Update

Well,  It's been awhile...

Things are going well here at the Halbmaier house. 

Jason is pretty much on his own now with his job...he has contracts with several new companies and has been able to leave his "boss" and find his own work.  The problem is that now his territory is even larger and spread out so that makes his hours longer.  However, he is doing a great job and it's nice that he is still flexible so can pick up the kids from school etc.  (Mom has been helping with this too, when Jason is too busy)

Tanya...Well, I'm still working,  I was the Interim Director for about 4 months, and now I'm back to being the manager.  I still do a lot of Director stuff though.  Work has been crazy busy lately...We have never been so busy so hiring new staff is a priority.  But, we almost have all our positions hired so hopefully will be good over the summer.  I still love my job and the people I work with are great!

Adreyn...cannot believe she is almost 14.  She is finishing up 7th grade and has done very well in school.  We just went to her spring choir concert...it was beautiful.  Adreyn is being a typical teenager...always something to do with her friends.  We are glad she has a good group of friends.

Tristan...has had a good school year...we weren't sure about his teacher but she has seemed to do ok with him.  He is making good progress and seems to be catching up a bit developmentally (he is still probably about a year behind).  He has figured out how to lie...good for developmental stage...not good for happy parents.  He has also figured out how to have an attitude...we have been adjusting it periodically :-)  He continues to do well in school.  He will be in 5th grade next year. 

Rehanyn...had had a great school year and her teacher praises her for always being a helper.  Rehanyn is in the lying stage as well and has had an extended period of punishment due to lying.  Hopefully, this will get the message across.  Otherwise, she is still a sweetheart and so loveable.

Molly (our dog) is getting older and slower...but she is still the most loving and sweet dog ever.

5 Question Friday

1. If you could have been (could be) any profession you wanted (brains and $$$ no problem) what would it be?  I'd want to stay in the same field I'm in now (NICU) but I'd like to be an NNP (neonatal nurse practitioner) or an MD (neonatologist).

2. How often do you clean out your car?  when someone other than us is going to be in the car...honestly it doesn't get really messy because I try to teach my kids to take their garbage out of the car with them.

3. Do you wish there was such a thing as fashion police or are you deeply relieved?  I think the FP are clearly needed...and I love "What Not to Wear"  I need someone to do that for me, I think...

4. What's your go to food/drink/activity when stressed?  Sleeping definitely
 
5. If you had twins, what would you name them?  ummm,  Kelci Mayn and Kensi Myne, ummm, Keiley and Keeley, Shannyn and Tannyn,  Braedyn and Graedyn, Yes, I've thought about it...and yes, I'm glad I'm not having any more kids :-)

long overdue update

So, I suppose I should update this crazy blog of mine.

Tristan...well, we had another ARD meeting before the developmental pediatrician appointment.  I requested an IEE (Independent Educational Evaluation)...this is essentially asking for someone that doesn't work for the school to do an evaluation to cover all the areas that the school evaluation covered.  Otherwise with the ARD we just updated his Speech therapy, Occupational therapy, and Special Ed plans.  We "suspended" the "diagnostic" part of the ARD.  So, I had to wait until the head of Special Ed for LISD approved the IEE.  Now I have about 4 appointments to make to get this IEE completed.  The Developmental Pediatrician appointment went ok...probably a couple weeks before the appointment the office sent a "checklist" out for me and Tristan's teacher to fill out.  So, we get to the doctors office...come to find out his office manager is his brother, his identical twin brother.  Tristan was so confused.  Anyway, we end up in his office...tiny, cluttered, and packed with transformer toys.  He talks to Tristan for a couple minutes, talkes to us for a couple minutes and says "well, I cheated and reviewed the checklists last night and Tristan is classic Asperger syndrome"  Well, I guess we expected more of an "assessment" but after he showed us the results of the checklists and he talked about a few more things and that is Tristan's diagnosis...it does fit him but it is a little frustrating, it's definitely NOT a diagnosis I wanted...but I'd prefer it over a diagnosis of "emotional disturbance".  So, Tristan has been diagnosed with Asperger's and ADHD--inattentive type.  Oh, and he thought that the school's diagnosis of "emotional disturbance" was completely ridiculous!  We still have to do the IEE (stupid school perogative) as they won't "accept"  the actual medical doctor's diagnosis...they will just "review" it.  We also have to request that the school do the AU (autism assessment) that they should have done in December so that we can get Tristan under the right "umbrella" for the right IEP (individualized education plan) and get that in place before the start of 4th grade.  It may actually put him under the 504 umbrella which will help him out as he goes higher in grades at school.

Rehanyn...she's still a stinker but she really is so much fun!  She is the most loving kid and is always giving hugs.  She is doing well at school...she's definitely not our kid who gets A's but she does her best and that's all we can ask.  She has lots of friends.  She's also really enjoyed getting to go to after school care and has more friends there too.

Adreyn is excelling in middle school.  She's got lots of friends and seems to be in that "good" group of girls...not the popular girls but not the weird girls either LOL.  She is growing up so quickly!  She is still so proud that she is taller than me.  Her braces have completely changed her smile and she is so proud of her smile now!

Jason...was busy for the last 3 months but work has slowed down this month...this is kind of a good thing (other than the making less money part) since he managed to somehow dislocate one of his ribs a while back and it is giving him alot of pain lately.  The chiropractor that he is going to thinks that it has been out of place for long enough that it was starting to calcify so it's gonna take several adjustments to get it to stay in place.  Luckily he was able to get some muscle relaxers and pain meds so he isn't constantly in pain.

Me...well, I've been staying busy.  I've been working dayshift for a year now (exactly a year on April 18th), and I actually seemed to adjust to dayshift pretty easily...I wasn't sure that I would after working nightshift for 17 years.  I still like my job, I've had my frustrations, but I do enjoy what I do. I think we may be finally getting stuff set up the way it should be.  Hopefully, this next year will be even better and my boss and I will get stuff set and more routine so we don't have to keep trying to "catch" stuff up!

We are looking forward to today.  Adreyn has a friend coming over and we are going to do our annual trip to Scarborough Faire.  It's a Renaissance Festival and it is so much fun!  The kids love going and Jason and I really enjoy getting to spend time together doing something fun.  I'll try to post pictures from our time there!

School

So, today I completely blew my cool at Tristan's ARD meeting.  We had a meeting in December where the school requested to do some psychological testing because Tristan cries in the classroom and they were concerned about anxiety and depression.  We agreed to do the testing.  Well, last week while I was in New Mexico helping my sister and brother-in-law, Jason attended the meeting where the psychologist INTERN reviewed her findings.  Apparently they just sat and talked and eventually stated that they feel that Tristan has "emotional disturbance disorder" and they want to put that in his records and create a new IEP for him based on that diagnosis.  Jason just listened to them, asked some questions, and (found this out today) told them that they needed to be careful with how they brought this up with me because it was not going to go over well.  Anyway, on Thursday of last week I got all the paperwork from the meeting with the psychologist.  Going over all of this info there were observations of Tristan doing things at school that we have NEVER seen him do at home.  (talking to inanimate objects, sticking food up his nose, arm flapping, seeing flashes, ears buzzing, etc, etc.)  Today was the ARD where we got to discuss Tristan's plan.  Well, they started the meeting and reviewed the confidentiality clause and then the principal says...The evaluation shows that Tristan has an emotional disturbance and we will add that to his plan and adjust his IEP accordingly, all in favor???  As everyone around me (other than Jason) said "Yes" I clearly stated "NO!"  so then the principal decided we should immediately go into parent concerns (ya think????)  Anyway, when I get mad I generally don't scream and shout...I just cry.  Well, today I cried, I got very loud, and (oops) I pounded on the table.  I just refuse to have my child be labelled with something I believe is incorrect.  After I had my tantrum say, I calmed down a little...until they started trying to tell me everything that they felt was wrong with Tristan.  Then I just cried through the rest of the meeting.  We requested that the ARD be tabled until we did further outside testing...they can only table it for 10 days...after those 10 days we either have to agree to the ARD or they will stop his current accomodations (because apparently this "diagnosis" bumps the PT/OT diagnosis that gave him his accomodations).  We told them that we have an appt with a developmental pediatrician that we want to have evaluate Tristan for a second opinion.  They said that they would REVIEW what the doctor said but that they wouldn't accept or reject it...essentially their diagnosis was more important than what an actual doctor has to say.  Eventually, we ended up just leaving the meeting without discussing any of the other routine recommendations for Tristan.  I'm sure they thought I was a b..witch.  I've got to try to move up the appt with the developmental pedi (since it is 12 school days from now).  I feel bad because today was Jason's birthday and I've kinda been cranky and b..witchy all day. Oh well, I'm glad he loves me :-)  He's a pretty good guy!

today

good day today...long one at work since I ended up taking most of last week off to help Tasha go pick up Phil from New Mexico after his skiing accident.  I enjoyed the time off but would have enjoyed it better without 24 hours of driving out of approximately 46 hours.  Still I enjoyed the time spent with my sister...it would only have been better if we were going on vacation :-)

Got most of my work stuff caught up...of course...once I catch up on one thing I end up with 3 other things to take it's place :-)

I'm done with funerals

Went to another funeral today...my friend's son passed away on Tuesday.  He was 3 months younger than Tristan.  With his history of cardiac issues this little guy had a massive heart attack that he couldn't survive.  I keep thinking about his mom and how hard this has to be. And at the funeral today I kept thinking about what I would be like if it was one of my kids...I don't think I'd be doing well.  I'm done with funerals this year. 2 funerals in 2 months for a 2 day old and a 8 year old is enough for the year.  Today, the daddy of the 2 day old was at the funeral for the 8 year old...it was nice to see him but so very hard too. 

So, done with funerals and done with dying...hopefully my next post will be more upbeat :-)  we can only hope right???

friends

I have a friend whose son is in ICU and has been there since Friday.  He has a history of Cardiac issues...he's currently on 11 different IV meds, is in a medically induced coma, on a ventilator, etc.  He and his mom are heavy on my heart lately.

Another friend's mother is in the hospital after possibly having another stroke or having an infection in her brain.  She's pretty sick too.

This year has been kind of yucky with "bad things happening to good people" it seems.  There has to be a reason for this but it's pretty hard to see right now.

It will get better...it HAS too.

Prayers are always needed and appreciated :-)

hmmmmm

Overall an ok week.  Stayed busy.  Got to have Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off...that was nice.  Today we got to got to church, go to lunch with friends, and then come home and take naps.  AND, now Tristan has been sick the rest of the day.  I woke up from my nap hearing Jason sending Tristan to the bathroom and then heard Tristan throwing up as he ran down the hall.  There was vomit all over the hallway wall.  Thankfully, (since I do the "sympathetic vomiting" thing) Jason let me stay in bed and he cleaned the wall, carpet, bathroom, etc.  He's pretty awesome.  Tristan is still sick however...I think he's got that stomach virus that's been going around.  Hopefully he's the only one who gets sick...it's not that likely though.  Grrrrr

Today

Today I spent about 10 hours at work and got lots of stuff accomplished.  I started with a long list and accomplished alot of it, then made another list and accomplished a lot of that, and then made another list and have that to do tomorrow and the rest of the week.  It's nice to feel like I accomplished something though!

Five Question Friday

1. Where do you hide the reeeally good snacks?  ummm...well, I usually hide them in the freezer...or at work.  Otherwise my 3 little velociraptors devour it in no time!

2. Do u keep your vehicle clean or am I the only one who has things falling out of their van?  My vehicle is actually the cleanest of our cars but Jason works out of his car so he has an excuse...I guess :-)  I still have things falling/rolling out of Surburban though...lately it's been a bottle of water....

3. Have you ever been to Vegas?  Nope...but I wanna go...not for the gambling but for the shows.

4. Warm room light blankets or cold room warm snuggly blanket?  Neither...I prefer a regular temp room with my heated mattress pad on about medium with extra blankets nearby if I need them :-)

5. What is the worst airplane/flying experience you've ever had?  One time when we were flying from Chicago to Minneapolis  we got on the plane to just sit there for an hour...then we had to get off the plane and switch to another plane...then the 2nd plane took off and we had engine trouble and had to divert to somewhere in Wisconsin and sit there while they fix the engine...the flight that usually took about 1 hour took 7-8 hours...we could have driven there faster!