Still Here!!!!!

HI MY LOVES!!!!!!

I'm still here, really. I've been SO busy lately. I've actually had work to do at work and, at home, we're still working on transforming the scary wallpaper room. Now that the wallpaper is down and the room painted, we decided to strip the trim and stain it. We found that, like the wallpaper, it was a BITCH to get down. We tried to use a chemical stripper. We had our dear friends K & J over to help and they brought their own stripper (ok, people, get your minds out of the gutter...that was the running joke all night...oh, wait, still is!). Between the four of us and our two strippers, we hardly got diddly squat done. Frustrated, we cleaned up and waited for next time.

Next time. Yes. Next time we remembered...DUH, we have a heat gun. OH. MY. GOD!!!! How much simpler!!! It bubbled up the twelve layers of paint and the old varnish and we just followed along with the scraper. Mind you, there are some hazzards of using a heat gun - oh, say, melting the plastic on your new window frames, burning the wood, potentially starting something, including yourself, on fire....but it's SO much easier than the chemicals! We're not even close to done. After you get the paint off, it is truly very very necessary to sand the wood down to it's natural finish. Sanding just one side of the door frame created so much sawdust in the house that we can only do this part of the project when SmallBoy (and preferably the other two kiddos) is not home. Since his father is still banning him from the house, we've been limited to when SmallBoy's had sleepovers. Thankfully, the last two weekends he has been with friends. It's going to take us a long time, but we'll get there and then our house will look beautiful.

SmallBoy update: He has started OT on Monday nights. The last two weeks were the evaluation and tonight PC, myself, Ex, New Wife, and New Baby met with the OT and listened to her results. Nothing surprised us. It was all what we had expected. She recommended vision therapy also as his visual tracking is kind of funky. Ex and New Wife were totally confused...but we're not surprised by that. They were so focused on why SmallBoy "Lies" to them when they ask him why he's touching something. I won't rant too much about that. I came home totally exhausted. But J, the OT basically told them that if they want SmallBoy to be able to adapt to all of the new things and rules and handwashing and not touching new baby's toys, etc, that he needs to be allowed back in that house and SOON. She also said that the absence from Ex's house will only serve to make SmallBoy feel like he is being punished and that, in itself, will make him more confused when he visits.

She talked to them about his need to really really feel somethings and to totally avoid feeling others....Ex and New Wife just didn't get it. Oh well. Their loss when they totally lose any love from SmallBoy, right?

Also this weekend, I met a spectacular woman, H., who has a 7 y/o undiagnosed Aspie son. She and I talked at great length, she met my SmallBoy, and saw many of the same things in him as in her son. We talked about her son, N's, sensory issues also and how sometimes she just needs to vent and talk to other people who "get it". I gave her my blog info and hopefully she'll visit. H - you're an awesome mom. N. is going to be just fine. All of my friends here will be your support net, they are truly a godsend. I promise you'll love them. They have children from all over the spectrum - some low functioning, some non verbal, some asperger's, some older, some younger, and they all have many strategies and resources that will help you. And, like you and me, they need to vent some days, too, and appreciate even a "shoulder" to cry on. Sometimes, that helps the rest of us also to realize that we are NOT alone in this. I encourage you to visit any of the sites on the right of the blog - under Mommy Links (or whatever it says). You'll love them. We're all our own little family and we would love to welcome you in. Whenever you need us, we're her.

Everyone else - I MISSED YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll try to play catch up as soon as I can - I know I'm WAYYYYYYYY behind. LOVE Y'ALL tons!