We Are Alive - 7

Hi,

We are alive, we aren't all healthy though. Evie and I have been fighting off a head cold for a week and now Ben and Grammy and Gramper are getting it. So we are not a very exciting bunch today. I do have news. Good news, exciting news.

1. Triathlon training is going really well! Dad and I are really getting better at all the events. Yesterday we tried to do 2 events back to back for the first time. It was a very very hard task. We swam 400 yds and then ran 3 miles. It was about 87 degrees outside and sunny. I nearly passed out from heat exhaustion but I finished. Dad totally kicked my butt. Overall we feel like it was a success. We are both hoping that on race day it will be much cooler.

2. Evelyn had her 1st day of "baby school" last Thursday. She did well considering the newness of the whole thing. I dropped her off at 8AM and picked her up at 145PM. She ate solids with the other kids and even napped. She was totally exhausted when I picked her up but she perked up after another nap at home. We are happy with the Montessori school so far. We aren't taking her tomorrow because she is sick and we don't want her to get worse or pass the sickness to other kids.

3. Shadowing Aidan at school was very challenging the first week of school. The first few days I didn't know how to keep him in line AND keep the peace in the classroom. Aidan's mom talked to me on Wed. of last week and said to do whatever it took to keep Aidan on task. She told me not to worry about Aidan bothering the class unless the teacher mentioned it to me. So I started disciplining Aidan in the classroom and he responded really well. He didn't like being made to do his work and act correctly in class, but he complied. And this week he is just doing fantastically! I am really proud of him. My job is easier when he is on task and not testing me. So hopefully he will continue to follow directions and rules and make my job even easier. In other work related news I am going to be working less starting in October. I won't be staying with Aidan after school at all by October. I am just too exhausted and worn out after being at school with him for 5 hours. So they will be hiring a new person to take over those hours and possibly to go to school with Aidan on Fridays. So the schedule will be Mon-Thurs 8:30AM-1:30PM if everything goes according to plan. I hope so!

3. House building and all things related to it are on hold at the moment. I'm not sure where we are in the process. But I do know that Ben and Vanessa are working on it.

4. Labor Day weekend was very nice for all of us here at the farm. Ben and I hosted a BBQ/Pool Party for Ben's old boss and his wife and Aidan's family. I wanted to get to know the Aidan family better and Ben and I both wanted to catch up with our old friends. It was super fun! We all got wrapped in conversation and before we knew it 6 hours had passed.

5. Next week Ben is going to visit his best friend on the West Coast and all of us left here at the farm are going to visit BigBro and DocRom. I am super excited about seeing them again! We are all running in a 5K race. BigBro and DocRom are training for the triathlon too. Grammy is going to push Evie in the stroller for a 1K family run/walk. It should be super fun. I wish Ben were going to be with us but I know he'll be having a big old time with his best friend.

6. In other news, I will hopefully be visiting my good friend Angie in the next few weeks when she comes down to my neck of the woods for a vacation. I sure hope it all works out! She and her hubs are both in the process of changing jobs and moving so her plans may change. Either way I think she is the COOLEST and I am wishing her all the good luck vibes I've got. =)

7. I am just in shock at how different my life is right now. Working is really wonderful, I love making money and having a new challenging career opportunity. I am now thinking seriously about getting a grad degree. Financially we can't really afford for me to go back to school but maybe a year from now. I hope so. I hope by next year I'll still love working with Aidan and I'll be going to school to get a degree in special ed. or psychology specializing in autism. We'll see.

Thanks for reading still, sorry I am a such a bad blogger lately.
Jen =)

Floor Plan

The entry to the house is a big mud room. We'll store all shoes, coats, umbrellas, hats, etc in there. There will also be a half bath with a urinal and toilet in the mud room. Ben's dream is to have a urinal, so we'll try to make that happen. Once through the mudroom, the kitchen is straight ahead and it opens into a breakfast nook. The master suite takes up the right side of the house. There are 2 kids rooms and a full bath on the left side of the house. There is a dining room/study/bedroom #4 between the mudroom and the kids room's. And the living room is that big space between the kitchen and the kids rooms. Oh, and there is a giant screened in porch that goes the full width of the house, it will measure 12ft x 50ft. So that is our "dream" house. We'll probably have to make changes to it but hopefully our house will look mostly like that when it is built.

9 Days

Wow, it's been 9 days since my last post. I am certain 9 days is the longest I have gone without writing since I started this blog. Yeesh, I guess I owe myself and my reader(s) an excuse. Here goes. Work. Ben. Evelyn. House floor plan. It is all going really well but, whew, it is very time consuming.

Work is going really well. I am really enjoying spending time with Aidan, he is really sweet and so smart. He starts school on Friday and I am excited to go with him and see what the school is like and how he handles the new experience. I hope he and I both do well. So as of now my work schedule will be Monday and Thursday 8:30AM-1:30PM, Tuesday and Wednesday and Friday 8:30AM-3:30PM. I am excited to have the extra money. I really like working again, especially in this situation. It is a very laid back job in some ways. I don't have to sell anything and I don't have to dress up and most importantly to me, I don't have to deal with customer service. I HATE customer service, with a passion! I am so glad I don't have to be a door mat to a$$holes anymore. Yeah, sure I have to clean up a 5 yr old potty accident every once in a while. But really, I prefer 5 yr old literal shit to adult bullshit any day!

In Evie land we are pushing solids really hard right now. She will be 13 months on Monday and she still isn't eating many solids. She eats them but not enough to cut out a bottle feeding. We want to cut down on the bottles because they are expensive and because she is getting older and we want her to eat with us. So far she likes pickles, cantaloupe, pizza, raisins. cheerios, and cheese. So we are making some progress. But she continues to be super happy, healthy, and fun. She loves running around outside and getting dirty. Speaking of running around outside we got our pics from the pro photographer. The pics are all outside and they are awesome! I'll put a slide show up as soon as I can.

The house floor plan is finally drawn out, by Ben. We struggled for a week with deciding what kind of house we wanted. Thank goodness we have Vanessa helping us or we wouldn't have a clue. We are going to build a cinder block house with a huge front porch. I'll put up the floor plan soon, I swear!

And just like I have been letting the blog go, I haven't been training like I should for the triathlon either. It's okay, I'll get back into it this Sunday, I know it, Gramper will be back and he won't let me slack off, thank goodness. =)

Oh yeah, I did finish Harry Potter. I liked it, but I didn't love it. I still think book 3 and 4 are the best.

So Much News

Sorry I have been gone for a week. Time has flown by so fast. This week I am taking care of the entire farm while Grammy and Gramper are on vacation. I had no idea how much it took to maintain the farm. There is sooo much to do twice a day, everyday. I have all new sympathy and respect for Grammy, she has a hard job.

Also I got the ABA tutor job that I mentioned in my previous post. I started training on Monday and I am working everyday this week. It is challenging work, and there is a lot to learn, but I like it. School starts for this little boy on Aug 20 and my main job will be to go to school with him and help him keep up with the other kids. The little boy's name is Aidan, he is really cute. His mannerisms and little quirks are quite adorable and he is a good kid. He has been testing me everyday and that has been challenging, I am supposed to get through 3 hours worth of material with him everyday and I have yet to make it through because of all the disciplining I am doing with him. But unlike most autistic kids Aidan is not violent at all. He is actually really cuddly and sweet. He loves to be hugged and squeezed. But he tries to use the cuddling as a way out of doing his work, so I have to keep him on task and in his chair like a big boy. He also has tried the crying/tantrum thing to get out of work, and that isn't so hard to handle. I am learning all the tricks and methods I need to get him back on task when he acts out or stops paying attention. On top of all that I also have to keep really thorough records of everything we do and I have to write down every word he says as well as all the activities we do together. It is a lot to keep straight but I am getting there. I am going to be with him by myself for the first time tomorrow. I am really super nervous. I want to do a good job and get everything done correctly but I just don't know if that is going to happen tomorrow. The head therapist that is training me is really nice and actually was our next door neighbor in our townhouse. What a small world! She thinks I am doing well and handling Aidan's behavior and testing really well. Hopefully this will all be like second nature by next week.

In other news Ben's sister Vanessa came to visit us this past weekend. It was really wonderful to see her, we hadn't seen her since x-mas. Evie loved her Auntie V and they had a lot of fun together. We are planning to go visit Vanessa in the next few months while the beach is still warm enough to enjoy.


I haven't finished Harry Potter yet but I am very close to the end, only 200 pages or so left. I just finished the chapter about Gringots, for those of you who have already read it.

Ben and I have started seriously talking about what we want when we build our house. Vanessa is in the business and she is going to be a big part of our building process. It is very exciting and I literally can't wait to get started! Hopefully we'll be building by early spring.

Triathlon training is going well. This week is supposed to be our rest week but I went running today anyway because I missed a run and bike ride last week. I took Bonnie with me for the first time. She did really well. By the end of the run she was starting to understand that she needed to stay close to me, or she was tired and didn't want to run ahead of me. Either way I am glad I took her and I am going to try to make her run with me on days that I run.

I think that is all my news. So how is everyone else? What have I missed?