Little BIG Deals

The past couple months have been pretty eventful around here.  Aubrey turned two and Jude started kindergarten.  I kept thinking that once Jude started back to school, we'd fall into this boring but welcomed daily routine...  Well our days have been far from boring and no week has been alike as far as time schedule so no steady routine either.  Our days have been full of therapy, doctors' appointments, bible study, dance class... you get the picture.  I guess the only routine to be found is that we routinely stay on the go.

Amongst the chaos, though, have been some fun things too.  Some little Big deals.  So here they are in chronological order.

First, our town approved our land subdivision request!!  YAY!! So our property lines are officially drawn and filed with the courts.  I'm guessing that it didn't change our street address, because I haven't heard anything different yet.  I really don't care if it does; I'm excited either way.

Right after that we met with a drafting firm to discuss house plans. I enjoyed the meeting, and really felt confident in the draftsman to draw plans to meet our needs.  We told him we'd get back with him soon to start the preliminaries, then... then doubt started creeping in.  The first concern was the size of the living room.  With our floorplan the furniture has to be floated off the wall to make a walkway.  So I had Lane mark off the dimensions of the proposed plan in our yard.  Then I set up lawn furniture to get an idea of the space- I wasn't thrilled with how small it felt.  The second issue is the driveway and placement of the house.  Our house will face North, and we have a driveway on the West.  However, our backdoor will be on the East.  So that means that we have to come in front of the house and around to the carport on the East side.  We don't really want to put the driveway in our front yard, but if we flip the plan that would put my kitchen and sunroom windows facing West and full of evening sun.  UGH!!! I can't seem to problem solve here.  Anybody have kitchen windows facing the West?  I do now and I hate doing anything in front of the sink on Summer evenings because of the glare.  Is a driveway in the front yard that big of a deal?  

How am I ever going to build a house when the details of picking the right house plan could make me just scream?! If any of my friends that are good at this sorta thing wanna come have coffee with me one day and help me, you know where to find me... Don't make me beg... PLEASE!

Moving right along...

During this time frame, Aubrey Lane potty trained.  We took away her diapers on a Friday and by Wednesday she had gotten it.  She has done great, until recently.  She has quit telling me she needs to potty when we are in the car and she always pees in her carseat.  It's driving me bonkers.  I hate to put her back in pullups, but I am going to end up washing the cow spots off her carseat.  She still wears pullups at night because she's still in the crib.  

The next little Big deal: My Judey Jude started riding the bus home from school a couple weeks ago.  I struggled with the decision as I thought I would always pick my kids up from school, but afternoons were driving me insane!  Aubrey Lane, who still takes a 2-3 hour nap a day, would refuse to go to sleep until 1/1:30. Then I would have to wake her up by 2:15 at the latest (I get next to nothing accomplished) so she could potty and go get Jude from school which is a 20+ minute drive without any traffic.  Once we get Jude around 3, I had to endure him screaming and crying all the way home because he has decided to hate his carseat.  On top of that, AL screams at him because she is annoyed with his screaming.  By the time we get home, I feel like a basket case, Jude is beyond upset, and AL has once again peed in her carseat.  

Now that Jude rides the bus home, AL gets her 2+ hour nap in, I can work on more orders or housework, Jude loves the ride home and is always in a good mood when I get him, and my sanity is no longer at stake.  

Next on our list of little Big deals is Lane's accomplishment.  After ten and a half months of training, crazy hard classes, lots of studying, stressing, and testing, praying and praying, Lane finished his initial training course for his job position.  And he finished with an A average.  Okay, I just gotta brag... these courses were tough; I knew my husband was smart, but I had no idea my country husband was THAT smart.  But he is!  And I'm so proud of him.  Now off to work he goes so we can build that house... if I ever find plans!

And my final little Big deal is a something that means the most to me.  Jude seems to be thriving lately!  First, with the insight of his WONDERFUL teacher, we realized that a lot of Jude's stress is simply because he's hungry.  This is great news!  Jude has never really shown signs of hunger; I was worried that sensation just didn't register with him.  

So you're probably wondering "why don't he eat if he's hungry?"  Well there are two answers to that.  The first one is that Jude hasn't completely connected the idea of eating by mouth to soothe hunger.  And since he is orally and visually defensive (answer number 2), when he's stressed from anything, in this case hunger,  the last thing he wants to see is a spoon headed towards his face.  He now gets a bolus feed through his G-tube at school around snack time so at lunch he's calmer and can focus more on eating by mouth.  And he's overall happier throughout the day.  His attitude and disposition has done a 180!

We are currently working with a pediatric gastroenterologist to rule out any medical reasons for Jude's oral aversion.  If there seems to be no medical reason for Jude's defensive behavior, then I'm going to chalk it up to plain old fear and HE WILL OVERCOME!

Not only has Jude's dispostion improved, but his development as well.  I'll be honest; there tends to be long stretches of time when I don't see any improvement with my own eyes.  It can be hard to keep the faith, but I'm reminded faith is not based on circumstance.  Anyway, from time to time my faith is rewarded when my eyes do catch a glimpse of all the incredible triumphs of this little boy with bright blue eyes and auburn hair.  One of those triumphs was tonight.

I was reading to the kiddos (Jude's absolute favorite thing), and after about the 4th book, I brought out the big guns for the finale.  I held up our very worn, but very beloved "Brown Bear" and Jude went nuts.  After reading it I put it down next to me and told and signed "the end" to Jude.  Well once is never enough for Jude, but instead of throwing his usual fit, he started reaching for the book.  I held my breath because I just knew the book was about to be thrown; however, it wasn't.  I watched carefully, and after a few good tries, Jude got both of his hands on the book, turned himself around, and handed me the book.

I wanted to cry.  

I could still cry thinking about it.

Jude has NEVER handed me anything.  This is a skill we've worked on in occupational therapy for years.  And he did it tonight so sweetly.  

This probably won't seem like a big deal to hardly anyone else, but it's a big deal to me,  and that's all that matters.

It's moments like these, these little Big deals that keep things in perspective and remind me how blessed I really am.