Thursday, May 19, 2011

Is the World Ending?!

First, I want to start by posting some pictures from the recent trip to Maine that Ben and the boys took. Sounds like they had fun although Ben did have to deal with Ryder's usual tantrums. Ryder went back to school on Tuesday morning so we could try to jump right back into our normal routine.

The cabin they stayed in
Flying kites with Saba
Grammy Rivers with her birthday cake
Table covered in pictures for everyone to look at
Playing in the rain
This was a long paper that wrapped around the walls
Playing the piano
Ben & the boys with Grammy Rivers
(boys' Great-Great-Grandmother)
Saba & the boys with Grammy Rivers
Throwing rocks by the lake
Saba & the boys on ride home
Now on to my title of this post. There is so much crazy talk about the world ending on May 21 which is this Saturday. After the last few days I have had I am thinking there might be some possible truth in it all, not really. It all began when I started using the mail order pharmacy for my prescriptions, what a mess. One of my prescriptions was written correctly, but my insulin one was not. They only wrote it for 1 month supply instead of 3 month supply and then the nurse at the doctor's office got confused and gave the pharmacy inaccurate information. So I ended up paying for 3 months and only get enough for 1 month. I am also not able to refill because according to insurance it is in the system as me having a 3 month supply, ugh! I need a new corrected prescription from the doctor and then the pharmacy will contact my insurance to try and override it so I am able to get the correct amount. Now the doctor is saying he won't give me another prescription because I am supposed to be getting my next one from my new PCP since we moved and I need somebody local. I need to call back tomorrow to explain to the nurse that I need a corrected prescription and not just a new one since it has to come from the doctor who wrote the original one a few weeks ago. So annoying!

Then I have spent all morning calling around looking for a local PCP (primary care physician) only to find out nobody is accepting new patients. I was finally able to find an office that has Family Practice along with Pediatrics in the same office. One of their pediatricians does see patients under 30 years old so they made an appointment for me even though I am already 29. I guess it is better to get into somebody local then go from there. I really just need somebody to help me find a local Endocrinologist along with have somewhere to go when I am sick other than the Urgent Care centers. So I have an appointment for Tuesday morning and hopefully will be able to get my medical records sent to the new location.

And adding to the already crazy morning, I got something unexpected in the mail around lunchtime. We received a refund check from our insurance company. I called and apparently it shows our home owners insurance being cancelled as of July 9. The insurance agent couldn't figure out why because all payments have been made and no other issues showed up so he called the corporate office and put me on a 3-way call. From that person we discovered our policy is in underwriting because it has been listed as vacant! Apparently, we are currently living in a vacant house. The odd thing is that an estimator from the insurance company was just at our house about 6 weeks ago looking at our roof and then we received the check from them to get the roof fixed. The agent is going to contact underwriting on Monday and then get back to me.

Good news, Ben is getting a raise at work...actually 2 of them. He finished a certain amount of training so gets a raise for that and then he is also getting a small % raise for doing good work. Well, last week the correct raise came through for finishing the training. But today his paycheck came through all messed up with a completely random amount which was much less than it should have been. Luckily, Ben talked to his boss and they figured out what happened. His boss just has to clear it up with the accounting person at corporate so hopefully it will be worked out next week on his paycheck!

It just seems like something or someone is out there to get me. So many random things have been going wrong and never seem to be a quick fix or seem to make any sense at all. I sure hope everything gets figured out so I don't run out of insulin, I am able to find a new doctor, house insurance is figured out, and Ben's paycheck is correct next week.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

I spent most of last week getting things packed and ready for the trip to Maine which had become an all guy trip. I was definitely not excited about being left at home, but knew that was what had to happen. On Friday I took the boys to the library for story time and so that I could pick up a few books for myself. They were good at story time and had a good time.

At story time all of the books were about dinosaurs. Their hands-on activity was really fun and the boys loved it. They used homemade dough to make fossils.

Friday afternoon Zak started to misbehave and had a tantrum in his room which results in him breaking his curtain rod...

Friday evening everything hit me pretty hard when it came closer to time for Ben and the boys to leave. I felt myself getting into a really bad mood with a mix of emotions including depression and madness. Ben woke up from his nap at 11pm and we got the last stuff packed into the car. Then we got the boys up and put them into the car. I gave them each a kiss and as I walked away from the car I completely lost it and went into massive tears. It took me a few hours to calm down, but once I heard from Ben that they had made it safely I was in a much better mood. Yesterday I did a ton of stuff around the house along with take a nap and read an entire book from start to end. I was happy when I got to talk to Ben and the boys on the phone last night, but sad because both boys were so tired, crying and just acting out since they were up 2 hours past their bedtime. This morning I talked to them again and things sounds much better. Ben said that this Ryder had said he didn't want daddy and wanted mommy. On the phone Ryder told me he was getting in the car and going to look for me. Today is the party for Ben's great-grandmother and he sent me this picture...

Looks like they are having fun playing in the rain. Today I have been extremely lazy, but have a list of things I plan to do tomorrow.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Trip Update

The other day Ben got to experience the horrible scream that occurs when a stink bug lands in the car anywhere near the boys. This time it landed on Ryder's side of the car which really set him off into a massive tantrum. It was so bad that days later he is still refusing to willingly get into the car. And once he is in the car he folds his legs up tight, clenches his fists, and shakes. The day of these pictures he refused to put his legs down even after we stopped and got the bug out of the car (it was on the floor).

Ryder fell asleep during dinner the other night. We moved their chairs into the living room so we could all watch the Kentucky Derby during dinner.

I got my new pump in the mail last week, but just started using it yesterday. It is the same size as my old pump, but I figured I would post a few pictures anyways. This time I got a blue one. The big differences are that you can get much better control because this pump can give insulin in much smaller amounts to give a more constant level overall.

I wanted to post some information about our trip to Maine since things have changed. We thought everything was worked out, but then some stuff got messed up and caused us to almost not go. Now it is going to be an all guy trip because I am staying home with the dogs. I am not going to post details about what went wrong, but there is no fixing what happened so I have no choice in the matter for various reasons. So the boys and Ben will be making the drive to Maine and back still. I know the boys are very excited and talk about it non-stop and I will enjoy a little "me" time. I am not excited about being at home with no car, but I know it will be fine. I will keep myself busy and hopefully the boys will have fun.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Last week the boys and I were on our own again since Ben's work trip was 2 weeks long this time. It was obvious that the boys were missing him by Monday because their behavior took a huge turn for the worse. I have started to really work hard on being consistent with discipline and rewards in order to get a better handle on the out of control behavior and tantrums we are dealing with. Anyways, here are some pictures from our week...

On Monday I took the boys to see the movie Rio which was really cute. They love going to the movies and behaved pretty good that morning. We were the only people in the theater until a few other small groups showed up just as the movie started.

Once we got home their behavior took a dramatic turn downhill though. I pretty much lost my patience with the boys and told them I was going to bag up all of their toys. I had them sit in time out while they watched me put them all in bags and move them all to my bedroom. I told them they would get them back once they showed me they could listen, behave, and act like big kids. I was shocked when this didn't really elicit any type of reaction from them, good or bad. Once I was done Zak even went into Ryder's room and pointed out to me that I forgot to take away the blocks which were in the drawer! They did get all of their toys back, but not for a few days.

The next 2 pictures I find very funny. I was driving home from running some errands with Zak and all of a sudden he started to scream and go crazy which caused me to almost drive off the road. Once we got to a red light I turned around and discovered a stink bug had crawled onto his car seat which set him off. He is not a big fan of bugs so this was definitely an ordeal for him.

The boys like to play around with my shoes. This day they both wore them around for a bit and then Zak tried to tie the shoe laces which was pretty funny.

Ryder came home from school with a very cute Mother's Day gift for me. There was a card with a poem on the front and then a little flower pot with flowers made out of his hand prints.

The boys got a new gift from Grammy (my mom) on Thursday. I will explain the reasoning at the end of the post, but they got a dual screen DVD player for the car. They got to watch a movie while making the drive to pick Ben up from the airport on Friday and loved it.

Today we had lunch with Nanny & Poppy then came home and did some work in the backyard. Ben got the grass mowed which is needed extremely badly. There are still a few holes and lots of mud though which Zak found out the hard way while playing in the yard. The boys have been begging to play in the backyard so we are hoping to get it back into decent condition so that is possible.

Today Ben was shocked at the bad behavior Ryder was showing. He was pretty much misbehaving all day which has become the norm unfortunately. We do have a referral put in by his developmental pediatrician for a behavior therapy program to call and set up an appointment. We also want to talk with them about his bad reactions and anxiety over his weekly infusions which have become a battle as well. So when Ryder got into one of his massive tantrums we had to isolate him into Zak's bedroom (less stuff in there to get into). It took him a while to calm down, but I continually checked on him. One time I discovered he had ruined the blinds! At that point we moved him to his bedroom which is where he finally calmed down.

Now about the DVD player for the car...

A little over a week ago we got an e-mail from Ben's father saying there was going to be a 99th birthday party for his great-grandmother. Ben and I discussed it and decided it was way too short notice and not financially possible for us to make the trip to Maine along with the fact that Ben had just been away for 2 weeks. Then last week Ben called and said he had talked to his dad and changed his mind about going. It did cause some major stress and argument between Ben & I for various reasons. A lot happened in a very short period of time, but in the end it looks like we will be going to Maine. We plan to leave about midnight Friday (May 13) and get to Maine hopefully around lunchtime on Saturday. The party is on Sunday and then we will leave Maine and head home Monday morning which should get us back home very late Monday night. We will be staying in a 1 bedroom cottage (at a motel in Maine) with a full kitchen and plan to try and take most of our food to reduce expenses. Ben's father is going to be helping out with money for gas and some of the cottage expense which will help. The dogs will be staying with Rich & Laura which we know Robin will be extremely excited about because she will get to play with Sam (their dog). I plan to drop the dogs off there sometime during the day on Friday and they will bring them home on Monday. I do not do well with car trips so this whole thing is very stressful for me, but I know it means a lot to Ben. I am hoping the boys will do good with this trip because we know Ryder has some issues with changes in schedule and large groups of people. The plan is for Ben to go back to work Tuesday morning and Ryder to go to school on Tuesday also.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Lots of Pictures to Catch Up With

Most of the pictures are not in order of how our week went, but I will explain them all. On Monday a few of the families within E Court put together an egg hunt and cook-out lunch for the kids which was fun. I enjoyed getting the chance to talk with some of the other parents while the boys had fun playing.

Dinner at Chick-Fil-A
(not sure which night this was)
Tracy playing with Ryder during his infusion on Saturday morning
We went to the grocery store to pick up some WIC stuff. We had just left the library so went to a store we generally don't go to and when we walked in the boys immediately spotted these!
Zak taking a nap in my bed
Ryder liked this chair in the bathroom at WalMart
Enjoying some nice weather
Zak riding the bull at WalMart
Zak riding his scooter around the community
The following pictures are from Saturday when Tracy & Kyle were over at the house. The weather was nice so after Ryder's infusion we all went out for a walk and to the playground for a bit.
This morning we went to Annapolis to spend the day with Colleen and the kids. The boys were so excited and has so much fun! We played in the yard, walked around downtown for a bit, and walked around the art festival as well. We got to see Natalie, Christine and Oompa as well. Ryder fell asleep very quickly once we got in the car and headed home, but Zak took longer and didn't fall asleep until just before we got home.

My plan for tomorrow is to make some calls to figure out plans for school for the boys next year. Some budget cuts have caused the county to cut out the co-taught class Ryder was supposed to be in. So now we need to figure out if our income will qualify both boys for the regular preschool program and if we want Ryder to stay in the Early Intervention class or move on to the regular class. Once I hopefully get some answers I plan to take the boys to the movies and see Rio.