Wow, Ellen....Really?! July was your last post, girl?! Time to update, I guess...i think because I'm on facebook I forget to update this thing! ;)

Well, other than Sammy having a few days he wasn't feeling well at Christmas time, he thoroughly enjoyed the holidays and his presents and having my sister Annie with us for 11 days from Reno! He got an Ipad2 from all of the aunts and uncles and that is ALL he wants to do now! Fortunately we have found a lot of educational apps...he is such a smarty boy! :)

We are fighting constantly to keep everyone well...this cold season has not been fun...i got sick in Oct. and was sick for almost a month and then Sammy got sick and Luke was home yesterday with some sort of virus, but he seems better today, thank goodness. Sammy is sneezing and has a red throat so we are rocking the Zicam AGAIN... Thank God for that stuff! I think I will buy stock in the company! I cannot wait for this season to be over and the cooties to get out of here.

I am teaching third grade this year after having taught 3 years of 4th and 8 years of 5th before that. I can't say I am really happy with it. It's better than it was in Sept. as the kids are getting a little more mature, but it still isn't quite my cup of tea. I loved 5th and 4th was really my fave..oh well, it's a job in these tough times, anyway. Brian is working in Worcester, MA which is over 2 hours away. The only job that is available right now. It sucks because he is staying over there 2 night a week so he doesn't have to drive as much. He is up at 3:50 am on the days he does have to drive. :( Poor guy! I don't envy him at all! I only have to drive 4 minutes to school!

So, the pets are good for now, too..couldn't leave them out! Toby is cute as ever, such a good dog, we really can't complain. He has his moments when he barks at stupid things and startles Sammy, but we all love him anyway! ;) My cat Mellow that was dx with kidney disease last April is doing great. She had lost a lot of weight, but is eating well now and her numbers back in Sept. were almost back to normal. She will never be cured, but at the moment I will take that she is doing well! :) Love my baby girl...she's 15 now..I've had her longer than Luke! ;)

Sammy is doing well in school. He is redoing the kindergarten regular ed. reading program he did last year, much to my initial fighting it, but he loves the teacher and she is awesome and fun, and they really have no way to accommodate him in the first grade (I know, they'll have to figure it out!) because he can't read out loud or write things down.. so he is loving being in that room. I am going after school with him to her room to do the reading assessments because they can't figure out a good way without me to assess him accurately. I really want them to see how smart I know he is! He is definitely able to read a lot of words and is ok with his math. We are also working on that on the Ipad. We are getting him his own gait trainer at school so we can bring ours back home. We just got him a new tomato chair for home that has more support and a foot rest. It's not perfect, but it's what works right now. We are working on getting him to be more functional with his Tobii eyegaze computer so that he can use it to show them he can write at school. They went without telling me to UCP though (his teacher and therapists) to find him a comm. device for school. I was ripped that they did it without telling me or asking me first. Anyway, they found a "visual mouse" whatever that is. I told the SLP that I want to be at school when the woman from UCP comes to set it up so I can see it. I'm sure the SLP was annoyed that I kept the Tobii at home for such a time to work with him, but they weren't using it functionally at school with him. Just in Speech for stupid uses. I told them if this new thing doesn't work out, we'll buy a desk mount for the Tobii for school. They were complaining about the heavy pole mount it's on now. I swear they're never happy! :( Anyway, at least Sammy likes school. I have lots of issues with things and people there, but as long as he's happy and is eating SOMEwhat better than last year.

Well, I guess that's it for now....here's hoping for a good 2012!