Blog time!

Gonna try to make this as short as possible. These past few days have been hell on earth. Two kids with PDD-NOS and a stomach virus is about as bad as it has ever been! Kids puking until they are left with no energy to even move and then begging for you to make them feel better while they have their heads bent over a trash can will make even the strongest person have tears in their eyes. My husband and I didn't puke, but we felt like we were gonna be sick. It was the weirdest virus we ever had. I am still not feeling the best. But today has been about nothing but cleaning...ok, and a quick blog. There is so much to do after a stomach virus. Toys to sanitize, bedding to clean, pillows to clean, surfaces to sanitize. I should by stock in Lysol. LOL. 

I think the hardest part of this experience, other than seeing my kids sick and in pain, was realizing that they didn't understand why this was happening. My son was more understanding, but my daughter, she just didn't get that mommy and daddy couldn't make the sickness go away. We could just be there and talk her through it and love on her. She didn't understand that she couldn't chug juice or she would most certainly puke again. She wanted more and it was heart wrenching when she said please and started to cry, but we couldn't give it to her. Tugs on the heart string, that does. 

Anyways, the dryer just went off. Got more laundry to fold.

Breaking News...And It's Not GOOD!!!

So we have an important issue on our hands. Right now "The definition is now being reassessed by an expert panel appointed by the American Psychiatric Association," Please read the article I have provided. I want to start a movement against this. Wow, I am so mad I am having a hard time putting my words together. I mean, think about it. They want to drop the number of cases of ASD. NOT FIX THE PROBLEM! 1 in 100 children are being diagnosed. Narrow the definition and those children's problems don't go away, they just get swept under the rug. HELP ME STOP THIS! Will your children qualify for special education and specialists when they narrow the definition? Mine might not. Which means they will go into regular classrooms all the time. Be kicked out of school for misbehavior, picked on by "normal" kids. We need to keep these idiots from taking away our children's future. The key to a normal life is early intervention. What if 50% of cases never got early intervention? Come on, we all have to band together and do something. Our children's futures are at stake! Read the article, contact me through twitter @Tiger215. I am gonna sit down and figure out a preliminary game plan on who to contact and all that and will post stuff here. 


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/20/health/research/new-autism-definition-would-exclude-many-study-suggests.html

sleep deprived, yet happy

I went to visit my parents this weekend. My kids are doing the same on sleep. My daughter got up at 4am one morning and was up for the day. I am fortunate that I have a father that sleeps only 5 hours a night, so he got up with her. My daughter tends to do this though. Last night she slept pretty much all night, except for when she got in bed with me. I think she sometimes sleep walks. Anyways, I ended up in her bed. I wish I could bottle my kids energy and sell it. I would be a billionaire! Oh, well. Guess we will just have to live like other citizens, lol. If I was a billionaire I would still be middle class because I would give it all away. I really would.


So, my husband and I are gonna take a trip for our anniversary. We are going to stay a couple of nights at a wonderful little resort nestled into the West Virginia mountains. We are so excited. The place is beautiful. I have driven past the place many times since childhood even. My father went to medical school near the resort and I am familiar with its surroundings. It has gorgeous rooms, a spa, a golf course (although I don't golf), a formal dining room (yea! I get to dress up), and a casino (honing my poker skills as we speak!) The best thing: my parents can keep our kids and we will be a short drive away if we need to come back. We have never had a chance to go on a honeymoon or anything of the sort, so this will be nice. We did get to take a trip to New York once, but that was right before he left for deployment before we were even married. So this should be nice. The place is near a wonderful little colonial town with small yet wonderful little shops and antique stores. I visit there a couple times a year, but my husband has never been, and I think he will fall in love with the area. I could live there and be as happy as a lark! 


Let's see, what else...Oh, don't miss One for the Money. It comes out in theaters on January 27th. It is gonna be a hoot. 


Also, for all you people out there taking "natural" diet pills and other "natural" diet products. Be wary of what you are taking. Come to find out there are banned prescription drugs in some of them that are coming from overseas. The biggest country of production is, of course, China. Go to Dr. Oz's website and check it out. The ingredient labels are usually completely false and some have banned diet drugs in them that cause brain cancer, heart valve damage, and so on. Even high powered antibiotics were found in some. So, please check these things out before you buy those foreign miracle weight loss supplements.


Let's see. Oh, my sorority sister was voted off of The Biggest Loser. I was upset, but I have faith in her that she will win the home title. GO LAUREN LEE! WE ARE ALL BEHIND YOU! SIGMA LOVE TO YOU! 


Oh, a new game I am addicted to: Scramble with Friends. It is pretty much amazing. Plus, it is free (as long as you don't mind the little ads that come up on screen.) Be warned: It is addicting. 


Well, I have cleaning to do. God Bless everyone and hope y'all have a great day!

Marines Urinating on taliban bodies

Ok, so I am gonna rant. This might be short, but I have to get this out there. WHO CARES if those marines peed on those bodies. I mean, really people. These terrorists are evil people who have decapitated and killed our soldiers. SO WHAT if they peed on some that got caught. They were dead. Treat their bodies with respect? Really? Do you think they would do the same for us? No. My husband just censored what I was going to say. Something about sheep. Anyways. My message to the marines and soldiers: don't take cameras along. That was just moronic. Just do what you do and don't take pictures or home movies for later reminiscing. I can't believe that we are going to discipline those marines. Just slap them on the wrist and let it go people. All's fair in love and WAR!!!!!!!

Memory failed me a few days ago, but here's my rant on people.

So, the other day at Walmart, I had an incident that really rattled my cages. Luckily I kept my cool. I was shopping for cat litter and walmart had moved it. So I parked my gigantic bus of a cart in the middle of the aisle near the fish. You know the carts I am talking about, they have a double seat attached to a regular cart and the thing corners like a bus. Anyways, I had parked it so the kids could see the fish but not touch anything and I walked five feet backwards to grab some cat litter. So this woman, while I am grabbing the cat litter, pushes my cart out of the way so she could get by. My daughter then spilled her chicken nuggets on the ground. I was ticked. I mean, who does that? I would NEVER shove someone's cart out of the way if there were kids in it. I almost feel like she assaulted my children. Not to mention she didn't pay for the chicken nuggets that she made my daughter spill. THEN, to make matters worse, my daughter was apologizing for dropping the nuggets, worried it was HER fault. Another lady was standing near to us and she just stood there gaping at the woman. I wanted to grab that woman by her nasty hair and slam her face into the ground (yeah, I have anger issues sometimes). The only thing I said to her (I am proud of myself) was "If you would have asked I would have moved the cart out of your way.." Ok, so it was said in a mean tone, but I could have done worse. I am just glad my husband wasn't there. He would have popped a gasket. Anyways, what are your takes on this? Send me some comments! What would you have done? Would this have made y'all mad? Am I overreacting? 

New Ideas

We have implemented a new positive reinforcement tactic to our discipline problems. We have started the "Good Jar". When our kids do something good, i.e. potty, put their dishes in the sink, clean up a mess they made, etc, we put a shiny "gem" in their jar. If they do something bad, i.e. beating up your sister, scratching your brother, not sharing, etc., then we take a gem out. When they fill up their jar they get a prize. We haven't figured out the prize yet, but I am sure it will be something like a toy. We are using the little jelly jars and those little gems that you decorate vases and floral arrangements with. Some people use them in fish tanks and wedding decorations. The kids picked out their own gem colors, we put their names on the jars with the handy little labeler I have for my organizing, and told them the rules. With our kids, we had to demonstrate very specifically, but they got the concept pretty well, I think. So far, it is working very well on our son. Our daughter doesn't seem to care as much. We are also doing a rewards chart with stars for certain important things. For example, we were having a problem with the kids staying in their own beds, so if they stay in their beds all night, then they get a star. 5 stars gets them ice cream. This works wonders for our son. Our daughter: not so much. She is only slightly interested in the stars, but definitely wants the ice cream. (Who wouldn't?!) 


Thanks to my friend Kayla for the jar idea :) 


In other news: our 7 year wedding anniversary is coming up in a couple of weeks. Yippee! We are still in the going strong category of the nuptials population. I can't wait until we go to our next duty station, though. Hopefully the stress from recruiting will take the stress off of our marriage. No, that's not right. The stress isn't necessarily on our marriage. We are totally committed and retarded (excuse the pun) for each other. It's our friendship that recruiting seems to take its toll on. But thank God we know that it is recruiting that is chipping away at our chipper demeanors. That and the stress of having two special children. 


Speaking of marriage and recruiting. We have a couple new recruiters that are married. I need to see if I can get together with their wives and let them know the deal. It will make everything a little easier on them I think. I am convinced that if you have the right mindset going into recruiting you can weather the hellacious storm that most of the time ensues. 


Not everyone has problems with recruiting. Some soldiers end up loving it and sticking with it until the end of their career. My husband, though, is in the infantry. He told me that he fantasizes about holding his M4 again. He isn't meant to do a desk job. He is a frontline kind of guy and loves it. Recruiting is just not for him. So, my husband dislikes his current job, although he does a darn good job at it (top recruiter for the company right now), and he brings home that stress. Not to mention these little high school brats call or text all hours of the day and night. Sometimes I fantasize about throwing his work phone into the toilet, or river, or dishwasher...you get my point. Anyways, that's enough on that.


Comic relief: if you don't know who Janet Evanovich is, you need to get acquainted. She is an awesome writer of romance, crime drama, etc. She is my comic relief in a world of chaos. This month, the screen version of her first Stephanie Plum book One for the Money is coming out in theater. Please read, or in my case listen, to her books. She has a new book out titled Love in a Nutshell. Great read. Plus, if you listen to her audio books, she has the best reader for most of them: Lorelei King. She is great! You will just love Janet's characters, especially Lula, lol. Oh, and Ranger *sigh*. He will make you want to go out and buy Bvlgari Green Shower Gel. Mmmm. Anyways, if you don't laugh while reading her books, then you aren't human and don't have a sense of humor. 

Weekend difficulties and revelations

After a weekend with friends, a stressful day of a non-compliant daughter, and, yes, even I cry sometimes, some tears, I have decided to finally take some action on the subject of our twins with PDD. This weekend I realized that we need help, and serious help at that. This weekend I almost hit my breaking point. I realized that my husband and I have differences of opinion as to the abilities of our children, and that we have differing opinions on how to discipline. I understand that my husband has a day job that is demanding, frustration, and mentally and physically draining, and that he expects me to be able to pick up slack and keep our ship afloat, but now it is time for a reality check. It's time for self preservation mode, and that means it's time to take action and get some education and professional help with our kids' disabilities, or I am gonna go bonkers! Our son is doing well with the way we are dealing with him, but our daughter isn't. She is defiant, and our friend, who is in education, pointed out that maybe she is ODD as well as PDD. I think I might agree. She is definitely defiant. and she is defiant on purpose. So we are gonna take action and see what we can do. If anyone has any suggestions, please comment. Share with me your stories, your ideas, your disciplinary measures, what works, what doesn't, etc. If you don't know anything to tell us but a friend has a similar situation, have them comment. We need community on this. It takes a village to raise a child, and with ours it might take a whole state! Right now I am thinking about going to our local college, who has a master's program in special ed, and asking if I can sit in on one of the special ed classes pertaining to behavior. I am also researching online about the subject of PDD and behavior. If anyone has an idea, let me know. 

OTHER THAN THAT: Our weekend with our friends was great. It was so nice to see our friends. We met this couple at Fort Hood, Texas and we had not seen them in over a year and a half. It was a great change of pace! They are the same as we remembered them...except with a new addition, their 15 month old baby, EJ. *sigh* We have missed them. Their son is a hoot and totally cute. I hope we get to visit with them again sooner rather than later! It was good to have the fellowship along with the outside perspective on our kids! Anyways, that's it in a nutshell for today!

Sleep, what's sleep

It took our daughter FOREVER to fall asleep last night, and then she woke up at least 3 times after that. There has got to be something out there that can help. I am losing sleep nightly and I have a house and kids to take care of, so mommy doesn't get to nap often. It doesn't help that my husband is an insomniac and if he does finally get to sleep, he wakes if a mouse farts. So, our daughter playing at 2am really grates on his nerves.

Not to mention: I AM THE ONE that sits with her most of the time. If she gets up, 80% of the time I am up with her. Trust me, everyone is happier if my husband gets some sleep. Especially me. He's too stressed out to ever be happy. Trust me, avoid recruiting orders if you can! It will kill a marriage if you let it. We are just looking forward and counting down until we leave. Less than a year and a half to go! Thank the Great Lord God.

Anyways, let me see. Oh, we are so excited! Our best friends from our last duty station (Fort Hood, Texas) is visiting this weekend! We haven't seen them since May of 2010. We really miss them! And they have a baby now! Well, he's one year old, but still, we haven't met the cute little booger yet! Talk about a much needed visit! She might just be as spastic as me when it comes to being an army wife. We can both get a little mouthy. :)

Well, that's all for now. I will think of something else to share later!

What it's really like to be an army wife

So, I hear that there are stereotypes about being an army wife...and I want to say something about this. I am an army wife. I am an educated woman from middle class upbringing and we don't get more money for more kids. (Yes, I have heard that one.) Let me tell you what we are: strong (ok, well most of us), plumbers, electricians, nurses, secretaries, teachers, babysitters, house cleaners, mothers, and sisters; many of these are not by trade, but by necessity. We learn to do so many things while our men are out in the field, at schools, on deployments, or doing some other training. We are the underlying support system of the army (ok, and there are some men in this category, but we don't hear too much about y'all.) Too many people think that we are nothing but blithering idiots that stay pregnant and sit on our butts and do absolutely nothing. Our job is sometimes the hardest. We don't wield guns or fight on the front lines of war, but we have to deal with bills, crying children who miss daddy and wonder why he has to be gone for so long, and generally just try and keep the ship afloat while our men are away. We have to project the outward appearance of having everything together and being cool, calm, and collected. What many don't realize is that we cry ourselves to sleep when the children are finally asleep. We hold a shirt, a teddy bear, a picture, a piece of jewelry, or dog tags close to our hearts because our soldier gave them to us, or it smells like him. Anything to remember our soldier when all we have are memories, letters, or pictures. Believe it or not, sometimes we have hard times picturing our soldier's face because we haven't seen them in 6 months, 9 months, a year. Sometimes we go to the hospital and give birth to babies that won't meet his/her father for many months to come. So tell me: how do some of you people out there who have never been in our shoes get off talking trash about army wives? I'm just sayin' that you should walk a mile in our shoes before you make assumptions. You know what they say about assuming things. 

Anyways, that's my rant for this evening. I am gonna do my best to stay off the topic of politics and religion, since my views tend to really tick people off or cause a tizzy. But this one thing just had to be addressed before I went any further. Thanks for listening to/reading my crazy ranting :) 

Introductions

Hi, I am an army wife. Not the greatest job in the army, but definitely one of the hardest. My husband is infantry with three deployments to his career, but we are on recruiting orders right now. We have a beautiful set of twins. Yes, I know. Everyone thinks their own kids are beautiful, but ours really are gorgeous. We are so in trouble when they get to high school. Also, our twins (boy-girl fraternal) have been diagnosed by a specialist at the Kennedy Krieger Institute with PDD-NOS. That stands for Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified. It is a high functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder. They are very smart, very fun, VERY ACTIVE 4 year olds. They just have a couple difficulties in the developmental areas. For example, our son has difficulty with fine motor skills. He can already read and spell some, count to 10,000, and write all his numbers and many other things, but he holds the writing utensil with a fist, not with his fingers. They both learn better when there are pictures involved. My daughter also has a touch of ADHD. She has problems sleeping and we are still potty training her. She doesn't want to slow down to pee in the potty. Let me tell you something. If we could bottle her energy and sell it, we would be worth billions! Our daughter has trouble with retaining information...or it seems like it. I think she just stores it away for when SHE wants to use it. She is a redhead and SO stubborn. Everything is always on HER time. It can be very challenging. One of the things we are having the most trouble with is disciplinary actions. We are having a problem finding ways to discipline our daughter. Our son is doing great with a reward chart and time outs. Our daughter doesn't really care too much. If anyone has any good ideas, let me know. Something great about our daughter: she is so creative and has the greatest imagination ever. She never ceases to amaze us with what she comes up with in that head of hers. We have a full life of joy, and also, sometimes, frustration. Like last night, she got up at 3am and didn't fall back asleep until 5am. She wanted to play. Sometimes she doesn't fall back asleep and is up for the day. She doesn't nap, and she will be up until she goes to bed around 8:30pm. Momma needs some sleep today! LOL. We give the kids melatonin to help them get to sleep (recommended by the pediatric neurologist over benadryl) and it works great, but keeping our daughter asleep all night is definitely the biggest issue we face. I don't remember what it is like to sleep all the way through the night. *sigh* Maybe one day. As for right now, coffee is my best friend.