Recap of our Day

It's the little things that make my day. 

This morning, Gus and I headed to Wal-Mart for groceries. I usually shop at Kroger because it's so much closer, but sometimes there are things that we need and we can't get them at Kroger. I always pack snacks and a drink for Gus, and I try to go before lunch and nap-time. Sometimes I'm not so good, and it's a royal disaster, but today we left the house at 10am.

While we were shopping, I gave Gus my cell phone so he could play with some games. Among his favorites are the train videos and then anything with Elmo. He has one that's called "Elmo Calls" and he laughs and laughs, and then there's "Elmo's Monster Maker." He likes this one because you create different monsters and can put them in a variety of settings. One of the cool options for this app is taking a picture of your monster. Gus recently discovered this feature.

Every night I take all the pictures off my phone and put them on my computer. It's a habit that started a long time ago, and it helps to make sure I never lose my phone pictures. Tonight when I took my pictures off, I was surprised with quite a few different monster pictures. They made me smile because Gus made them. It's like a sweet little surprise each time I see one because it's not expected at all. Here are some of the pics that he created and saved:

After Wal-Mart we stopped at Chick-Fil-A for Cow Appreciation Day and grabbed lunch. Gus was rubbing his eyes around 12:45 and so around 1pm, I asked him if he was ready for a nap and he ran to the stairs. We went up and he pretty much went right to bed.

While he was sleeping I got a call from The Adoption Authority (a small agency here in GA). I talked to one of their adoption coordinators and she was able to answer all my questions that I had for her. I REALLY like this agency. They're a Christian agency, but don't require you to do an info session, a weekend retreat, no adoption classes, and no statement of faith or religious references. There are no hoops to jump through and everything is pretty cut and dry. I really like their no-nonsense approach. 

The person that I talked to is named Melissa and she was so sweet. I told her that we're not quite ready to start the process yet, but when we are, I'll let her know. She was very understanding and just really easy to talk to on the phone. I liked everything she told me, and I really hope we can work with them in the future. We need to get some finances secured and start making some strides in our savings first. It'll be nice to have our heads above water and not feel like we're drowning.

For everyone who said some prayers for us to get our house sold-- THANK YOU. It means more than I can even express.

So I talked to Melissa around 4:00 and told her that Gus went down for a nap at 1:00 and he could be waking at any moment, and when he did, I'd have to go. Well... we talked for about 40 minutes and Gus was still sleeping. 

I thought he was awake around 5:00 and had been talking to Michelle... so I went up to check on him and this is what I saw:

He was sound asleep. Guess what time it was when he FINALLY woke up??? 6:00!!! He took a FIVE HOUR NAP!

We think he's going through another growth spurt-- he's been eating everything in sight too. Then he went to bed tonight at 8:45 and crashed!!

I'm hoping to be able to get to Home Depot tomorrow and get some paint so I can paint Gus's sensory table that my dad built for him. It's SO AWESOME! I can't wait for Gus to start using it!!

I'm done blogging... so I'm going to end here. I wanted to include some pictures of Gus and Hobo from this morning... they're so cute.

What A Day

 

Our Morning Captured in a Picture

We had Gus's two year appointment today. I was quite eager to talk to the pediatrician (Dr. Bear) about his speech and language development, and just to get more info on how he's doing. 

We waited in the lobby for maybe five minutes and this is what Gus looked like while we waited. FUN. And we had not even gone back yet. 

Now, you'd think that his reaction is from associating getting shots (pain) and the doctor, but he hasn't had a vaccine since his appointment in November, and he was just in last month to see Dr. Bear. So I don't know what caused the crying, but he was not a happy boy as we waited to go in.

Once inside, he cried as I undressed him. He cried while the nurse tried to weigh him. In fact, she tried to get me to hold him and weigh myself and then weigh myself without him. I passed on that... no thanks!!

In the end, he was able to get on the scale and he weighed in at 29 pounds. This puts him at the 63rd percentile. His height is now 36 inches (THREE FEET TALL!!!!) and that's the 87th percentile. Lastly, his sweet little head is 18.9 inches, which is the 32nd percentile.

Here are some pictures while we waited for Dr. Bear to come into the room.

Today we discussed Gus's eating, she said he's exactly where she wants him to be with his weight. Not too big and not too small and she said to keep up the great work on that. That's a HUGE relief actually.

Then we talked about his behavior and she said that the "terrible twos" are caused by their brains working quicker than their mouths and their not able to speak their thoughts, so it causes a lot of emotion and stress and frustration. She said the baby sign is helpful and obviously it helps Gus get his needs met.

I told her I was worried about his language development, so she recommended we get his speech and hearing evaluated to be on the safe side. She said she's 99% sure he's okay, but it's better to find out and be 100% sure than to risk not catching something sooner. He has fallen a few times (could it be balance or just being a toddler??) and hates a lot of loud noises (he can obviously hear... but is there something else causing this??). 

I called the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and made appointments for a hearing evaluation (it's an hour long) for June 7th and then he'll go for a speech evaluation on June 20th. The speech eval is two hours long!!

Then we talked about vaccines. I'm so glad that we did, because now the info that I have and the info that they have is aligned. We're moving to a catch-up schedule with Gus and I'm totally fine with that. He'll go back in November for an appointment with the nurse to get his Flu shot and another round of catch-up vaccines. Then when he goes in for his three year appointment, he'll be caught up. :-)

Today they drew blood from his finger (every year they do a Hemoglobin check) and then he had the Pediarix (a combo of DTaP/IPV(Polio)/HepB) and then the Hib (meningitis).

I just got a new train app the other day and I'm SO GLAD I have it. It's just video clips of trains but Gus was sucked into it. He watched while the nurse pricked his finger and drew blood and while he didn't like the blood draw (who does???) he wasn't screaming as I expected.

She was fully expecting him to fight her on the vaccines, but he was watching the train videos and was fine. He cried a little (maybe ten seconds at the most) and then was okay. It was incredible. He cried and cried when he was being weighed and they got his head size and height... but nothing for the real pain.

So we left the doctor's office and headed to Costco so I could get some cat food, tp, ground beef, and snacks. We left and went across the street to Wal-Mart and I picked up a few things as well and we headed home.

While I was at Wal-Mart, Dr. Bear had called and left me a VM. Gus's blood work was back and she wanted to talk to me about the findings and wants him to come back in three weeks to check it again. She said I could call her and talk to her, or just call for an appointment. Hmmmm.

I called her as soon as I was home and waited on hold for about ten minutes. They said she'd have to call back because she was with a patient. Fortunately, her nurse (that did the vaccines) called me and said that Gus's white blood cell count was low. They don't know what's the cause. It could be anemia, could be Leukemia, could be nothing. The protocol is to go in again and have it done and if there's STILL an issue, we go see a blood doctor for more work.

I'm trying to stay positive, but it's still pretty scary. I just pray that he's okay and healthy. I literally do not know what I'd do if there was something seriously wrong with him.  :-(

After we got home and I unpacked the groceries and Costco goodies, Gus took his nap and I talked to my mom on Facetime. We talked for a while and then I hung up and started to attempt to clean the house a bit. It's a disaster.

Gus got up from his nap and we called my mom back so she could see him. We're excited to see her in two days!! WHOO HOOO!!! It's been nine months since I last saw Scott, Christie and the kids and it's been four months since I last saw my mom and dad! It's a long-overdue trip!!

It was like 5:30 and I wasn't sure what I was making for dinner yet. I decided to call Christie and get her enchalada recipe, but I got her voice mail. I decided that by the time she called back and I got started with dinner, I could have been at Taco Thursday and home already. :-) So Gus and I headed out for a date night.

We had a great dinner together. We played trains, cars, and drew together. He seemed to really enjoy himself. He ate well and it was a very enjoyable experience!

 

Nosey Walker

 

Choo Choo!!

 

My date

We headed home and shared a strawberry milkshake. :-)  It started to really rain so we went to the front door and watched the rain. It was a perfect ending to a stressful day.

We are more than ready for daddy to get home tomorrow afternoon. It's just not the same when he's gone, and hopefully he won't be traveling away from us for a long time.

A Year of Gratitude #95

 

A Year of Gratitude #95: Feeling Better

It's been exactly a week since I started to feel awful, and I am happy to say that I am finally feeling better! I still have a cough, but it's not as frequent, and not as scary sounding.

Today was a bit stressful for me. Our cleaning crew couldn't come at 8:30 this morning, so instead, they came at 10:30. This set the whole day off for me. I HAD to go grocery shopping today and with Gus napping at 2:00 it leaves very little time for plans to go wrong.

The cleaners didn't leave until 12:30 and I wasn't able to get to Wal-Mart until almost 1:00. We got there and Gus was STARVING. I hate the Wal-Mart here... I can't ever find anything and I end up running back and forth all over the stupid store trying to find things that I forgot, or thought they were one place and they were in another.

Not the best use of the precious hour that I had. I ended up grabbing Gus a Lunchable and he and I shared it while I shopped. He also ate an ENTIRE bag of yogurt melts... talk about a hungry child!! I DID bring him his snack cup with Cheese Its, but they were consumed before we even get inside the store.  We also share his water (I twisted the top off the sippy and drank some of his water).

Anyway-- I frantically got through Wal-Mart, but it was 2:30 and Gus was exhausted and still needed to get home, unpack the car, and get him prepped for his nap. He went down around 3:00.

Thankfully, he slept until a little after 5:00... (which wasn't enough sleep for him, but I'm thankful that he didn't sleep the afternoon away and screw up his bedtime schedule).

The remainder of the afternoon was good and Gus went to bed at his usual time, and was rubbing his eyes and was actually sleepy. All good signs. I'm hoping he sleeps well tonight and doesn't wake until 8:00 tomorrow morning!!

A Year of Gratitude #39

 

A Year of Gratitude #39: Grocery Shopping

I can remember a time, approximately nine-to-ten years ago, when I lived check to check. I had just gone through my divorce, I was living on my own for the first time EVER in my life, and I was swimming in debt.

I made some foolish decisions when it came to money and how I spent it. I was teaching, making decent money, but was over my head with a car that I couldn't afford, insurance for said car that I couldn't afford, an apartment that I couldn't afford, and multiple credit cards that kept being used because I didn't have money for the "things" that I wanted.

I've been that girl at the grocery story who stands in line forever only to have my card denied. It's embarrassing. I've needed to get groceries but didn't have money for anything, so I shopped with my Mobil card at the gas station convenience store for things that I needed (milk, pop, bread, snacks).

I can even vividly remember going to Olive Garden with friends and only eating the free bread that came with everyone's paid dinner... and having bread and water for dinner while they all had a feast. I never let my lack of money stop me from going out and having fun.

I should have had a better plan when it came to my finances. I had student loans to pay, and instead of starting to pay (I had no money to start paying), I deferred them and decided to go BACK to school for another Master's. Probably not the smartest thing, but it worked and in the end, I had two Master's and was at the top of the pay scale at work.

My ex-husband (just before he filed for divorce) decided that we should consolidate our credit cards into one card. We each had several cards and we took a few of mine and a few of his and put them together into a Citi Bank card. I still had other cards...

This new card, he thought, should be in my name. Let me "build up my credit" since his was crap. So we did and my new card was MAXED immediately with about $20,000 and was in my name. The accounts that were moved into the new card (his), were closed and suddenly, he had very little debt to his name and I had ALL OF IT.

Then he decided that he wanted to start a family (YAY-- me too) and get a new house. It was like all the problems in our marriage were going to be solved by a baby and a new house. Except... they weren't. 

A blink later, I was driving home from grad school and he called to tell me that he filed for divorce. I almost got into an accident and immediately pulled my car off the freeway. I couldn't believe it. I drove to my parents' house and went in... told them... they were in shock, I was in shock, and I took of my wedding ring/engagement ring and gave them to my mom. I cried like I had never cried in my life.

The downward spiral of debt started when I moved out (we separated) on my own and it only got worse.

So what does this have to do with anything??? Well... today I took Gus to Wal-Mart for some groceries. I walked through the store and found things I needed and didn't really need (like the chocolate mini-cupcakes) and I checked out and drove home. I put my groceries away and I have cabinets that are full of food... and a refrigerator that's full of food.

At no time when I was shopping, did I even think my credit card would be declined. Now, I know that we're living tight right now and I DO need to do a better job of watching my spending (Yes Steve, I AM aware and going to do a better job of watching what I buy), but we're not at the point of not being able to afford groceries.

It sucks to be in a position in your life where you can't afford the most basic things. My problem was not just the debt, but not knowing how to manage it, get out from under it, and not being able to make responsible decisions for myself. I was stupid. But I also got manipulated by my ex when it came to him dumping all his debt on me. He dumped the car (that I was paying $600 a month for... and that's just the car), I had to pay for an apartment and utilities ($750 a month), and car insurance ($100 a month). I was bringing home about $1,600 a month... and if you added in the debt I had... I was upside down.

Going shopping today made me thankful that we can afford groceries and that I don't have to worry about how I'm going to feed myself, Steve, and more importantly, Gus. 

My husband works hard to provide for us. He is EXCELLENT with money and finances. I'm thankful that he's in charge of our money and that we're able to go grocery shopping and I don't have to worry about my credit card being declined.