Yea! Labor Day Weekend!

Oh, my goodness! I don't think I have been so glad to see a long weekend! This has been such a stressful week. Let's see.

Stress #1- Last Sunday, I got a phone call at 4:15 am from my sister. "Can you take me to the hospital?" Me: "Yes, what's wrong?" My sister: "My chest is hurting." Me: PANIC! I run into the bathroom, brush my teeth and throw on some clothes and decide I can comb my hair with my fingers on the way! I get to her house and she tells me she can drive herself if I can stay with my two year old niece. Yeah, right! I pick up my niece, still asleep and get her in the car then get my sister in the car and off we go to the ER. On the way, I call my mom and step-dad and tell them to meet us at the hospital to get my niece. Long story short, she had pneumonia. She was in the hospital overnight and is feeling better but she is still moving slow.

Stress #2 is school. I love teaching and I have good students but let's just say the work never ends! I was behind all week grading my papers and new requirements are constantly being added by the state. It just seemed like I was behind all week.

Stress #3 is Michael. He is doing wonderful in school. We couldn't be more proud of him. I am thrilled BUT I am going through my old case of doubts and slight depression. I want him to have a great life and be happy. I want him to be able to have a job and live on his own and it scares me to think that may not happen. Yes, it is a spiral I go down. I was talking to another mom who has an autistic child and she was saying pretty much the same thing. I told her that I was sorry she was feeling that way but I was relieved that I wasn't alone in feeling scared for the future. I just keep reminding myself that God has a plan. That keeps me going!

So, on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, I have FINALLY been able to relax, much to my husband's relief. I have not been very pleasant to live with this week! I have lots to be thankful for and I know I am blessed. One thing I am grateful for at this particular moment is the wonderful smell of hamburgers cooking on the grill and my only job is to eat them! Yum!

I hope all of you have a great weekend!

Whew! What a crazy two weeks!

I think it has been too long since I posted but since school has started, I have been a little distracted. Here are some things that have been happening since the last post:

*Michael is still doing great in school. He has made 100 on two spelling tests and is working hard on his other subjects. My life is so much easier when he goes to school in a good mood!

*We are counting down to the walk. Team M&M has $1580.81. We are 7th in the state right now. Yea, team!

*I am enjoying the cooler weather. I want to start walking around the neighborhood again. It has been just too hot to walk in the afternoon.

*I am thinking about going to Gatlinburg this fall. Yes, we have not been in over ten years! I cannot imagine how the traffic is now because it was awful then! I need to start looking at cabins. Any suggestions appreciated!

*I have been feeling very grateful for family and friends lately. I think we take people for granted sometimes. I know I do.

Well, that was a random post! I will write something of a little more substance as soon as I get settled a little more into school. We have the fair and birthdays coming soon so I should have lots to write. Take care!

Team M&M Is Moving On Up!

Team M&M has $1,195.81 and more should be added any day now! Yea team! I am proud of our team. Right now, we have the 7th highest amount in the state of Tennessee! What I love about helping Autism Speaks is quite a bit of the money stays right here in Tennessee. I know that Vanderbilt just received a big grant. Another thing I like is the push for awareness.
As for the actual walk, the first one we attended was really hard for me. Right before the opening ceremony, I looked around and saw thousands of people and just started bawling. Why are all of these children affected? How wonderful that our children had thousands to come out and support them. I was just overwhelmed. The second year was much easier. The walks are nice because our children are "normal" on that day. Everybody understands when children start flapping their arms, making sounds or having a meltdown. We just look at each other and smile and it is so great that they get it! This will be our third walk and what a difference three years have made. Michael is doing so well in school. We are so proud. Yes, he is not where his "normal" or "typical" peers are but he is working toward it. There is hope and that is why we walk. We want every one of these parents to have hope for their children and we want our children to have a happy life.
The walk is September 11, 2010 in Nashville. I will keep you posted on Team M&M's progress.

Quick Update

I wanted to give a quick update on my last two posts. First, Michael had a great first day of school! He seems to love his teachers and is getting up, ready to start the day. (There was a time I had to drag him out the door to school so this is great!) My start has been good but hectic. There just doesn't seem to be enough time at school when I need it but that is routine for back-to-school time.

The second thing I wanted to update is the health scare I had. The vitamin E and cutting down on caffeine seems to be working. The place is already smaller. Yea! I will write a longer post later but I wanted to write something positive before the whining starts as the school year progresses!

More coming soon.

Time For School!

Tomorrow is the first day of school. Wow! We have had a good summer and I promised a friend to not start looking for a snow day for at least a few months! I wonder if students realize how nervous teachers are standing in front of a classroom of students? The first day is always a little scary because I don't know most of these kids and it makes it really hard when you have three Cody's and two Cindy's in a class AND you have to learn everyone's name. Now, multiply that by five. Yep, I have five classes with anywhere from 22 to 30 students. That's a lot of names to learn! They act offended when I can't tell them their name on the second day. Sorry! There are over 100 of you and 1 of me! I hope it is a good day tomorrow for me and my students.

As for Mr. Michael, he will be in the 5th grade. That just seems impossible! He has a new regular teacher, a new resource teacher and a new assistant. Whew! That's a lot of changes for my autistic child so I hope he has a great day tomorrow. At least he is not doing the "no school" whine that he has done in the past. He went along really well for registration and seemed to like everyone. I will let you know how I first day goes.

Slight Health Scare

I tend to avoid talking about my health. Who wants to hear it?! But I decided to share this with you. A month ago, my left arm brushed against my left breast and it hurt. I touched my breast and and felt a pretty big place, what I will call a mass. (When I say pretty big, I am saying the length of my finger and as wide as two fingers.) It didn't hurt much. I would say that sore is the word. I was lucky because I was already scheduled for my annual mammogram and ob/gyn visit at Murfreesboro Medical Clinic. I told the mammogram tech and she did the mammogram then I was called in for an ultrasound. I was told I would get the results "either today or later." I about screamed! I went upstairs to my wonderful ob/gyn and she called the radiologist and he said everything looked fine. She said, "Let me see what I think." She felt the place and confided that she had a similar place and was seeing a surgeon to get a second opinion. She wanted me to go. She told me she thought it was benign and probably a cyst but we'd just make sure. On Monday, I went to the surgeon and she did an ultrasound and felt the place. She said it was fibrocystic and that I should reduce my caffeine and start taking vitamin E. I will see her again in two months.
Why am I sharing my personal business? Because I wanted to share my disgust with myself that I have not been doing self-exams and we all should be doing that! I wanted to share what my ob/gyn and surgeon told me. Both women said that cancer usually doesn't hurt. Now, that is scary! By the time we feel something, it could be too late. Let's promise ourselves to start checking, to get annual mammograms and to know our bodies. I an thankful that all I need to do is drink less Diet Pepsi and take a pill. We all have known ladies who were not as fortunate. Thank you, Lord, for my good report!

Nice Weekend

This was such a nice, relaxing weekend. We went to Murfreesboro Saturday to try and find Michael some shorts. He is built so funny and it's hard to find clothes. Also, he is at the very end of the kid's sizes so I am having to get some adult clothes. (Now that I think about it, he is about as tall as me!) We went to Target and had success in the men's department for shorts and kids department for shirts. We next went to Sam's Club so I could get my huge pile of Kleenex's for school. (School kids can go through lots of Kleenex in a year!) After I got through looking at some clothes, my guys surprised me with a present. Thanks guys! Last, we went to The Outback where I tried my new favorite thing: Alice Springs Chicken Quesadilla. Oh, me! It is so good! It is a big deal that the three of us can go out to eat. For a long time, Michael just couldn't sit that long but he is more patient and he is content to watch his portable DVD player and wait for his food. I'll need to starve for a few days but it was worth it!
Sunday was nice, too. I love our church family and the song lyrics Sunday were so beautiful and that just puts me in a thankful mood.
I hope all of you had a nice weekend, too.