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...

Lincoln's T & A...it's not what you think.

Lincoln had his tonsils and adenoids removed today at the Texan Surgery Center by Dr. Steven Fyfe. We had to be there very early this morning at 6:30 am, but that meant we had to leave our house at 5:15 am in order to get there on time. So leaving at 5:15 am meant waking up at 4:45 am. Josh and I are exhausted.

We did all of the above and got to the surgery center on time. They brought us back, got him dressed for the O.R. and took his vitals, weight (39 lbs) and talked to us about the post-op things we should do for him, how would feel and what he could eat afterward. Not long after the Anesthesiologist and Doctor came to talk with us and come get him. While we were waiting, we found a play room with one of those little tyke red cars. He was driving around the room when it was time to go, so they let him drive the car into the O.R. He took Leonard, his leopard, with him and gave me kisses bye.

About 30 minutes later, he was done. The Dr. said he was great and that both his tonsils and adenoids were extremely large. He cleared out his sinuses and told us he should sleep MUCH better now. The nurses came back in to get us when he was waking up from surgery. I climbed in bed with him and he just snuggled and fell back asleep. As I was laying with him, Josh and I noticed how quiet his breathing was compared to his breathing before the surgery. We were amazed.

It took him quite awhile to wake up fully. He was in and out the whole time and we tried to get him up to drink some juice or cough. Finally after a full 2 hrs he woke up enough for the nurse to discharge him.
He's home now and has been sleeping most of the day. We're going to try for bed a little later than usual, since he sleep until about 2:00 pm. We'll see how tonight goes. Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully a new life for this kiddo. Breathe a little easier tonight baby!

Then and Now Photo Shoot

The year Lincoln was born, we were living in Waxahachie, TX. In Spring 2008, I took Lincoln out to the playground to take pictures for Father's Day to surprise Josh. Ironically enough, Josh found the photos and framed them for me for Mother's Day the month before.

Not long ago, I found a shirt that was made of the same material as the shirt Lincoln wore in that 2008 photo shoot. So yesterday he wanted to wear his green shirt, so I thought it was a great opportunity to do another photo shoot. Our little boy is no longer little. He's growing up so fast. It's fun to watch him grow. Love you Linc!

Here is kiddo in April 2008...

Here is November 2011...

Enchanted Rock Trip

Every now and then we like to get together with our friends from the old San Marcos University Branch. This time around we met up with Adam and Rachael Bond and their family and Dan and Tannie Smith and their boys. We thought about going camping, but the burn ban is still in effect at every State Park. Camp fires are prohibited.


So our next thought was of Enchanted Rock. I hadn't been there in years and thought it might be a good place for the kiddos to climb rocks and play. We all met at Enchanted Rock and after a quick update on everyone and bathroom break, we began to climb.


Enchanted Rock is much bigger than I remember. Lincoln did a great job on the way up. He walked up with all the other big kids and stopped to climb on every rock he could. There is a cave system at the top of the rock, but it would have taken an hour to get through it because there were so many people there that day. We stopped and had a snack at the very top, which was a little difficult because of the wind. It was a beautiful day though.


The climb down, was a little different than on the way up. Linc started to have a melt down about half way down, and Josh and I took turns carrying him down on our backs. He would try to run, and soon found that running downhill can cause you to fall....which of course happened. I bet everyone that Lincoln would be the first to bleed and I won the bet. He scraped his hand and knee, and got in trouble for not listening to us telling him NOT to run! Bad trip down for kiddo.


We got to the car and determined our next destination for some well known hamburgers. It took about an hour to get to the restaraunt, outside of Fredericksburg, so that gave Linc time to nap in the car.

Head Staples

Lincoln fell down about two weeks ago and cracked the back of his head open. It was bleeding quite a bit but slowed when I put him in the shower, but he still needed stitches or something to close the wound. We took him to a Minor Emergency Clinic in Marble Falls to see the Doctor, since it was a Saturday.

They looked at him and said he needed one staple to keep it shut. So I hugged him hard and wrapped him in a sheet then we laid down on the table. It took all of 10 seconds for the Doctor to clean and staple his head. No problem.

We were on our way to check out and were told it would be almost $400!!! FOR ONE STAPLE!! Our country's medical system is SO messed up. Then we were told that we would have to pay to have it removed too. After talking with one of the nurses, I convinced her to take it out at no charge. When she did so, she told me it was difficult to remove because it was in there crooked! Ah, the frustrations of the medical system!!

My First Bout with Strep Throat

Early last week, I had a really sore throat and couldn't sleep because it hurt so much. It burned to swallow or even breathe. So, after a quick doctor's visit, I tested positive for Strep. I spent the next two days in bed, on antibiotics, sipping soup that Josh so lovingly ordered for me. He took a couple days off work to take care of me and keep Lincoln away from me. I didn't want to get either of them sick.

I'm feeling much better now, but still have a few days worth of antibiotics to take. Hopefully no one else catches this.