[ajjhmf]

I think maybe it's time for another round of the good, bad and ugly. Let's see what we're all up to!

The Good: Normalcy... I'm knocking on wood as I type this, but our family seems to have entered that nirvanic state of normal. (For us at least, lol) The kids are enjoying school, M has started to progress a little in the way of speech which is making him SO much happier and I feel like my days are more about being mom rather than putting out fires. And I actually enjoy being with them most of the time too.

The Bad: Wait lists and paperwork. Now that we know M has delays, we're on waiting lists and dealing with county paperwork to get services. Annoying and a pain in the butt. Especially since I want him in therapy NOW as he's started making gains again and the wait list is 2-3 months long.

The Ugly: Our house. I feel as if a bomb exploded in here after everyone was so sick last week. I'm slowly climbing out from under the piles of toys, but the laundry is unreal.

[crick]

The Good - T's teacher is wonderful and we finally got one that agreed T needs to be tested for LD's. Hope to know by Christmas what the outcome of all the tests are and a direction to go into. Also wonderful is that we pulled T from the tutoring we had been doing since July and he's no longer frustrated daily and overwhelmed with "school".

The Bad - I can't get motivated to get my house organized. I have several projects going at once but am not completing them.

The Ugly - Faces of children and myself after trying a "warhead" sour candy. Man...seriously UGLY! LOL!

[kay]

The good - I'm finally done with my cold, it's to be a beautiful day today, it's payday, and it's Friday!

The bad - C is sick again! High fever, aches and pains. I'll call the doctor in 10 minutes to see if she wants to see him, or if I should just continue with Advil + liquids + time. Poor kid really thinks there's some sort of Magic Pill out there that will make him instantly feel better - keeps asking "what are we gonna do?" and I reply that what he's going to do is feel miserable for awhile. Poor kid.

The ugly - work. I need to be home with C. I can't be home with C because I'm taking "too much" time off. I have the time, I'm not going over, my work is getting done, they can't legally do this (I checked). BUT they are attorneys (and head honcho is a pretty darned nasty one), they pretty much do what they want. I like my job, and walking away is not an option - even if I didn't need to pay rent and eat, there's the health insurance issue!

[Lylac]

You musta read my mind, I had been thinking (yes I do that once in a while) that we needed an update thread. So here goes.

The Best: A will be home tomorrow

The Good: L is doing really good in school, she was the queen in music class...I have to remind her that NO! Momma is the queen and she is the princess.

B has once again made tremendous progress! He is walking around the sides of his bed or playpen. He is giving mouth kisses now, but all I can do is laugh at him. He comes at you with his tongue hanging out. SO Funny! He has learned to give ^5's with his left hand, as well as blowing kisses and waving bye bye with it...He's growing like a weed.

The Bad: waiting for B's new SS card, so that I can get his new name switched at his insurance & doctors.

The Ugly: I have to agree with Crick about the warheads..and cry babies uggggg

[Kansas Girl]

the wildly good: R has been doing scary good lately. All the right stuff. Could it be possible? He seems to be at that point where he progresses even without therapy. A "friend" of his in the neighborhood recently started smoking both tobacco and pot.....R told C that he couldn't/wouldn't hang with him anymore because of that! R's a pretty cool kid when he's got the "fun to be around" thing going!

the bad: We've been trying to get the house organized so I can eventually dejunk. I have some quilts I need to make but can't seem to get started.

Fran

[athikers]

The good: Teeter seems to be finally over his cold (in his case colds are a life-threatening and rather nerve-wracking affair)
The bad: They keep telling us Big Sis is leaving on such and such a date (most recently, yesterday) and yet, she's still here... we don't mind her being here, but for crying out loud, stop telling us she's leaving every two weeks.
The ugly: Our little Pixie is getting FOUR teeth and the baby who never fusses (with her first two teeth we didn't even know they were coming in) has been a wreck for four days now... one finally came through today, three to go.

[mrsred]

The good: I finally got E started with OT this week and his appt with pediatirc psychiatrist is less than two weeks ago.
The bad: E is uncopperative to say the least and yells at one family membre or another at least five times a day.
The ugly: The "honeymoon period" with C is definately over. Her non-stop chatter, her attempts at manipulation through tears, her oral fixation and her complete lack of boundaries make me crazy, but the behaviors that are indicative of either sexual abuse, or just exposure to sexual situations is what really concern me. I have been told she was not abused, but that her mom had sex with various men in her presence. Either way we are desperately trying to find a therapist to deal with this.

[aspenhall]

Originally Posted by kay

The bad - C is sick again! High fever, aches and pains. I'll call the doctor in 10 minutes to see if she wants to see him, or if I should just continue with Advil + liquids + time. Poor kid really thinks there's some sort of Magic Pill out there that will make him instantly feel better - keeps asking "what are we gonna do?" and I reply that what he's going to do is feel miserable for awhile. Poor kid.

give him 2 tylenol and 2 advil at the same time or every 2 hrs they work on different pain receptors and it can be more effective and SAFER pain relief than even lortabs/percoset.

[aspenhall]

The Good:
A's October "cycle" of poor behaviors and escalation halted. She got a "Respect Award" at school! for stopping and placing her hand on her heart when they raised the flag (she happened to be walking by) Guess who "helps" me with cub scout stuff? I guess the flag stuff we did really sunk in.
I'm getting over my cold. Since the october cycle ended we have seen a "normal" 6 yr old...friendly, helpful, affectionate, cuddly, vulnerable etc..

Bad:
The October cycle ended with a blow out of her saying "Fine then, just go get on the computer and find me a new family if you're that mad!"
I suppose that belongs in the good catagory as well, as we were able to discuss things at length.

The Ugly:
Me with a cold....my house when I have a cold....my voice since I had a cold...(I sound like a man)

[waited2long]

The Good... I'm alive?

The Bad... My father refuses to sign an affidavit stating he is favorable towards my adopting. He says he is worried that I am not healthy enough to raise a child. And now, I can't reach my brother to see if he's following his Daddy's lead.

I've spent over $20,000 in lawyers fees fighting my commercial landlord over his sudden demands for higher rent, a new parking lot, etc...

One of my neighbors complained to the city about my yard, so I have to spend the weekend whacking weeds that are only about 1/2 an inch over the 8 inch height limit!

The Ugly... My menses arrived right on time.

There's more, but, I don't want to put it here.

[SAHmom]

The Good With nine children trick-or-treating, we have more than enough candy especially to fill my daughter's pinata for her birthday party tomorrow. With the cost of candy nowadays, that's quite a saving! My babies are growing up so fast and daughter will be seven on Wednesday.

Also, I did something for MYSELF this week by having my hair done and will be having housekeeping services. I am *almost* getting better at accepting that having someone else clean my home doesn't mean that I am a lazy person, just a tired one.

The Bad My sister has lung cancer and is still not taking care of herself...it's like she has given up. My brother will be having heart surgery on the 7th.

Adding The Shocker Opening my newspaper to see son's face {the one just recently dismissed from the RTC} blastered on an ad for the RTC. I called and asked and was told that I signed papers stating that he could be photographed...um, no I was under the impression that it was for 'testimonials' and *if* he was at an event that the newspaper was covering, then it was okay to print. I NEVER expected him to be used to promote their RTC. UGH! I requested that they pull the ad and was told that they could *maybe* pull the last one but not the next one due out. I then informed them to send me the agreement I signed as I doubted it stated anything about canceling it and that our attorney will need a copy to proceed. I was then informed that it would be pulled...I plan on seeing if it is or not.

The Ugly ME! if I keep eating this candy!

[missw005]

The Good: J got a Super Citizen award at school, for going out of his way to include the new kids and playing with them on the playground instead of his usual friends. Q is mimicking (sp is wrong, it's really bugging me, but mimicing looks funky - ack!!!) J's obnoxious behaviors less, which is a big relief. Nellie (the cat) seems more resigned to stay in the house now that it's getting colder, which means a lot less of me calling and searching the block for her early in the morning before we leave for school or late at night when I'm trying to go to bed. Mine is that I'm finally feeling some personal peace - for the first time in a long time - about my life and specifically my mother and family. (thanks for that, by the way!!!) Your support was very needed and I am tremendously grateful.

The Bad: Q still does copy J's bad behaviors - sometimes within minutes of J doing the exact same thing and getting in trouble for that - and I just don't get what the thrill is for him to do it except irritate ME!!! J's new night meds - I finally switched him from Seroquel to Melatonin, which I think is healthier for him, but doesn't seem to work as well. In fact, both of the boys are waking up every morning between 5-6, even on the weekends, which is SOOOO not funny. I worry about daylight savings (is that tomorrow?), when our clocks go BACK an hour, and that means they'll be getting up between 4-5. Eeeeeeeeek!!!

The Ugly: Our propane bill. It's $2.09/gallon, so a tank this week cost me just under $600. No.......no idea how I'm going to pay for it, except a little bit at a time, and my heat share grant hasn't come yet. Scaaaaaaaaary. Also my thunder thighs, with all this *&^%$#@ Halloween candy, are growing exponentially! And I haven't been on my exercise bike once this week, I've just been too dang exhausted with this cold (which is winding down, thank God) to be able to manage the exercise bike in the mornings.

I am also a bit worried about the aftermath of cutting my mother out of our lives - frankly I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop - but I'm pretty sure (ok, not really) I can handle whatever retribution she sends my way.

Sandy

Oh!!! The Very Good: I'm in match committee three times (yes, I said 3!!!!) next week for kids - a sib group of 3 boys, boy/girl twin toddlers, and a 1-1/2 yr old girl. Keep your fingers crossed - I think maybe this will be it!!!!!!

[aspenhall]

try blackout curtains, it's the only thing that helps my dd stay asleep. She has always been a poor sleeper, and getting her on spray melatonin was a blessing....however, sunlight breaks down the melatonin in the body and she is just too sensitive still, so I keep her room at blackout during any period of sleep. This has helped to the point that she will stay asleep for 12 full hours (just what she needs). She only wakes at the 12 hr mark, or if I open her curtains.

[skirbo]

The Good - After the first tough weekend, all aftermath from separate visits with Bmom and brother has passed and she seems pretty happy. She got a B on her reading exam for the 9 weeks and in math she got the highest score of anyone in her teacher's 8th grade classes. Yay!

On a personal note, I've finally been inspired to write again-it's a serial killer thriller though, not a romance. I'm creeping myself out more than a bit with it.

The Bad - Me. I had started feeling horribly the week we heard about bmom and by the Thursday that we visited her, I had a cold. That Friday with the brother, I had no voice. I still have no voice, and the cold became bronchitis that has kept me out of work for two part days and two full days. I have to have surgery again in the next few months, either removing an ovary and doing a D&C (tmi?) before Christmas or sometime after the New Year when I have the leave built up I will have a hysterectomy.

The ugly. Work. Very, very ugly. Love my job, love almost everyone I work with except my attorney. My poisonous, backstabbing attorney. So, after a lot of soul searching I decided to try and get hired as a correctional officer. I've got an interview on 11/13, so keep your fingers crossed. She wanted to interview me Monday but when I was sick she wanted to give me plenty of time-my test scores are very high and I could do very well there. Still state of Florida, lots more potential for advancement and much better pay.

That's all I feel like typing, I'm still pretty sick.

Sarah

[TxMom65]

The Good Both kids got all A's on their 3 week progress reports. We had a family dinner at Olive Garden to celebrate the one year anniversary of our daughter's homecoming and all had a great time.

The Bad Eveyone has been sick this week, even the dog. The house is a disaster and not I feel as if I am coming down with it.

The Ugly The house. I can't even tell you how it looks.