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!