A New Year

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a nice holiday season. I apologize for taking such a long break from blogging, I have been getting my energy back from the kid's Christmas break. My kids were sick during the whole break, I always had at least two sick at all times. Some of them had the stomach flu, which always seemed to rear it's dirty little head around 2:30 in the morning! After I got one cleaned up, along with their bed, I would get back to bed and the next one would be up getting sick. When that one would be all cleaned up and back in bed, round two began. I didn't get much sleep, and I'm not even going to mention the laundry that went with all of that! Along with the stomach flu came the other intestinal sickness(I don't want to sound gross), and so it began again. I went around the house wiping every surface I thought the kids had touched, not once, not twice, but three times! I said a prayer, hoping I got rid of those germs. On New Year's Eve Ted complained that his throat was scratchy, it got worse as the day went on. He ended up having strep throat, along with Katie. The wiping commenced! The bright side...Helen never got sick during break!

Did all of you make your New Year's resolutions? I don't do resolutions, I feel too much pressure from making them. I get very frustrated with myself when I break them, which, I always do. I have learned to set goals for the year, that seems to work better for me. The goals I didn't reach at the end of the year rollover into the next. Since Peter passed away I haven't set goals for myself, so this is definitely a fresh start for me. I feel like I have entered the world of the living once again, I have been in a fog since May of 2006 when it all began.

I have Helen's IEP coming up at the end of the month, I hope it goes well. She hasn't "picked" on anyone in awhile and comes home with all smiley faces. She is always happy to share with us her total number of smiley faces and the fact she was able to get a "pick"(meaning, she was able to pick from the candy jar before leaving school). On those days, at home, she gets her choice of snack which is always, pretzels and marshmallows. If she gets one frown on her chart she doesn't get candy at school or her choice of snack. It seems to be working, so we're sticking with it.

Good luck to everyone this year, whether it's with resolutions or goals. I wish all of you a happy and healthy New Year.

Until next time-
Take Care,
Sue