Glad February is over!! Leap Day sucks!!

Man, February was a tough month for us. We were SUPER busy with theater productions, doctor's appointments, job interviews, school assessments, and church.

Lincoln is doing great in school, but for the past couple of months I've noticed that his speech progress has plateaued. After another informal evaluation by his speech therapist at school, we found that his receptive speech, which measures more academic questioning, is within normal limits. It's on the low side, but still within normal limits.

However, when it comes to his expressive speech, the why, where, how questions, he tests below normal levels, but higher than the required test score to qualify for the school program. It means that if he was formally tested now, he wouldn't qualify for the program he is in now. Thankfully, he will not need to be formally tested for another year.

Next, I was asked to participate in our church's Stake Relief Society play production. I would need to play a woman that has struggled with infertility for seven years. I think they type cast me...but they promised they didn't know about my personal struggles before asking me. At the same time, I was asked to audition for a role in our local community theater production, a musical comedy called "Funny, You Don't Look Like A Grandmother." Thankfully, that role was not a lead one, so the practice nights required were cut in half.

But that still meant that my weeks looked like this for the past month and a half:

Monday: Play practice

Tuesday: Play practice

Wednesday: Mutual at church

Thursday: RS Play practice

Friday-Sunday off

Poor Josh was mister-mom most of the week. And he was studying for a certification exam which is scheduled for tomorrow. While all this was happening, Josh got head-hunted by a search firm to apply for a position with the City of Round Rock as the Human Resources Director.

He had actually applied for the job before they called him. So, the search firm sent him a list of questions he had to answer and send back. Almost every question required a 1-3 page answer.

He finished the list, made it to a face to face interview, was put up in a hotel for two nights and made it to the TOP TWO! But we found out Wednesday they hired the other person. It was kind of devastating, only because he hadn't gotten his hopes up until he made it to the top two. When he didn't get it, we let ourselves realize how much we both WANTED him to get it.

Now that we've had a few days to think about it, we both know that there is a reason we are here. Maybe that reason is Lincoln staying in school. I mean, if we moved and he was formally tested elsewhere to qualify for his special services, he wouldn't make it. And he desperately needs the help. His teachers are amazing and I was sad to think we would have to leave if Josh got the job. So, we're okay where we are.

As part of his interview, the City held a meet and greet for the candidates and their spouses, so a friend watched Lincoln for us while I drove the 75 minutes to the hotel. Before I left for the reception, I was having a hard time with Lincoln not listening. He was repeating movie quotes over and over again. I tried to get him to tell me anything except a movie quote. He hugged me and said, "Mommy", and then out came another quote. I just broke down crying. I just couldn't understand why he fixates on movies but can't come up with his own sentences. Plus, he keeps waking up in the middle of the night, two or three times, and won't go back to sleep. Wednesday morning, he was up at 1:30 am, then 3:30 am. He stayed up until 7:00 PM!!!! I was exhausted!! I don't know how he wasn't!!!

I'm still struggling with it, but hopefully we can find a way to help him. We are trying to make an appointment with a Neurologist to have him assessed for Autism and possibly a sleep disorder. We probably can't get an appointment until May or June, which is seriously ridiculous. We'll see...