Maddox sure loves Rock Band....

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Winners!

And the winners are Penguins & Ladybugs , Ashley at Darling Domestic, Emily at Laundry & Lullabies and Connie! Thanks to everyone who entered!

Bloggy Giveaways Carnival!

It's here again! WooHoo! Head over to the Bloggy Giveaways Carnival to enter all the giveaways! This time I'm giving away four prizes! $10 to Starbucks, as usual, and three lucky winners will each receive a Basket of Indulgence! Each basket includes everything pictured below: a box of the new Turtle Chex Mix Bars, chocolate candles, caramel lotion, and spa essentials like a loofah, hand massager, nail brush and spa towel! The bars are tasty and the lotion is wonderful and smells even better!

The New Chex Mix Bars combine crunchy Chex pieces, pretzels and peanuts with chewy and indulgent ingredients like caramel and chocolate. And if that's not enough, they have less than 150 calories per bar and provide at least 8 grams of whole grain per serving! WOW!

To enter to win one of these prizes just leave me a comment telling me your favorite cookie, and a way to reach you if you win! Sorry, this giveaway is only open to the U.S. I'll randomly pick the winners during nap time on Halloween! Good luck!

It's that time again!

The Bloggy Giveaways Carnival is coming up again and I CANNOT wait! Have I told you all how much I LOVE this?? Mark your calendars, well, at least prepare to have naptime occupied for the week of October 27 - 31st! Keep an eye out for what I'm giving away this time...

Imaginary Friend

So Maddox over the last couple of days now has come up with an imaginary friend. Whether this is good or bad, I don't know.....but Maddox now has Bob. Apparently Bob is a boy ghost, with teeth (he has stressed that several times) that really likes pancakes. Hmmmm.......

Moment of Clarity

My moment of clarity came yesterday morning. We are always telling Maddox to stop and take a deep breath. Well, yesterday morning I was running late for a meeting and I was really on Maddox to hurry up, etc. He looked at me and said "breath Mama, deep breath". Then proceeded to demonstrate for me. 

??????????????

Where have I been, you ask? My computer crashed. Thought it was fixed...crash...thought it was fixed...crash....you get the idea. I am now the proud owner of a brand new laptop! And a new all-in-one-printer...no wait it's a scanner...no wait it's a copier...no wait it's a fax machine. Anyway, I am back online. What else have I been doing? Remember the Yucky House? We finished it yesterday. That's right finished! We've had it for over a year now. After taking a few months off when my Dad had cancer surgery it was slow going. Besides putting up the curtains it is DONE! I'll post some new pictures Tuesday. Now I'm off to make some playhouse curtains for Lisa!

More Completed Projects!

Since Shawn has started school I now have more time in the evening to quilt. This is good because Shawn said I needed to stop buying more fabric until he saw some completed projects. Well, I'm on a roll. Two more completed projects! Four really if you count the burp cloths I finished and mailed out to a friend, and the monster truck pillowcase that I made for Maddox, that he doesn't like. Here they are!

This is a wall hanging. I still have to put the backing on it, but since I bought more fabric yesterday, I'm counting it as finished. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, I just liked the fabric.

This is a lap quilt that I made for my Grandma. She's probably having back surgery in a month and I thought she could use it. This quilt top was made from 6 fat quarters and was super fast to put together! I'll be making more of this pattern!

Wondering What I've been up to?

Here are a couple pictures of my latest creations!

This is my Bug Jar quilt top for Maddox. He loves bugs! It's hard to tell from the picture but each "jar" is filled with a different bug fabric.

This quilt is for me. My friend Melissa and I each made one of these quilts together. Again, hard to tell from the picture but each of the coffee cups is different. Now they're both headed off to be quilted! I just make the tops, I don't "quilt" them.

The Winners!

WooHoo! This Bloggy Giveaways Carnival did not disappoint! There were over 1,000 giveaways! I haven't won anything...yet. There's still time. Now on to the winners of my giveaway! The 4 winners of a free box of new Cocoa Puffs Combos Cereal are Beth over at The Cat in the Adage, Amy over at Amy & Jeff, Lucinda H, and Audrey over at Audrey's Spot for Recipe Tips & Hints! Congratulations ladies!

Now for the Grand Prize Winner of a $10 Starbucks card... Talina over at Harvest of Daily Life!

Everybody come back next time to see what I'll give away next! Probably more Starbucks, but you never know!

Bloggy Giveaways Carnival Time! Five Winners!

It's that time again, my favorite time, Bloggy Giveaways Carnival Time! WooHoo! I can't wait to check out all the blogs, I don't even remember how many there were last time - at least over 900, and hopefully I'll win something along the way. So far there hasn't been a Carnival where I haven't won something. So what am I giving away? Well, ONE lucky winner will get a $10 Starbucks card (I know, I know, I giveaway a Starbucks card every time, but this time my husband said I could go all out and double the amount on the card, that's right people, this time the card is for $10), AND four lucky winners will each walk away with a box (well, actually a full-value coupon for a FREE box) of NEW Cocoa Puffs Combos cereal! This is the first new product from Cocoa Puffs since they were introduced in 1958! This new cereal has the chocolatey puffs along with the new vanilla puffs. YUM!

TO ENTER: simply leave a comment telling me your favorite breakfast cereal (if you don't have a blog be sure to leave an e-mail address so I can contact you) on this post by noon, Friday July 31st. I'll use a random number generator to pick the winners that afternoon during nap time. My giveaway is open to all US and Canadian residents, whether you have a blog or not, the cost of shipping is covered. My favorite breakfast cereal is Lucky Charms! Good Luck!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!

Proof

Just in case you needed it, here's proof that Maddox loves his new trampoline.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

This is my 200th Post!

WOW! My 200th post. Too bad I don't have anything exciting to say. So I'll tell you about how spoiled Maddox has been this past week. First, I got him a huge set of really nice wooden blocks.

The set I got him is 20+ blocks bigger than this set. He likes them. Until today when my Grandma went and bought him his very own trampoline. Very similar to the one in this picture.

This blew the block set out of the water. He LOVES this! It got me thinking, my kid seems to now have every toy known to man, what am I going to get him for Christmas?

What's with the letters?

Maddox is crazy about letters right now! All he wants to do is talk about letters. He now knows O, B, R, and almost has K & X but still gets them mixed up sometimes because let's face it they look almost the same. This is all him. I will tell you that he hates the letter W. I don't know why, but he doesn't want to admit that it's even part of the alphabet. What I really don't get is that we talk about letters for three days and he already knows at least three of them, but we've been talking about colors for a while now and he still tells me that every color is blue.

Maddox "Mosh -Pit" McQuary

Let me start from the beginning. A few months back my brother and six-year-old nephew were in town and showed Maddox how to wrestle. Now, Maddox has taken it upon himself to educate all his friends in the fine art of wrestling. Thus, being named Maddox "Mosh-Pit" McQuary by some good friends of ours.

The Letter O

The letter O is a big deal in this house right now. Maddox is borderline obsessed with finding the letter O and declaring it an O, all the letter O's everywhere, in case you didn't know it was an O you know now. Really a pretty big deal considering that until this past week my kid could hardly talk. Tammy, his speech therapist, says that he has reached the springboard and his language is going to really start taking off. FINALLY! We only do his flashcards every night and hand out candy like it's going out of style. Now we're working on him putting the last part of a word on, so you might hear him say "Buh" slight pause "Sssss" for bus, but it's coming and he can say the letter O.

I'm Back

Well, I think I'm back to blogging after a short vacation. Just in time too because next week is the Bloggy Giveaways Carnival, and this time I'm giving away four prizes. Four prizes to four lucky winners. Interested? Come back next week.

We got Rock Band for the Wii...

Check out Maddox's "skillz"!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Scary Lobsters!

My birthday is this week but we celebrated early this year due to a busy schedule. We went into Coeur d' Alene to go to some quilt shops there (I LOVE me some fabric) and we ate dinner at Red Lobster. We made a big deal out of showing Maddox the lobsters because they're cool. ***Flash back a few weeks to when Ruk tried to hand Maddox a baby chick and Maddox actually fell over he was so scared*** We thought this was different, I mean the lobsters are in a tank, there are rubber bands over their claws. He was ok at first, wanted to see them halfway through dinner, but on our way out the door he freaked. At bedtime Maddox was really upset and we couldn't figure out what his problem was. I mean, since speech therapy started he has more words but still less than a dozen, so we didn't know what the problem was. I just laid down with him because we figured he was still not feeling that great from his sinus infection. Then Friday night he was fine. Last night he pulled a repeat of Thursday night. So I'm trying to get him to tell me what the hell the problem is. My kid has lost it. So he does his sign for scary. So I'm like ok he's scared, but of what?! Then he does his made up sign for lobster and points to the top of his Thomas bed canopy thing. So my kid thinks there are lobsters hiding on top of his bed and are going to get him. After we establish that, yes, this is what the problem is he freaks out even more! So I tell him that there are no lobsters in his bed because lobsters only live in the water. He's not buying it. So then I tell him that if he has a dream about a lobster, because there will be no lobsters in his bed, he just needs to tell the lobster to stop and walk away. He stopped and thought about that for a while, then laid down for a few minutes, then pops back up and reaffirms that all he has to do is say stop, then goes to bed. My kid has wildlife issues!

The FabShop Hop!

So this month I'm participating in the FabShop Hop! Click on the yellow bunny for more information. It's basically a quilt shop hop only online. You have the whole month of June to visit all the quilt store sites and find the yellow and pink bunny. The more bunnies you find the bigger the prizes you could win. Today is only the first of the month so it's not too late to sign up! I'm already at 17 bunnies found, only 113 left to go for my chance at the grand prizes. We're talking a new sewing machine! It's like a giveaway, I got sucked in. Some bunnies are easier to find than others. Good luck bunny hunting!

So I did something bad...

Or as Maddox would say "Ba, Ba, Ba!" Shawn and I agreed that we should sell the sailboat. We've been bad boat owners and haven't even sailed it in years. The most action it sees is when we haul it out of storage at the start of summer and haul it back into storage at the end of summer. I was reluctant but we agreed. I even put an ad on Craigslist. Here's where it all went wrong. Shawn had the idea that we should dry-rig it up and make sure we had all the lines, etc. So we broke the boat out, power washed it, and started to rig it up. It all came back to me and I fell in love with that stupid boat all over again. I told Shawn that I changed my mind (Come on, did he really NOT see that coming?!) about selling it. He said that we just needed to get everything put away and we'd "talk" about it. Here's where I was bad...I have purposefully ignored several incoming calls this morning that I can only assume were about the boat as they were unknown numbers. Shawn caught me doing this and it did not make him very pleased. Then I just now took the ad off Craigslist. This too, probably won't make Shawn happy. In reality I'm shooting myself in the foot because these ignored calls could have resulted in someone paying us several hundred dollars. I need to think of a really convincing argument for why we shouldn't sell the boat. Part of the biggest problem being that Maddox can't sail on it with us. It is a 14 ft sailboat but it still is very much a working sailboat. You wouldn't think it but sailboats are really very dangerous. There are many opportunities to get tangled in lines, fall overboard, etc. Not to mention that when I was on WSU's sailing team I watched a girl get her arm broken because she wasn't paying attention and a gust of wind flew the boom around. Shawn and I have both gotten knocked by the boom at least once. The boat is big enough that you need decent wind to sail it and decent wind usually results in hiking-out to keep the boat level to keep up your speed. Like a two-year-old is going to hike-out! Although, we did a trial run...

(he has his Binky because he is getting over a sinus infection and he won the fight over it) So I don't know. I want to keep the boat. We'll see what happens.

FINALLY!

So the season finale of Bones is tonight and I am psyched! Bones is my all-time favorite show. It's the only show that I HAVE to be home in time to watch. I have the first two seasons on DVD and season 3 will be on my Christmas list. Anyway, I love this show so much that I really cannot wait until tonight and have been searching the web for spoilers. I mean, I KNOW they CAN'T kill Booth, I think.... but I don't KNOW for SURE! I have found a few. Check out Obsessed with Bones if you're interested in getting "spoiled." If not, you can always join me tonight over at Flummoxology while she live-blogs the Bones season finale. I will be home, in front of the TV (and computer), probably with a killer snack pack so nobody bother me.

Which Bones Character Are You?

More on Bones. Created by BuddyTV

No Explanation Necessary...

Evidence of Hard Work...

Last night Maddox helped Daddy and Grandpa work on the car while I went and got my hair cut. Shawn let him stay dirty like this until I got home so I could see. (I don't know why he didn't just take a picture!)

Field Trip to Pizza Rita!

We went to Pizza Rita this morning for a co-op field trip. The owner gave us a tour, let the kids make the pizzas (above is Maddox putting cheese on one, that's all the cheese he thought the pizza needed), showed them how they mix the dough, etc. Each kid got to take home a ball of the dough to put in the oven with butter, sugar, and cinnamon to make a dessert pizza. We'll be doing that after nap. Then everyone sat down to eat pizza and drink pop. Then everyone went to a nearby park to play. Maddox had a great time!

At a Friend's Birthday Party...

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Maddox Off Roadin'

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Why Maddox won't be picking out my new car...when we decide to buy one...

So we were at Home Depot waiting in Dumpy the Truck while Shawn returned the power rake. A particular vehicle drove by and I pointed it out to Maddox. I said "LOOK! That's one of the cars Mommy wants to buy, you know later, but isn't it COOL?!?!" He shakes his head no and points to what HE thinks Mommy should buy, a Cub Cadet Lawn Tractor.

And the Winner Is...

Congratulations to Marilyn
from Yummy Things & Cupcake Dreams!
You're the winner of my Bloggy Giveaway
for a $5 Starbucks card!

Hiking at Indian Painted Rocks in Another Montage!

So Tuesday night we took Maddox hiking at Indian Painted Rocks, then to Didier's for frozen yogurt. Didier's has a different non-dairy flavor everyday and on Tuesdays a medium dish is only $1.69! (no, this is not a paid advertisement) He had a great time! It was hard to get him away from the river, that kid can throw rocks for hours. Check out the montage!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Houston we have a ...

Problem. A concern. An issue. A dilemma. I think you get the idea. We're not sure what to do. We recently bought laminate flooring (Pergo) for our entire house and have started putting it down room by room. Currently we have 3 rooms done. Here comes the problem: Duncan (our husky) can't handle the new floor. When I say he can't handle, I mean he CAN'T. HANDLE. We tried *helping* him by holding his collar to make him try it out. The second all four of his feet touch the new floor he freaks out and starts scrambling like in a cartoon with all four paws going every which way, then he falls down. I feel I need to mention that this is the same dog who has had $2000 worth of knee surgery, we DO NOT want him to fall down! So far we've only put the new floor in 3 of the rooms he hardly goes in, but the plan is to put it everywhere. Everywhere except the bathrooms, but he can't live in the bathroom. And before you even suggest it he can't live outside either. He's a part of the family who lives inside, plus he's too stupid to use his doghouse, and I'd be worried that he was getting frostbite or heat stroke or something. (We're not getting rid of him either!) We can't exactly put runners thru the entire house everywhere he might want to go, even if we did at some point he'd have to get off the runner, because I'm not covering my awesome new floor with carpet. We've thought about cutting his nails really short, maybe his nails are too long and he's having a hard time not slipping. We've thought about lightly sedating him to chill him out a little so then we can try out the floor again and maybe, just maybe he won't freak out. These are the next things we're going to try. However, these may not work, so I'm opening this post up to suggestions. PLEASE, solve my problem Internets!

It's Here!

This Giveaway is now CLOSED!

It's Here! The Bloggy Carnival is here! Head on over to Bloggy Giveaways to check out the hundreds of giveaways going on this week. Last time there were over 600! It'll blow your mind! Check out what I've won in the past here or here. Now for what I'm giving away this time...drum roll please... a $5 Starbucks giftcard! I know, I know. I lack creativity. This is the same thing I've given away for the last three Bloggy Carnivals, but everyone likes this prize so I'm offering it up again. Maybe next time I'll think of something more creative. Maybe. So go forth and enter, enter, enter to win. Good times!

My giveaway is open to all US and Canadian residents, whether you have a blog or not, the cost of shipping is covered. To enter just leave a comment (if you don't have a blog be sure to leave an e-mail address so I can contact you) on this post by noon, Friday April 25th. I'll use a random number generator to pick a winner that afternoon. Good Luck!

BTW...If you have a moment please click HERE to offer up some advice to help me solve my problem, I'd really appreciate it!

First Yard Sale of the Season

So Maxie and I ventured out at 7:30 this morning (I with Starbucks in hand) to make the first yard sale rounds of the season. We left the boys at home with their Dads. There weren't too many sales today, but it was nice to get out, and gave us a taste of what's to come. My two purchases came to a grand total of $7. Maxie bought a lot more than I did this time out.

I bought this Spider Man fuzzy foam chair for $3. Maddox doesn't know who Spider Man is but it's the same type of chair Joaquin (Maxie's son) has that Maddox really likes and I wanted to have another chair for when Joaquin comes over. Brought it home, took off the cover and washed it, and now it looks brand new and Maddox loves it.

Then I bought this adorable farm animal framed picture for $4. (it's pretty big) I hung it in his room and he loves it too! All in all I think I did really well and am very happy with my purchases.

And Now for a Blues Montage! (I LOVE these things)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

So we just dropped everything and got the hell out of dodge last night. Headed for the cabin. Shawn's Dad (or Grandpa Dale to Maddox) was out there helping remodel the kitchen. Maddox had a blast, loves to throw the rocks in the water! We've never seen so much wildlife up there before. Saw a couple of Eagles, a moose (even for a lady moose it was BIG), and several...I'll call them groupings of deer. I'd call them herds of deer, but how many deer do there have to be for it to be considered a herd? The most we saw together were 7. We stopped counting deer after 15. Late night for Maddox, didn't get home until 9, might be able to talk Shawn into going out again Sunday.

Lickin' the Cupcake Batter Spoon...In a Funk MONTAGE!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Year's Supply of Reddi-Wip and Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream

Who doesn't love ice cream? I thought y'all should know about this contest too. Head over to Table for Five for your chance to win a year's supply of Reddi-wip (2 cans a month for 12 months) AND a year's supply of Ben & Jerry's ice cream (2 pints a month for 12 months)! YUM!

(HURRY! The contest ends April 29th!)

Contest for the kiddos...

Head over to The Opinionated Parent to check out their awesome giveaway from Lily Bean Market of a brown bag lunch! I think their stuff is so cute! Maddox loves to "cook", real food or not so I'd bet he would love it if we won this! I especially like the bag of potato chips.

I'm at it Again...

I've been winning stuff like crazy again! I keep telling you people to check out Prizey, I really think you should. Here are the two latest prizes I've won:

From the Gifted Grasshopper I won 10 Party Totes: This gift set will include our miniature signature Gifted Grasshopper tote bag, a soft covered book and our signature Gifted Grasshopper glasses, pencil and sticky notes.

Then from Goody Blog I won the Red Vines Licorice Giveaway! We'll have tons of licorice over at our house for quite a while. WooHoo!

I think I should also take a moment to inform you that over at Bloggy Giveaways they'll be hosting another Carnival starting next Monday, April 21st. By now, you should know all about the carnival. Every time I hold a giveaway here at my blog, linked to the carnival, and every time I also win at least one prize. Don't remember? Click here or here. Last time there were over 600 giveaways! That's over 600 different things you might win! You should check it out!

FINALLY got the video to work...and in a montage no less

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Speech Therapy Update

People have been wondering how Maddox's speech therapy has been going. So far nothing earth shattering. He's trying to talk more, and we're starting to hear some new sounds coming out of his mouth. The original estimate was about 6 months, give or take, to meet the objectives of his IFSP. (Individualized Family Service Plan) I'm not so sure. He really likes Tammy (his speech therapist) but he's not super cooperative. At one point on Thursday, she was trying to get him to make a certain sound, she looked at me and said "He's REALLY smart". (Code for he's not doing what I need him to do, he's always looking for the loophole) He might just be a lawyer some day. I told her that he doesn't usually work for free. She breaks out the Coco Puffs and "magically" he starts to participate. Last week was his first full week of speech therapy so time will tell.

Crazy Dinner...

So we went to IHOP for dinner tonight. Breakfast is Maddox's favorite meal of the day. Little did we know that they have a "Horton Hears a Who" inspired breakfast. (how could we NOT know? we must live under a rock most of the time, we never know what's going on) Pictures of it were plastered all over the place. Three guesses what Maddox wanted for dinner?! We decided a little extra sugar probably wouldn't kill him, and since we wish they would have had something like this when we were kids...we let him have it. (We're getting old so no guarantee that even if "they" did have something like this we would remember it) Check it out:

This was the Beezlenut Splash that we ordered for everyone to share. My personal opinion is that it was gross, but Maddox thought it was awesome. It's lemon-lime pop with chunks of cherry and berry blue Jell-O in it. Jell-O that you suck through a straw. I think I should mention that sucking Jell-O through a straw is just wrong. Shawn thought it made the Jell-O edible. (he hates Jell-O...who hates Jell-O??) To each his own.

This was the Grand Finale...*drum roll*...Who-Cakes. Pancakes covered with Boysenberry and Blueberry glaze, topped with rainbow chocolate chips and a pink lollipop. (the lollipop was hidden first thing then secretly disposed of) These things were so sweet Maddox gave up after a while and asked to eat my scrambled eggs, which he normally won't touch. So, as far as dinner goes, the only way it could have been any less-healthy was if we would have let him eat straight up candy. I have to say that, while it was probably another bad parenting moment on our part, Shawn and I had a really great time trying these things with Maddox and watching his face light up when they brought him that stack of Who-Cakes. Hopefully a crappy dinner every once in a while won't kill him.

$18 later... who knew?

Every year near our home (in between Fred Meyer and Kmart) a carnival comes to town during Spring Break. Tonight we took Maddox to his first carnival. We were a little hesitant. It really could have gone either way (love or hate) but we took a chance. I'm glad we did because Maddox had a GREAT time! The only problem was that he didn't want to go on the kiddie rides. He wanted to go on the Octopus (yeah right, like we were going to let him go on that, he wasn't tall enough anyway) but settled for the kiddie rollar coaster. Again we were hesitant. I mean to take a 2 year old, who had never gone on a carnival ride before, on a rollar coaster first thing probably isn't the greatest idea. So we started him out on the air planes. He was un-impressed. He was adamant that the rollar coaster was for him. So Shawn went on it with him. This thing went fast and up and down and all around and he LOVED it. Had a huge grin the entire time. Got off and made it known that he wanted to get right back on. Yes, he went twice in a row. Then...we ran out of tickets. $18 ( who knew it was going to cost that much) got him 3 rides (one of us went with him on each ride so it took twice the tickets) and I wasn't going to spend any more money. I wish I would have taken the camera. Oh well, there's always next year.

Well Holy Crap...

My brother and oldest nephew have been in town for the last week because my Dad had his cancer surgery. (It went well, they think they got it all, thanks for those who asked) Anyway, we were looking for something to do with two boys in crappy weather. We took them to see Horton Hears a Who, and Maddox sat through the entire thing! We weren't sure he would, were prepared to potentially waste good movie tickets, and he did great! (well, except for the preview of Ice Age 3 with the scary dinosaur that made him cry) We were pleasantly surprised. For those of you looking for a bargain check your local theatres for discounted weekend morning prices. At a theatre here in town if you go to a movie before noon on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, tickets are only $5 each! (Normally $6.75 for 2-12 and $9.50 for adults) We could afford to buy the popcorn this time!

Kind of morbid, but I was curious...

$3990.00The Cadaver Calculator - Find out how much your body is worth.

FINALLY!!

It is for sure, a done deal! Maddox WILL start speech therapy on Tuesday and it WILL be paid for. Whew.

I would Die on the Moon

42%

Fashion Sense Just Like His Father...

Only Shawn or my son would pair tie-dye with camo!

Latest Creation

Just in time for Easter. I kind of think the bunnies need faces.

What do you think?

New Stuff...

Here's a couple of new quilts I just finished.

This wallhanging is now up in my craft room. It's made from one of Moda's Tin Box Sampler Series kits and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Notice the little frog in the bottom left corner. The picture doesn't really do it justice.

This one is a baby blanket from a new pattern. I'm pleased with this one, too. I just wish I could take better pictures!

He's Ready!

We just need to get him a harness, refresh our belaying skills, and get him to the climbing gym. He's ready to climb!

Harder than it looks!

27

Success at Last! (maybe...)

The squeaky wheel does get the grease. I called the Infant Toddler Network last week, I was very nice and to make a long story short, they red flagged us as urgent. Balls were dropped, none of which were MY balls, but I personally picked them up and took care of them so I KNEW that they had been taken care of. I now have an appointment Monday afternoon with our Family Resource Coordinator to go over funding options and to sign paperwork. I'm assuming this means that everything is a go and will start to move quickly. I hope things start to move quickly because Maddox has his first speech therapy appointment on the 25th, and we'd better have funding up and running by then. It pays to talk to the person in charge of things when you want results!

At least I'd have almost a 50/50 chance...

46%

Still Nothing but Frustration...

So, I STILL haven't heard anything from the Infant Toddler Network about covering the cost of Maddox's speech therapy. It's been exactly one week today. I'm going to call them again this afternoon. I started calling around speech therapy places, figuring we'd private pay as much as we could until we got some help paying for it, and every place has at least a month waiting list. FRUSTRATION!!

On the plus side Maddox had been doing really well with the sounds game we've been playing. He now will say "buh buh buh" for the boat sound and is trying to say boat and monkey. Imagine how well he'd do with a speech therapist, who knew what they were doing, twice a week!

Frustrated with the System...Already

So Maddox had his speech evaluation yesterday. He now is labeled with developmental speech delay. That is, until he's in speech therapy for a while and they find out more. It "could" be Apraxia. Again, even if it is, we won't know for a while. So we need to start speech therapy. So not only am I frustrated because I wanted to start this process months ago, but now it's been brought to my attention that speech therapy (if not for a medical reason such as autism) isn't covered by our insurance. The insurance we pay over $250 a month for. It's the insurance provided by Shawn's employer, so it's not like we had a choice. Every year we pay more for insurance and they cover less. Speech therapy starts at $70 an hour (usually more), and he won't only need to go once a week. So I've been put in contact with the Infant Toddler Network for Children with Special Health Care Needs. This is an Early Intervention Resource that is supposed to pay for his speech therapy until he turns 3. Who really knows what happens after he turns 3, probably get shuffled to another agency, or maybe the public school system. Right now we wait. How long I don't know. A Family Resource Coordinator should be in touch with me to set up an Individual Family Service Plan. First they have to see if we qualify. The lady couldn't tell me when we'd hear from our Family Resource Coordinator because apparently most insurance doesn't cover speech therapy (unless for a medical reason) so there are a lot of "kiddos" waiting. Great news for me to hear. On the plus side, it's probably better that my insurance doesn't cover it because even if they did cover it, they only cover 20 visits per year. If he needs to go twice a week that wouldn't even cover three months. So while we wait we practice our "games" with Maddox, the games that the speech therapist taught us yesterday, and hope that they will be enough to help for how ever long we need to wait. Hopefully we don't wait longer than a couple of weeks. The games seem to be helping so far, we're working on sounds right now because you have to have the sounds down before you can make words. He has the most difficulty with the sounds that come from the back of the mouth. However, progress has been made, in the last 24 hours Maddox has produced three of the sounds we've been working on - boo, aaahhhh, and vroom. So I'm off to buy more supplies and candy for our games. Candy as bribery? Yes! The therapist said she's only met a couple of kids who would "work for free" and Maddox definitely isn't one of them.

New!

So check out my new signature!





Pretty cool, huh? I'm getting more tech savvy everyday, I amaze myself. I didn't even need my Friend Chris, who is the person who usually keeps my computer from exploding! (I really just took a code from here)

Talk about making me feel like crap...

So last Friday Maddox went to his ear doctor. He goes every four months for a hearing test and to make sure his tubes are still in. It's speech evaluation time...finally. I asked about it at our last appointment. Then he had an informal speech eval from a good friend of Shawn's mom (a speech therapist), who wasn't concerned at that time. (6 months ago) Then at his two year checkup and shots his regualar doctor told me that some kids just talk later, blah, blah, blah. Now the ear doctor is all concerned, and told me that he should have at least 20 words and be putting 2 to 3 together, which I knew. I knew that, but everyone has been telling me that he'll talk when he's ready, and Shawn thinks the informal speech eval he got was good enough, etc. So the ear doctor made me feel like crap. It's not like you can just go and get a speech eval without a referral. I got Maddox an eval next Tuesday, which I am a little proud of because getting in that quickly is unheard of. I'm not, however, looking forward to the bills this will rack up. (He needs it, I'm getting it, and I'm paying for it, but I don't have to be happy about how much I'm paying for it) The speech eval alone is over $200, which goes straight to our insurance deductible. Then if he needs speech therapy (which I"m pretty sure he will because he only has 3 words) our insurance will only cover 20 visits per year. Something tells me that 20 visits, while it sounds like a lot, isn't that much. So I guess to make a long story short this whole thing is like a bad re-run of him getting tubes. They put you off and put you off until things get really bad. The more I think about the more it irritates me. If we would have gotten a formal speech eval when I wanted to Maddox would probably be talking by now. It also makes me feel like crap because I should have pushed the issue.

Into It...

Here's some pictures of the newest pillowcases I've made.

I'm not sure how I really like having two bands of color instead of one.
I've really gotten into making pillowcases. I've made 5 in the last two days. You should really go check out my Etsy shop, Mommies In Mind, I've been adding things and making a few changes.