5QF - 10/28/11

1. Do you prefer cotton, silk, or flannel sheets?

I prefer cotton, the higher the thread count the better.  I like soft sheets... flannel is great, but since we started heating with wood flannel way too warm.

2. What time zone are you in?

Eastern

3. What is your favorite part of the holiday season?

The food and family time.

4. What is your favorite "wintry" drink? (It doesn't have to be an "alcoholic" drink!)

Peppermint Hot Chocolate

5. In your opinion, what is the worst job in the world?

Being cooped up in an office all day with no windows... doesn't matter what the job is, but if there are no windows it's awful!

This week has been interesting to say the least.

I'm working 3 days a week now and I have three more clients that I will be needing to add to my list in the next week, provided I can get in touch with two of them to schedule appointments.  The three new clients brings my grand total up to 12 clients.  1 of which is a twice a week client, which makes my face to face time 13 hours, and then I have to add some time for paperwork to those hours as well as supervision time too... that brings my total hours per week to somewhere between 15 and 18.  Not too bad considering that this paycheck I brought home in 26 hours (2 weeks) close to what I was bringing home per paycheck in two weeks for 40 hours a week.  The only problem I have with that is not having any way to cover benefits...  I am really enjoying the new job, but it's also frustrating because I don't get paid for no shows or cancellations and and I've had several of those this week.  Z is getting frustrated too because even though I only work 3 days a week, this week I could have worked 2 and taken care of all of my appointments.  Not to mention it's not paying as much as he would like.  I have to keep reminding him that my bosses are really happy with my work and it's just a step into getting in full time... which would have benefits, pay for doing the paperwork as well as mileage and expenses for certain things.

A is getting picked back up for physical therapy with the Intermediate School District here.  They are also sending her to the University of Michigan to be assessed for possible work with a pediatric orthopedist.  Thankfully her Physical Therapist with the ISD is AMAZING and she took care of requesting the referral from our pediatrician... because so far getting a referral from him has been like pulling teeth.  So much so that we are planning to switch the girls over to our family doctor in May when we can change their health insurance to the plan that our (mine and Z's) accepts.  I got a call today and the doctor was sending the referral information over to UofM this afternoon.  We have to complete an IFSP  (individualized family service plan) in a couple of weeks and then we will be starting physical therapy and play groups at the ISD.  A loves going to "school" so I'm looking forward to getting going again.  I'm just hoping that we can actually get the help we need outside of the ISD this time around.

M is going to be nine months old on Sunday.  I can't believe how quickly time has flown by.  She is crawling all over now and even taking some steps if we hold her hands.  It is absolutely AMAZING to me that she is doing so well and I have a hard time believing that she really was 6 1/2 weeks early.  She is on time or ahead of schedule with all of her milestones and that is for her actual age... in fact, they've stopped using preemie standards for her altogether.  I weighed her this past Sunday and she was 20 1/2 pounds!!  She's officially out of the infant carrier and in a big girl car seat.  It's really hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that my baby isn't really a baby anymore.  I packed up all of the 6-9 month clothes to hand down to a friend of the family and I've had to pull out the 12 month clothes for her to wear now!  Thankfully it looks like she's going to be wearing the sizes that A wore at the right seasons so we won't have to buy a ton of new clothes.  Not to mention the MOPS moms that are willing to hand down clothes too.

Here are recent pictures of the girls:

A - 2 1/4 years old (28 months)

M - 9 months on Sunday

And of course, the classic bathtub photo

That's all for now.  Thanks for stopping by.

{Becky}

3 in 30 Challenge - October Week 2 update

Here's the update for this week:

1. Lose 5 pounds - I found out last week that I have non-contagious mono.  While I was at the doctor's office, they obviously weighed me.  I was up a pound and a half.  Needless to say, that was discouraging.  I really wish our house was put back together enough for me to be exercising again.  Unfortunately, I don't see that happening anytime soon, so I'm not sure how I'm gonna accomplish this goal especially since it looks like I now have 6 1/2 pounds to lose in 2 weeks.  Gotta give myself a D for this one.
2. Organize my house and keep it organized and clean - Haven't been able to get started on this yet because Z is still working on the baseboards in the bedrooms, which means that I can't move things back in to our rooms.  Until that's done, I can't really get moving on this goal.  I'm not grading myself on this one since the fact that I can't do this one is not my fault at the moment.  I will be carrying this goal over until I can actually accomplish it completely.
3. Plan and schedule Christmas pictures for late October or early November - The date is scheduled, as well as the location, now I just have to figure out what everyone is wearing.  I'm giving myself an A for this one.


Overall, I'd say that I'm averaging a C.  Not great, but at least passing.


Interested in participating in the 3 in 30 Challenge?  Click the button below to check it out.


That's all for now.  Thanks for stopping by.
{Becky}

Thankful Thursdays: The I Might Have Mono Edition

It's Thursday morning, and I forgot to get this post up last night.  Ok, let me be a little more honest.  I didn't just forget, I'm so exhausted, I'm forgetting other things that are more important, like calling my pediatrician about A's feet...  She needs another evaluation, because she's starting to fall behind again.

I've been so incredibly tired for a couple of weeks.  And when I say tired, I mean abnormally tired and it doesn't matter how much sleep I get, it's not any better.  I seem to be better when I'm not at home, and even do better at home on days when I have at least a couple of hours out of the house, but it's not good in general.  That's why I made an appointment with my doctor on Tuesday morning.

He did a "physical exam" poked around a little and sure enough, based on my symptoms and the places that were tender on my body, made a preliminary diagnosis of Acute Mono.  Let me be clear... this disease gets a bad reputation because it's typically spread by kissing, but you can get it simply by having someone who has it cough or sneeze near you without covering their mouths or even from a shopping cart handle at the grocery store.  I have absolutely NO idea where I picked it up, but the doctor said it is running rampant through our county right now and given the stuff that I'm trying to do these days, be a mom, a wife, volunteer at church, and also have a part time job, he's not surprised that I was susceptible to it.

Despite being sick, there are always things to be thankful for, so here's my list:

• I have a job, it's part time, but it's going well and I'm enjoying it and right now I'm really only working 3 days a week.
• M is a crawling machine these days.
• A is getting closer to being ready to be potty trained.
• Z is slowly but surely making progress on getting our house put back together.
• Z has an opportunity to work with some former co-workers on an opportunity that looks like it will be huge!
• My new niece is home and doing very well after getting the fluid on the lungs taken care of.

I'm sure there is more, there always is, but this is my list for this week.  What are you thankful for this week?  Grab a button and link up!  See what others are thankful for!

<center><a href="http://becky-shaulis.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt267/Rsshaulis/June%202011/th_022-2-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a></center>

<center><a href="http://becky-shaulis.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt267/Rsshaulis/June%202011/th_023-2-1-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a></center>

That's all for now.  Thanks for stopping by.

{Becky}

Wordless Weekend Post: The Peaceful Repose Edition

3 in 30 Challenge - October Week 1

Here's this week's update:


1. Lose 5 pounds - I haven't weighed myself yet, but I have been watching my portion sizes and staying away from soda, which I'm sure is helping.  Now, I just need to stop drinking caffeine completely.
2. Organize my house and keep it organized and clean - Haven't been able to get started on this yet because Z is still working on the baseboards in the bedrooms, which means that I can't move things back in to our rooms.  Until that's done, I can't really get moving on this goal.
3. Plan and schedule Christmas pictures for late October or early November - I haven't started on this one other than trying to think about what everyone will wear and a couple of places where we could do them.


That's all for now.  Thanks for stopping by.


{Becky}

October... and 8 months of M

I'm having a hard time believing that it's October already.  That means that my baby, M, is eight months old.

I started a Bible in 90 Days challenge back in July, that ends today... I'm not going to finish in 90 days, but I'm hoping to be able to finish by the end of October... I'm shooting for 100 maybe 110 days...  I'm just excited that I made it as far as I did in the 90 days.  I'm going to try it again in six months or so and hope for a better outcome.

M is eight months old now!!!!  She is sitting up on her own, once she's put in the sitting position.  She can move from sitting to her tummy without face-planting.  She's crawling now.  She has two teeth and two more coming through.  She weighs 19 pounds and is wearing 9-12 month clothes!  She's eating solid food now - 1 jar of meat, 1 jar of veggies and 1 jar of fruit for lunch and the same for dinner.  She's even drinking from a straw cup - courtesy of her big sister.  She's sleeping 10-12 hours every night and it would be more if we had the curtains in the girls' room hung.  I've heard her say Mommy - granted it's only when she's angry and crying because I'm not moving fast enough, but hey, it's something, and she FINALLY started liking taking baths with her big sister.  She loves her big sister and it's more than obvious that some of the reason she's doing so early is because she's determined to keep up with A.  Thankfully for the most part A loves her too!  The only thing we're running into right now is that A is going through a very possessive stage right now and she does NOT want M to use anything that is hers... whether she's too big/old for it or not.... it's humorous, but it's going to get old really quickly too!

This is the most recent picture I have of M right now... I just started a new job and have slacked a bit on the picture taking...

That's all for now.  Thanks for stopping by.

{Becky}