An attempt at catch-up

Ok, so it's been quite a while since I've posted...we've been busy and distracted by other things lately.

Where to begin?? Last week, our basement flooded AGAIN! This time, though, we had 8 inches of sewer water..not just rain water. The whole city's sewers were at capacity, so the sewage had to go somewhere. What a fricken mess. Yes, we had things organized and cleaned up this time, but we still lost twice as much stuff from the basement this time. On a good note, though, since it was water back-up, our insurance covered all the damage and I'm getting new appliances. We had water in our dryer, yes, IN our dryer. So, we have been shopping for a new washer, dryer and deep freezer...can't decide what to get as far as a washer and dryer. I want front loaders this time, on the tallest pedestals that I can buy, to avoid this happening in the future. We also lost more toys, but mostly stuff the kids haven't played with in quite a while, so no big tear-fest there. We lost our t.v. cabinet, my storage cabinet for the kids' toys, a book shelf, old curtains, candles and holders, oh, and my Atari..yes, I had an original Atari with about 20 games! What I'm most upset about is that I lost my Christmas tree, actually, our family tree and both the kids' trees for their rooms. Yes, I was paid very well by the insurance company for them, however, since it's mid March right now, I can't very well go out and buy a new Christmas tree right now...so I have to hope that I can put the money away and keep it safe until I can replace my tree. There was lots of other stuff, and yes, we were reimbursed well by Nationwide, but I'm not sure it's worth it. Most of the stuff, we're not replacing, but trying to be smart about what we to do with the money, what to replace, etc.

We had a plumber come out to see if our drain needed to be cleaned out or if there was anything we could do to prevent this again in the future. Turns out that our drain is fine, no clogs. But, what they did suggest was getting a check-valve installed. I guess it lets the water flow, but as soon as the back-up starts, the valve shuts and the water is prevented from coming up into our basement. They gave us an estimate of $1,900, but the good side of this, is that the City of Toledo is currently giving $2,000 grants to people that have been flooded to do the necessary corrections to prevent this from happening again, such as having a check-valve installed. So, I am waiting for my application from the city so I can apply for the grant, and waiting for plumber #2 on Tuesday to give me an estimate; since we need to send the application with 2 estimates.
We also had Service Master out at our house for 3 days last week, cleaning and getting rid of the things that they could not clean. They had fans down there for 3 days, drying the basement. Finally, it's sanitized and dry, however, everything that is left is piled in the middle of the basement...we haven't even attempted to go down there and reorganize. So, basically, last week was a waste...dealing with the cleaning company, the insurance company/adjuster, and dealing with losing more stuff, etc.

We didn't do much last weekend weekend; David finished the job he was doing last Thursday, and hasn't worked in a week. Looks like he might have a job to start next week; let's hope...we need for him to bring some side money home..this economy sucks so bad. He only has 5 or 6 weeks left of unemployment; so after that, I'm not sure what we'll do next. If he continues to get side jobs, we should be ok for awhile, but with not having a steady check every week, things will be tough.

Monday, we had an appointment with Preston's pre-school teacher, the principal and 3 of the counselors at school. As I may have mentioned, Preston has been acting up at school. He's always been a handful at school, and they put him back on a daily behavioral chart in November. Preston has the opportunity to earn 6 stars per day, at different times; Calendar time, snack time, Ms. Rebecca's work time, Mrs. Augustyniak's work time, lunch and gym. Usually Preston gets 4 or 5 a day, but he's a typical boy...lots of energy and not always the best listener. Well, for the past 2 weeks or so, Preston's behavior has apparently taken a turn for the worse. Now, when we sat down at this meeting and heard the things that Preston has been doing and the way he's been acting, David and I were in total shock. We were at a loss for words. Apparently, Preston has tons of anger built up; he's been throwing bad temper tantrums at school, but they never went into detail what he was doing during these tantrums. Apparently, he throws things, flips chairs over, kicks things, tells people he hates them, punches HIMSELF (as well as others) and so on...Preston does not act like this when he is with us. Preston does get tough to handle sometimes, but never has he acted like the exorcist child, as they made him out to be. Obviously, he knows his boundaries with mom and dad, but I have no idea why he's acting like this at school. They, of course, are blaming it all on the birth of Mason, but I'm not so sure, since he doesn't act half this bad at home. Is this normal? For him to be so upset at home, but let it out at school? Wouldn't we notice some of this attitude at home? He listens to us, he may get upset when we tell him to pick up his toys, but he does it..he doesn't kick or throw them, and he certainly does not tell us that he hates us. The counselors all observed him at different times, and each time, when he had an outburst, the counselor would take him aside and talk to him, and his attitude would change. I spoke up and said that it seems to me that he's asking for more one on one attention. Since he's getting it when he acts badly, he's thinking that negative attention is better than none at all. I know that the school meets the state guidelines, but I still think that having 24 students and only 2 teachers is too many. I told them that, too. At Allison's pre-school, the only ever had 8 or 9 students per teacher. I don't know what to do. He tells them at school that he's so mad, but won't tell anyone why he's so mad.

Tuesday, had some visitors from work, and went appliance shopping again. Nothing exciting happened.

So, Wednesday, we got a call from Preston's teacher; she sounded very upset and agitated. Turns out my son ran out of the school and into the parking lot..for no reason; they were not going outside, he just got mad for whatever reason and ran out into the parking lot. His teacher had to chase him and practically tackle him to catch him. I had David go to school and get him and we kept him home the rest of the week. We're not sure what his deal is lately. He doesn't act like this anywhere but school. Oh, and Allison's old pre-school doesn't have any full-time openings...so that is not an option. We are going to send him back to school this week to see how he acts...I had no incidents while he was home with me for 4 1/2 days.

Thursday, David, Preston, Mason and myself just hung out most of the day. I had some visitors from work stop by and an old friend who hadn't seen Mason yet. Oh, and Mason turned ONE MONTH old!!!

Friday, I decided to let Allison play hookie and stay home with us as well. David was gone most of the morning, helping his brother tear out someones kitchen. Allison and Preston drove me nuts all day; they are constantly asking for snacks...or asking if they can play on the computer then proceed to fight because Allison is trying to boss Preston around, as usual. We finally went Friday night and ordered a washer, dryer and deep freezer; they will be here by Friday at the latest, because no one carries a gas dryer in stock anymore, all electric these days. I'm very excited to get a new washer and dryer...maybe it will make the laundry more fun. Yeah right.

Saturday, Preston had his last hockey practice, of course, it wasn't a practice really, more a ceremony as the kids were "graduating" from the instructional play program. They can now play on a team in the league. So, Preston got another medal and a completion certificate. He is all for playing on a team now. He kept saying that he only wanted to play soccer, but now that his hockey is over, he's all for playing "real hockey" and doesn't care about soccer anymore. So, looks like we'll have tap dancing, soccer (at least for Allison) and hockey for spring...plus the new baby and me back to work. Can we say busy??

Today, Sunday, we didn't do too much. My sister stopped by for a little while and then David and I took the kids to get their pictures taken at Sears. I hadn't yet gotten Preston's 5 year picture taken and I usually get the kids' pictures taken every 6 months, but decided to wait until Mason was a month old to get them all done at once. I didn't really like the photographer; she was mostly focused on pictures of Mason since they were his first ones; she didn't get a lot of good shots at all, and only really one good one of all 3 kids. She didn't take any individual of Allison and only one of Preston with the 5. So, I'm going to share them (once I download them from Sears) but am really disappointed that I didn't get any individuals of the older kids. Allison wanted to get more taken, but at that point, I was tired and extremely hot; we had been there for 45 minutes trying to get one shot of Mason with his eyes open and Preston can't stay posed for very long. He kept looking down at Mason, so I was just irritated...maybe next time, sigh.
Well, this has turned out to be a very long post; sorry to bore you. I'll leave you with some photos. I have lots more to share; but will try to post more often in the upcoming week. Enjoy!

Michele

Mason loved his first walk to the park...can't you tell?

Preston "#27"

He just got his medal and was skating away.





My wonderful daughter taking care of Mason so David & I could eat dinner (she had already finished her dinner)