle has been taking dance lessons and has her first concert this Saturday. I'm excited to go and she what she has learned over the past few months. Tuesday afternoon she had an orthodontist appointment to see if she needs braces for an overbite. Turns out she will need them and will have to wear them for 2 years. She isn't happy about it and I feel bad that she will be self conscience about them especially since she will be entering high school. High school, can you believe it!? Where do the years go? I never dreamed I'd have two in high school and two in diapers! lol Anyways, we are waiting to hear how much our insurance will cover, if any, and then she will have x-rays and have them put on. On the way to her appointment after exiting the highway I was stopped at a yield sign and was rear ended by the guy behind me. Scared the shit out of me I tell you. Thankfully it didn't do any damage but it made us late for her appointment. He hit us so hard it knocked all the change out of the cup holder and pushed the console back about a foot. My neck felt fine after it happened but for a few days after it was very stiff and sore.


I got a call from Boston saying our insurance won't pay for B's Neurology visit (which we already knew). If I understood them correctly when we were seen for the first visit at the Neurologist there was still a chance that it would be covered but since they have since found out it will not be covered they aren't charging us for the visit but won't see her again unless we pay for the visit upfront which is $500-700. Really pisses me off actually, we did agree to pay for the visits but they said payments would be fine. So, I asked if Dr. Hawash could call me to discuss her EEG results and what a big surprise it was to hear they hadn't even gotten the report or the scan from Maine Neurology. I f'in hate that place, every single time we see them they don't do what is expected. I did hear from the Dr. yesterday and she said that she has a immature brain pattern which is expected considering her delay. I mentioned that the Dr. here called it Static Encephalopathy and she said it wasn't static, it was underlying. I understood that static was a good thing because it isn't progressing but now I don't know. I asked her if her brain would get wore and she said exactly what everyone has said, we won't know, we don't have answers, it all depends on Brooklyn's progress, blah, blah, blah. It is so discouraging not knowing what the future holds for us or for her.
Tomorrow we see her eye Dr. again for a follow up. I'm not sure if the amount of time her eyes deviate has gotten more frequent or not. It certainly happens often so I wonder if there is a chance he will want to correct it surgically. We are still working hard at therapy. Lisa told me on Friday that she found a crawl assistant which hopefully will allow us to maneuver her arms while it supports her trunk so she will learn what her arms need to do in order to crawl. She got the lift put in her shoe last week and we are trying to get her used to that. I broke down and cried yesterday after she fell over from a sitting position for the third time. Sometimes it is so hard to be positive when you watch her struggle just to sit up on her own.

Dev is definitely a 2 year old. lol Lately he's been taking off his diaper several times during the day so we've introduced the potty to him. To my surprise he's been peeing on it several times a day when I ask him if he want to go. I don't think we will be done with diapers for awhile but it is a start, right? Speech therapy is going ok I guess, no great progress to report. While we vacationed with my sister he did pick up to words from her little boy, no,no,no and bubbles. It is strange how he has learned from a child and can't seem to imitate adults when we try and teach him things. I suggested to his therapist that maybe we could try a group session with him or to include another child to see if he picks up new words from them. She agreed and is going to try and work it into her schedule. He is signing like crazy though and I only have to show him new signs once or twice before he knows them. It's pretty neat.

Cody will be 18 in a week. He's been talking a lot about what he needs to do to make some positive changes in his life. First he needs to work on getting his GED and now that he is 18 that needs to be his first priority. Second, he needs to work on getting his permit which we've sent in for so hopefully he will have a date soon. And third, he needs to find a better job and work full time and start saving some money for a car. He wants to go to a community college and can start that process once he gets his GED. I have told him that he is going to start paying rent if he's going to live here. I was undecided about charging him rent, if he was making an honest effort to get his GED, to save money and to better himself it wouldn't be an issue but after the crap he has pulled over the past few years I think he needs to learn some responsibility and I'm hoping it shows him that he does need an education if he wants nice things in life . I've thought about setting the money aside for him so he has savings for a car but I don't know. What would you do?

I've been spending time trying to get back into couponing which means finding the deals online and making numerous trips to the store. I am so happy, I contacted my newspaper carrier and he is going to save and drop off the extra coupon inserts for me! Yayyyyy! Yesterday I went to CVS and bought 2 Fab laundry detergents, paper clips and 2 dove shampoos and paid a penny! At Walgreens I bought 2 All laundry detergents, 2 packages of tinfoil and 8 pkgs. of Band Aids and spent $8.02 which should have been a dollar less but for some reason one of the $1.00 off Band Aid coupons wouldn't go through. I sent Dale to Wal-Mart on Friday with a pile of coupons that I printed off the internet and the total was $31.00 and he paid $4.00 after coupons!

I've also been trying to get motivated to begin WW again. Haven't I said that a million times? I haven't been writing down my points as I should but have been sort of keeping track of them in my head and as of this morning I had lost 2 pounds! I wish the kids didn't have so many therapy sessions so I could fit an exercise routine into my day and still be able to shop, clean, cook and spend time being a mom. There isn't enough time in the day.