Monday, September 28, 2009

5 Months Ago Today!


My Little Monkey!

I can't believe its been 5 months since we met Chianna for the first time and our lives were changed forever. I had no idea what it would be like to be a mommy, and it is better than I could have imagined! Life with Chianna is so rewarding, she is such a happy, smart, resilient little girl. Anyone who meets her sees it right away.





I know I haven't been blogging much, but I promise to catch up and start again soon. Most likely November, since October is always crazy for us and now even more so trying to balance work and being a mom. Its not easy, but I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Monday, September 14, 2009

In case you were wondering where my blog posts are. . . .

In case you were wondering why I haven't blogged lately, here is an example of my schedule.

Today:

Woke up at 9am. - Started getting ready to take Chianna to her Occupational Therapy appt.

9:30am - Got Chianna up to start getting her ready. I was surprised that she wasn't up yet, but she must have been tired because she didn't want to get up. Her delay in getting up made it so that I didn' have time to feed her breakfast. Myke got her dressed and ready to go and then left for work. I finished getting ready, fixed Chianna's hair & then I took the dogs outside and put down a little bit of water for them- I can't leave a lot of water down or Yogi will drink it all at once and then pee (more than usual) all over the kitchen floor.

I put some Cheerios in a baggie for Chianna and grabbed a little water bottle for her to eat breakfast on the go. Put the dogs in the kitchen, where they have to stay while we are out because Yogi always pees and the kitchen is the only tile in the house.

(In case you are wondering why we get up so late, I was working until about 3am and went to bed at 3:30am.)

10:15am left the house for OT in Cooper City.

11:00am OT appt. Chianna did great! And she loves Miss Roni, and especially Miss Roni's doggie Melody and all the toys too.

11:30am OT finished, Chianna did not want to leave so we stayed in the waiting room and played with the Magna Doodle for a few minutes while I called Myke to see if he & Papa wanted to get some lunch since we were sort of close to the warehouse. Mommy had not eaten yet either. *smirk*

11:45am met Daddy & Papa for lunch at the Deli. We told Papa & Daddy all about the fun we had with Miss Roni, then the majority of lunch was spent talking business.

1:05pm we left the deli to head to Coral Springs for her 2pm Speech Therapy appt.

2pm Speech Therapy with Rachael, who Chianna just loves! Chianna just thinks that speech therapy is playing, but she is really progressing with her sounds and using her words!

2:30pm Speech Therapy over, head back towards home.

3:00pm Winn Dixie grocery shopping for a few things.

3:45pm Arrive home, trying desperately to beat the impending storm. Take Chianna inside. (Luckily none of the groceries I picked up were food items or perishables!) Sit Chianna down in front of the TV to watch Your Baby Can Read and give her the rest of her Cheerios to eat for a snack. Take the dogs out before the rain hits. Pick up the poop present that Yogi left me in the kitchen, put the peed on towels in the washing machine, mop the kitchen floor. Great! It is now pouring rain, and I did not bring in the groceries, take out the garbage or pick up dog poop in the yard as I had planned to do all those things before it rained.

I give the dogs water and feed them since I didn't have time to do that in the morning. Come out to the living room to pick up the Cheerios that are now all over the floor. I turn around and Aku has puked up all the food he just ate, onto the floor, right outside of the kitchen. (If I look on the bright side: at least he didn't puke on my freshly mopped floor. Bad side: he puked on the rug right outside of the kitchen rather than the tile floor that could have more easily been cleaned especially since our rug machine is broken. It broke a few weeks ago - on the day that Aku ran through the house after stepping in muddy pee outside! Before I had a chance to clean that - But I digress.) So I clean up the puke & wash the rug as best I can until I we rent the rug machine again. Ughhh!
What time is it?

About 4:15, I call my dad back to answer his earlier question about work that I needed to be in front of my computer to do. While in mini work mode, I realize that I had some customer service issues that I needed to take care of so I speak with Kerri from work about. I forwarded her a few emails to take care of, wrote down some notes about a couple problem orders to take care of in transit, since it was time to get Chianna ready for her aqua therapy session!

Chianna's aqua therapy is in Coral Springs at 5:30. So I have to leave by latest 5pm. I start packing up her bag & get the towel and water ready. Then I start looking for her bathing suit, I know that I put it out yesterday and can't find it. I look at the time and its 20 to 5:00. I start to panic because she is not even in her suit yet and I have a momentary loss of brain cells and think we have to be there at 5, instead of leaving by 5! I start running around like a crazy woman looking for the bathing suit. I call Myke frantically asking him if he moved it or knows where it is - he doesn't. I hang up and start runnig around throwing things in search of her bathing suit. I only have one 1-piece suit for her and didn't want to take a different one, I don't know if it would be good for therapy adn I don't know where her other suit is either. Anyhow, after turning a few things around, I remember that I hung it up in the laundry room after washing it yesterday! Yes! I run and get it and start undressing Chianna to put it on. I don't remember at what point I remembered that I needed to leave by 5 and not be there at 5, but at least that calmed me down so that I don't affect poor Chianna who has no idea why but looks slightly amused that Mommy is running around like a crazy person.

5:00pm leave for aqua therapy in Coral Springs. While in the car, I call work to handle the problem I discovered earlier. (ARGHHH!) Chianna took a short nap.

5:30pm Chianna's Aqua Therapy - she did such a great job. Aqua therapy is the best thing for her, she does better and better each time, she is moving more and more in the water and swimming a short distance on her own! Chianna got to stay a little later today, which she gladly did - she just loves the water and loves Kate too!

6:30 After drying off and putting her shoes on, we left for home.

7:00pm Arrived home. Took the dogs out and discovered that the kitchen that I mopped earlier is all peed on again - thanks, Yogi! (Yogi is 13 and can't hold it, but also has a behavior problem and pees when I leave because he is mad.) We have to leave shortly to meet our friend who is in from out of town for dinner at 8pm, so I just leave it for now. I change Chianna back into her clothes. Then I get myself ready, I had to change since its very hot at the pool and I was all sweaty and yucky. So I changed, got to go to the bathroom, and then Myke got home. We all said our hellos. Well Chianna runs around and screams and squeals, which is really cute and a great welcome home for Daddy, and Aku runs around too and barks, so its a funny thing to see. I fixed Chianna's hair, put the dogs back in the kitchen and we left for dinner.

8:15pm Our friend met us at Bombay Grill for dinner. Our friend, Marc lives in the Keys, so we have not seen him in a while and he hadn't met Chianna yet, so we spent a long time talking and enjoying the great Indian food. Way past the time I intended to be out and way late for Chianna, but its a special occasion. We didn't leave until 10:30pm - when they literally had to kick us out! We got home, and Myke got Chianna ready for bed, I took the dogs out, switched the laundry from earlier and put the new peed - on towels in the washing machine & mopped the floor - oh & picked up more poop presents - thanks, again, YOGI!!!!. Then put down water for the dogs. Then helped Myke put Chianna to bed. Then I put my pajamas on, even though I haven't showered yet, and I sat down and decided to write this blog post to chronicle my crazy day. It is now 12:30am. My groceries are still in the car. I haven't started work yet. That's right! I still have several hours of work to do. Basically, I work until my brain doesn't function anymore and then, I go to bed.

Mondays are the worst schedule for me, and we only have therapy on Mondays and Wednesdays. But the other days, in between other doctor appts. I review her therapies with her, keep her entertained and fed on top of trying to get some work done to keep the business alive and kicking, it is our season already, afterall.

Its crazy, but don't get me wrong, I am not complaining in the least, its not easy, but I would not change it for the world and I am enjoying every minute of being with Chianna - even the frantic crazy ones!

OK, signing out for now! I promise that I will blog and add pictures as soon as I can. : )
But as you can see, its very hard with this crazy schedule. It may have to wait until November. : (