Well hello!

I was reading a friends blog, and remembered I have one too!  I've been WAY too busy to think about it though.  Shortly after we moved (love the place, just wish it was closer to the city)  I found out I had hypothyroidism.  It's been a rough road, I'm constantly tired, can't think half the time.  I forget EVERYTHING and am pretty unproductive cause I'm so tired.  I check my levels every 6-8 weeks and we keep upping my dose.  I just want to feel like myself again.

In other news, online schooling didn't work out as planned for Cole, especially with my health issues.  So we sent him back to regular school last week.  So far so good it seems!

Kaylan is up to THREE words!  Hi, kitty, and who :)  She's signing like a pro, just where she should be in speech.  I wish we knew more people who used ASL so she could get more practice with forming sentences and communicating with kids her age.  Oh well.  She knows all her letters, some numbers, most colors.  She is too cute. 

Until next time (hopefully a tad more often...)
Sarah

Yeesh

I started this blog to post once a week... OOPS... Well we are busy with getting ready to move next weekend can't wait!!!  Once we get settled in I should have more time :)  Here's a few updates....

I can't seem to stop eating too much and too much junk.  Hoping things will get better once we move...

Ben and I are now both on the Mazo EMS :)  So that will be great for Ben to have something to do now :)

The school finally set up an IEP for Cole, they took him out of Tech Ed and into a study skills class and he seems to like that.  I had something like that in High School and it truly saved me.  He also seems to be having a change of heart about his science teacher, or maybe now that he has an IEP his science teacher is not being such a jerk... who knows, either way he seems to have a better attitude towards the teacher.

Kaylan still isn't talking but is still learning more and more signs every day.  Last count she was at over 150!  She's stringing 2 and sometimes 3 words together and the Speech Therapist is very impressed and wants us to continue encouraging sentences with signs while we encourage more verbal responses as well.  She can sign lion, tiger and bear and now uh oh so I'm going to try to get her to string those together in a video :)  We'll see if she cooperates. 

Night

Sarah-Irene

Scarce

Hello!  It's been a while, and I know I said I would keep up on this, but we have been busy at work, and too many other internet things to do when I actually get a moment to get on after Kaylan goes to bed :)

We found a house to rent!  It's an old piece of work, but it has 3 bedrooms, 4 if you count the attic sized but midget doored room on the second floor.  There is a fireplace, an open kitchen, a YARD, and, maybe best of all, the CREEK is in the backyard!  But far enough away that Kaylan shouldn't get close without us right beside her. 

Cole is failing most of his classes.  Big surprise there :/  Really can't wait to try online schooling.  Cole has stated how he feels so demoralized by his teachers (his words) that why should he even bother.  He's excited about online schooling because everything will be right at home where he needs it and harder to get lost/not turned in.  But we have to wait until we move to do the online schooling because there simply isn't any room for the equipment/books/whatnot. 

Kaylan will be 2 in less than a week.  Still NO words.  But she is still learning and using more signs each week.  I haven't been quite keeping up with her progress, but she definitely is progressing.  The other day we were outside and the ball rolled in a puddle.  She signed ball, water, and dirty.  I almost missed it cause she did it slow.  But she did it, a definite spontaneous 3 word sentence!  Further proof that there is nothing "wrong" with her. 

So thats my little update for to tide you over for a bit....

Searching, decisions

I am in the midst of giving up on finding a decent place to live.  We hope to move May 1, our lease is up at the end of May.  But the pickings are slim for 3 bedroom <$900/month within 20 minutes of my work.  Originally we wanted a house or duplex.  Those are very few and very far between for renting.  So we broadened our search, including towns/cities we hadn't considered before and even apartments.  And today I added condos.  I would rather not buy, I don't think I can afford if something goes wrong.  But I think a condo townhouse might be somewhere compromising between a house and an apartment. 

I know we have a month and a half, but I'm getting anxious not knowing if we are going to find a place.  I'm hoping the renting market opens up as spring springs!  We NEED to get out of this place!!!

Sickness

I've been sick.  *Just* a common cold.  But man is it kicking my head.  And my lungs, but mostly my head.  The pressure oh!  My eyes burn.  The gunk in my lungs will move on breathing in, but not coughing out.  If I don't take some medicine, its near unbearable.  If I do, I feel medicated.  Not drowsy, I can handle that, but almost jittery.  But oh well, I must breathe and not feel like my eyes will explode. 

So anyway, no long post about anything in particular, just woe is me.  Time to take some NyQuil and hope to sleep better than last night.  Gotta love winter.....

Sarah-Irene

Try try again...

Yes my last post about weight loss was very.... negative.  I still believe every word.  But again, I won't give up, I can't give up, I MUST keep trying again.  I was doing Weight Watchers this last round, but don't think I'll continue tracking and whatnot.  I find I eat the same things every day.  All I need to do is cut out the junk I eat when PMSing (and it would help so much if I could just never PMS again!) and have portion control at supper time, and I WILL lose weight.  My problem isn't not knowing what to do, or eating healthier, cause I do, its just STAYING CONSISTENT with not adding junk to the food I eat (like chips and a candy bar after my peanut butter and honey on wheat sandwich thins lunch), and not eating 3 bowls of supper.  Exercising would help, but that will have to wait until we move.

So, now that I'm done PMSing, its time to try again.

Sarah-Irene

Signing with Kaylan

Kaylan is at almost 100 signs!!  So a friend asked me to make a video of her signing :)  here you go!  (I didn't sign any of the signs I asked her to sign, this is all Kaylan :)

I'll never lose weight

I just won't.  I can keep trying, and I WILL keep trying, but I'm pretty doubtful that it'll ever happen.  See, I can't be consistent for more than a week.  I get hungry, I get depressed I can't eat what I want or when I want or especially how much I want.   I eat good foods, I eat bad foods.  I eat too much food.  I stress eat, I happy eat, I bored eat, eat eat eat.  OK I'm starting to sound like Dr Suess's Feet Book....

Anyway.  For another 3 months, I can't exercise either.  See, Ben and I both sleep in the living room.  That's right, the living room.  Him on the mattress on the floor, me on the couch, cause the mattress hurts my back.  Why?  Cause I'm FAT!!  But will that keep me from eating too much?? NO.  But I digress....  So there's no room for me to exercise.  Its WAAAAY too cold to walk outside.  As soon as it hit below 50 in the mornings, my walks had to stop, I kept getting sick.  But if I didn't walk, I didn't get sick.. Hmmm didn't take too long to figure that out.

When we move May 1st (OH what a glorious day that will be!) I can start exercising again, cause we will have our own room and a new mattress and I'll have the living room to myself at 5am.  That will be better, even though I still won't likely be able to stop eating (really wish I could just quit it like I did smoking), it will help cause I'll be moving, my body will be more healthy just by moving.  I'll be able to move easier, breathe easier, sleep easier, think easier, just by exercising in the morning.  Oh Jillian, how I miss you....

But the weight still won't come off.  I just can't be consistent.  I can't convince myself to change, permanently.  But I will keep trying.  I can't just give up, that's not like me.

Sarah-Irene 

OOPS!

So this morning Cole asks if I can bring him to school early.  Sure, so long as you actually wash your hair and brush your teeth and be ready by 7.  (He tends to just take a water shower, and I'm not home when he gets out so I can't make him go back in there, and I find out  he didn't wash his hair when I get home from work)  Anyway, so we go on our way, and I see a cop sitting in a parking lot.  I was going a tad bit over.  I start to slow down, but then let the hill take me.  OOPS, there's those lights, right as we pull into the school driveway.  Sigh. 

Its cold, so I start my power windows going down.  The cold makes them go REAALLLY slow.  The cop makes a joke about it.  Really nice officer :)  So I was going about 8 or 9 over, thankfully not enough to get a ticket!  I did get a written warning though.  I jokingly blamed Cole, cause I don't usually take him to school. He didn't think that was very funny, but knew I was kidding.  Cole was properly belted in the front seat (matching the height, weight and age requirements), but I was not.  Amazingly, nothing was said about me not being buckled up. 

Looks like I got off really easy this time!  THIS TIME!!  Will keep better track of the speed limit and my speed from now on......  It's been 5 years since I got a speeding ticket.....  I'd like to never get one again!

Sarah-Irene

Boredom is time consuming

Almost a year ago, we finally joined the rest of the world using the internet at home, and I promptly joined Facebook.  I found it to be a great boredom buster.  I found friends I hadn't talked to in forever, got to look at tons of pictures, and see what everyone was up to over the years (and randomly throughout the day).  I kept getting these game invites though.  They were really annoying.  Whats the big deal about Farmville?  Ugh.  But... One day... I was BORED.  The house was clean, Kaylan was napping, Cole was off with friends.  Ben was on call or playing his xBox.  No one was talking on Babycenter (another boredom buster)

Soo... I tried Farmville.  Oh hey this is kinda fun.  It'll keep me busy when I'm bored.  Soon after, I was addicted.  NOT neglect your kids addicted, but maybe delay the dishes addicted.  One day, I realized how time consuming it was.  It wasn't just a boredom buster, it was a big time consumer.  My farm got big, it took a while to farm it.  You have to get the crops by a certain time, or they will wither.  Oh whats this, now there are things to build.  And animals to harvest.  And gifts from friends!  I need to help other farms so I can get more stuff.

And so on.  I had to cut back!  I try to only spend a few minutes a day on it now (ok maybe ten).  I have other things to consume my time.  You know, my kids.  My messy home.  So I decided to only be on the internet at home after the kids had gone to bed.  Originally, and supper was thrown in there, but since Kaylan won't sit in the highchair for me, I've stuck with bedtime.  And when I can on the weekends, but Kaylan usually says no.

But about 2 weeks ago... I got bored again... and came on Blogger...............................................

Sarah-Irene

PS: what are YOUR boredom busters?  (turned time consumers?)

New Signing Time!

A while ago, I asked my local email group if anyone had any Signing Time they were able to part with.  Someone sent me this link and when I got my taxes I ordered Series 2 volumes 1-7 for a whopping $37!  Awesome.  Yesterday, they came!  So Kaylan and I spent most of the morning watching them while Daddy slept in :)

We watched 4 of them this morning, learning how to meet and greet people, had a birthday party, learned signs for movements, the alphabet, and counting to 10!  

So I thought I would share the link so people with tighter budgets could still enjoy the benefits of Signing Time too!

New You 2011!

Weight Goal: 150 (eventually)

- Last week's weight:  232

- This week's weight: 229

- And tell us about what you are doing to reach your goals/how your week has been/ any setbacks, etc?!

Weight Watchers, portion control

What is the main reason that you are wanting to lose weight or get in shape? 

I've been obese for way too long! 

Mad Scientist Blocks

Ha!  Love what I found on thinkgeek.com!

Hee hee, we need these for Kaylan so she can follow in her mommies footsteps :)
Sarah-Irene

Bubbles!

Do you know anyone that doesn't like bubbles?  I mean, sure, sometimes they can be messy, or you might get dizzy from blowing so much, but bubbles are so much fun!  My mom used to use dish soap and water, sometimes it worked out well, sometimes not.  Miracle Bubbles for Cole.  Then they came out with Gazillion.  Fun, lots of bubbles!  But kinda pricey...

This weekend we bought Kaylan a bubble blower.  Within 5 minutes of showing her bubbles and the sign a week or so ago she had it down and was signing "bubbles please" and you really can't resist that.  So we got out the Dawn and water, and it worked fairly well.  Woo I was getting tired of blowing though!  So we got a bubble blower.  It came with Super Miracle Bubbles.  I was skeptical, but they worked really well!  TONS of bubbles!  $3 for a huge bottle!  Unfortunately, Kaylan was terrified of the sound, which was very vacuum-esque... But slowly Cole warmed her up to the sound.

By being his usual funny self, she can't help but not be scared :)  And she was able to have the wonder of bubbles without me hyperventilating....

And I think Cole was having more fun than her at times....  ;)

Sarah-Irene

*insert creative title for signing here*

I always wanted to learn sign language.  When I was little, I would imagine my hearing (already at 4 just slightly impaired) would completely disappear or (being sick all the time) I would lose my voice, and need to learn sign language.  I never really talked anyway, as I was a shy child.  At some point in time I learned the alphabet.  In high school or college, I got a book and learned a little, but never very much or for very long.

Kaylan has changed that :)  When my daughter turned 1 and still did not babble anything except Ahhh, I decided we would try signing.  I looked up some words on the internet, found some great sites for individual signs, and decided to start with "milk".  At 17 months, still no words, barely any babbling, we called Birth to 3, Wisconsin's early intervention program.  She qualified for help as she was at the speech and cognitive development age of 9 months.  We knew she was smart, just not talking, but since she wasn't talking the cognitive questions weren't answered.  So I got more aggressive with signing. 

The library is a wonderful thing.  I ordered a couple different signing DVD's geared towards children.  We watched them all, and I watched Kaylan to see how she reacted.  Many of them were boring.   Baby Signing Time was not.  There was music, singing, animation, Kaylan and I were hooked.  The songs were in my head, I was consistent in remembering to sign when I was home, Kaylan started signing more words.  Soon Ben jumped on board. 

Kaylan is now 21 months and has 60+ signs.  She hasn't had another evaluation but the workers say she is right where she should be for communication, even if it isn't spoken.  She loves signing.  I love signing.  We sign all the time.  The magnadoodle is her set of flash cards.  We draw a car, she signs car.  We ask her what she wants us to draw, she signs star.  Her favorite books are ones that she can sign with.  She doesn't always sign correctly, but just as with talking, there is room for mispronunciation.  And she's sooo cute about it.

Baby (don't mind the mess, she tears it up as soon as we pick it up :)

 Orange

 Socks

 Fish

 The end of balloon (you put fists to your lips then blow and expand)

 Please (rub hand on belly/chest in a circle) really can't say no to her when she signs please :)

We love signing.  I plan to continue even after Kaylan starts talking.  I tell everyone how much we love Signing Time, and how much it has helped our family.  Cole is learning too, though not as avidly interested in it as Kaylan and I.  But it would be nice if we had other families to sign with.  In the meantime, we'll just keep enjoying Signing Time and maybe in the spring when we are out and about we will be signing and someone will come up and sign to us.  Hopefully I'll know enough by then not to stumble and embarrass myself....

Sarah-Irene

Whew!

Well, I was going to post about Sign Language and how it has helped our family, but boy it was a long day!  I don't think I can make that coherent of a post tonight ;) 

We got our tax refund yesterday, and spent the day shopping!  Ben and I got new clothes (me more than him) and a new mattress, and a new TV!!  Our old one was ANCIENT.  Its 26 in, so a bit smaller than our old one, but thats OK :)  Cole got a new mattress and new socks.  Kaylan.... got a battery operated bubble blower!  But it scares her, cause it sounds like the vacuum....

Here's a picture of Cole and Kaylan at the mattress store.  Its kinda bad quality cause its from my phone...

But they were having a good time.  Well goodnight, I'm off to watch Big Bang Theory with Ben :)

Sarah-Irene

Introductions are in order...

Hello!  I decided to start a new blog, one that I will keep up on. 

    I have 2 children, 12yr old boy Cole and 21 month old girl Kaylan.  I live with my daughter's father who is a SAHD who loves his XBox 360 (and his daughter of course).  Having raised my son myself, it is quite amazing to see how well he takes care of her.

   My son has issues in school and we will be trying online schooling next year.  We are currently working on cleaning and organizing his room so we can pack and move this spring. He is bright and unique and has a fascinating perspective on the world.   

My daughter has a speech delay, (as in NO words yet) but nothing apparently "wrong" with her.  So we are using ASL to communicate.  I always wanted to learn ASL :)  I'm really hoping after she starts talking she'll keep signing!  For now, she loves it. 

I'm 100lbs over weight and continually struggle.  I've been overweight my whole life, or so I thought anyway.  Looking back, I wasn't all that bad.  Now though, I can no longer say "at least I'm not THAT fat".  And yet, I can only stay consistent for a few weeks. 

I work as a Scientist in a Pharmaceutical company in Wisconsin. I've been there 5 and a half years and it has its ups and downs but I can honestly say I don't believe I could ever find a better job/company to work for.

Well that's all for now.

Sarah-Irene