Thankful Thursday

Today I was speaking to a woman and I realized that no matter how bad things get for me it could be worse. This woman survived cancer about a year ago, has three disabled children. One has cancer and other health problems, the other has aspergers, bipolar and some other things and the youngest has feeding issues and has a feeding tube. Her husband has bipolar, she does not have a job and they have a 2500 dollar house payment. She is the sweetest woman I have ever met. She has been through some very tough times in her life, starting when she was just a small child. She has so many things going on and she is working so hard to advocate for her children and keep them happy, healthy and safe. She is working her butt off to keep her marriage in order and to keep finances under control. Everytime I see this woman she always has a big smile on her face and just never seems to let it bring her down.

So after hearing her story I started to think. Today I am thankful for my beautiful family. I am thankful for my wonderful hubby and that he can always make me smile even when things are hard. I am thankful that he works hard everyday to take care of Aubrey and I. I am thankful for my beautiful little girl who definately challenges me alot of the time....but in the end brings so much joy to my life. I am thankful for the health of all of us and I am thankful that I have the strength to fight and to make things happen for us when we need it to happen. And most of all I am thankful for people like this woman today who make me realize that no matter how hard things get we cannot let that take away from our happiness. Even with all the problems we could have we still have all the love we could ever ask for. When I feel like I want to just give up an run away I will think of this woman who really has it rough and I will remember the smile that she always has. I will remember how her loving spirit always rubs off on me everytime I am around her. And I will remember that it makes things so much better and easier when you smile.

Friday 5.

It was suggested to me that I use some themes to try to make blogging a bit easier to keep up with. So I will start out today with a Friday 5. I picked 5 questions that are interesting to me from Friday5.org and I will answer them. I will try to do this every Friday and hopefully it will give people a chance to get to know me a little better.

1. You’ve always wished for it, and your wish has come true: There’s now a twenty-fifth hour in the day, but you have to spend it the same way every day on something you don’t have enough time for now, and it can’t be for sleep. How will you spend this extra hour every day?

I would spend it working on all the scrapbooks that I have started and cannot find enough time to finish.

2.As if that weren’t enough, an extra day has been added to the calendar, and you can insert it anywhere you want, except the day immediately before or after a holiday, and you have to spend it the same way every year. How will you spend this extra day each year, and when on the calendar will it appear?

I would put this extra day in August since it is always a busy month for me and I would stay in my pajamas all day. I would watch movies and pig out on Ice cream and other yummy treats that are bad for you. No kid, no husband, no responsibilities at all.

3.Someone is giving you an extra twenty dollars per week (or its equivalent, if your country uses a different monetary unit) to spend any way you want, but you have to spend it the same way every week, and it has to be on yourself (no charity or gift-giving, and no investing or saving!). How will you spend this extra twenty dollars per week?

I would use it to go to the casino. Even with twenty dollars I enjoy being able to go and blow it once in a while. LOL

4.Wow! When you woke up this morning, you noticed that someone snuck in and added a new room to your living space! The room is for your exclusive use, and it can serve only one FUN function (and it can’t be used as a bedroom or storage). What fun activity will be reserved for this new room?

I would use it as a scrapbooking room. It would be nice to have some space to spread everything out and not have to worry about putting everything away when I am done.

5. A magic backpack appears at your doorstep. It will hold any one thing you can normally carry by yourself, it will render that item weightless, and it will collapse to the size of a small pack of gum. What will you carry in it?

Aubrey...LOL Kidding. Probably my hairbrush. I never have room to take it with me and I always need it when I am out and about.

There is the Friday 5. More themes to come next week (hopefully if I can remember to get on here. LOL).

Going to the swimming pool!

She informed me that she was going to the swimming pool. HAHA. At least she is creative.

A kiss makes it all better.

My dad had surgery last week and came home from the hospital on Saturday. On the day he got home Aubrey really just needed his attention and was really a little overbearing. I explained to her that papa had surgery to make his back feel better and he really needs her to be careful with him so that he can continue to feel better. I said that we are going to have to help papa with things for a while also. She said "Yes. So he can feel better. We will help him. He just got home from the big house for doctors" We had explained to her that a hospital is a big house for people that need care from doctors.
This is the conversation that I overheard Aubrey and my dad having.
" Do you feel better Papa?"
Dad: "Yes, I do feel a little better right now thanks for asking"
Aubrey: "Because the doctor made you feel better at the house for doctors. I feel better too."
Later on.
Aubrey:"Do you feel better papa?"
Dad: "No honey I don't feel so good right now."
Aubrey: "Im not feeling so good either. I'm not going to the doctor though. You can go to the house for doctors and make me feel better. Here have a blanket! You will feel better!"
Ever since he came home she has been a good little nurse. She brings him treats and blankets and pillows and anything else that is going to make him feel better. Oh and lots of kisses, because a kiss makes everything better.

Your not a girl. Your mommy.

Lately Aubrey has been a little bit of a wild child. (and that is putting it lightly..lol) So I have been doing more activities with her that involve learning, coloring, arts and crafts etc....hoping that it calms her down a little. It does seem to be helping a little.
We were doing word flashcards this morning and they have a word with the picture of what the word is. She was actually able to tell me what was on each card and tell me something about each thing. I just thought I would share some of my favorites.

The moon: When asked where the moon is she stated that it is asleep right now.
The bear: The bear growls and wiggles his nose. LOL
The net: The net is used to catch pigs. LOL
The bunny: I dont know what to say! Oh yeah...the bunny jumps jumps jumps.
The fox: When asked what a fox does she stated that the fox swipes things. Swiper mom! (In case you do not know Dora swiper the fox swipes everything in the show)
And my all time favorite.
The Girl: Me: Are you are you a girl?
Aubrey: No. I'm Aubey
Me: Is Bitsy a Girl?
Aubrey: No she a kid.
Me: Well, Im a girl.
Aubrey: No you not a girl. You a mommy.
I am just amazed with all the things she knows and the imagination of this little girl. I love to hear her answers to things and all the little stories she tells us (even if they are completely rediculous...lol)

An update from the MichiWits.

While JD has Aubrey out of the house for some Aubrey and Daddy time I figured I would do a little update.
Things have been a little bit hectic around here. Everyone knows that we moved in the beginning of December. So we have been busy trying to get everything in order from that.
And then we had the holidays. We had a wonderful holiday season. We spent some much needed quality time with family. Including our extended family. Unfortunately we did not get to spend the holidays with any of our out of state family and we missed them all dearly. I also had the chance to become a little bit closer to some of my cousins that I have never really been close with.
So much has happened in the last few months since I updated last and I don't know if I can sum it all up in one post, but I will give it a try.
Aubrey is growing up so much I can hardly stand it. She is getting to be so independent. She keeps us all on our feet all the time. She definitely believes that she is the boss of the household.Aubrey does what Aubrey wants (so she thinks) She tells us to stop talking if she is trying to watch something or wants to talk herself ( it is the end of the world if she cannot talk 24/7 or if she does not get the last word in. HAHA) She will also argue with us about every little thing. Our most recent arguement was my favorite.

Aubrey: Tinkerbell is scared of monsters.
Me: Oh yeah? Did she tell you that?
Aubrey: Yup!
Me: Oh....And what kind of monsters is she scared of? And where do they hide? Aubrey: Tinkerbell is scared of monsters that are under my shirt!
Me: Oh honey there isnt any monsters under your shirt.
Aubrey: Yes there is.
Me: No there is not any monsters under your shirt Aubrey.
Aubrey: Yes there is. Mommy is scared of monsters. Aubey is not scared of monsters. Me: Well I am glad that you are not scared of monsters. I am not scared of monsters either. Monsters are our friends.
Aubrey: No momma you scared of monsters. I am not! I save you from monsters. They not friends.
Me: Well I believe that everyone is our friend.
Aubrey: No mommy. No friends.

There was more arguing on her part but I think we get the idea. And all of it was so matter of fact....I am right mommy and you are wrong. HAHA. The imagination of this child.

I have told everyone that Aubrey has been diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder. We have been doing therapy two times a week for a few months now. Aubrey started to show some progress but then started to regress. She is still doing well with certain things but it seems that her behavior has gotten worse in the last couple of months. And it does not seem like anything that we do for her therapy wise is working. We are having some issues with Aubrey's OT kind of giving up on her. Anyways, I have spoken to Aubrey's doctor and we are going to look further into Aubrey's condition with some more testing and evaluations.
The doctor ordered a chromosome panel so that we may see if there is any genetic issues. While I have a copy of the reports I cannot understand them and I have not been able to get in touch with her doctor to have her interpret them for me. So I will let everyone know what we find out from that. We are also going to be doing a neurospych evaluation, and autism screening, we will be seeing a developmental psychologist and I believe the doctor has been speaking to a neurologist. My hopes are that we are going to do all this and find that it is indeed just her sensory processing disorder and all we need is a better OT, but my fears are that there is more going on there. My instinct tells me that there is more going on. But only time and testing will tell. It is very nerve wrecking knowing that there is something wrong with your little girl but not knowing for sure what it is or how to help her.
JD is busy at work even though things have slowed down a little for him since the holidays have passed. He has been informed that there will be another route available for him if he wants it. One of the guys is retiring. What that means for him is being closer to home, smaller loads, and less driving all together. And he will have better driving conditions in the winter, since the roads are really bad all winter long on the route he is on now. So I think this is going to be better for all of us. He will be much happier with his job, and I will worry about him less. And little miss will get to see her daddy more.
Anyways, this post has gotten long enough. I have talked about most of the things that have been going on and will talk about the rest as we go along.
I will try to post more often in the future and then I will not have to talk about everything at once.
There is never a dull day in the life of the MichiWits.

Bigger every day.

Well, Aubrey is growing up so much everyday. She seems to be losing the baby look now and is turning into a little girl. She is a beautiful little girl but I wish they could stay babies forever. I miss the snuggles time that we used to have but also love the partial snuggles I get now. I now get a kiss and a hug and an I wuv you momma. And then sometimes several more kisses ok....So it is great. I love it.
She had her first haircut last week. We had to trim her bangs since they were falling in her eyes, and in the back of her head she had just one strand of hair that was long while the rest of it is short..So we chopped that off too. I did cringe the whole time we were doing it. I waited so long for her hair to fill in that I didnt want to cut it.
So we have been going to therapy twice a week for her sensory processing issues. She seems to be adjusting to it very well. She has a great time going there and just getting to play for a while. She is doing some things that never could get her to do....Like nail clipping without fighting and brushing her teeth. In the past when given some cheese crackers with the cheese in the middle would only lick the cheese off and would not eat the cracker. But the other day she ate the crackers too. So there is some improvement. We are still having alot of issues with temper tantrums but we are working on that too.
Aubrey's speech is getting to be more and more advanced. She repeats so many things that we say and sometimes gets JD and I in trouble with the other one....by repeating something that we should not have said in the first place. Most of the time we can understand what she is saying...even her full sentences...But once in a while she will just go on with this huge run on sentence that we cannot understand a word she is saying, and then when done she will look at us like she is expecting a response. JD and I will just look at each other and shake our heads and ask the other if they got that. LOL....The funny part about it is she knows exactly what she is saying and gets mad when we do not respond.
The holidays are coming very soon. I love this time of year and get very excited about Christmas. But this last year Jd has had so many extra days off and now with the holidays coming he will be working more. We are so used to having him home more often that it might take a while to adjust to it. But we will.
To end the post with a couple of pictures.