happy love kids

Brendan turned 9 years old yesterday!! Every year seems to fly by. I can not believe he is 9 and next year we hit double digits!! I am not ready for the next 9 years. He is heading into his teenage years. That seems insane!! Okay I know I have a few more years before that but lately he is maturing before my eyes and becoming this young boy that I never thought I would see. He loved his birthday. We had a family party and he had a blast. He can open presents without any help now...must have the been all those years of practice. I think this was his first birthday that he genuinely enjoyed all of his gifts. Usually we don't even open half of them for weeks because he shows no interest but every single present has been opened and played with. Maybe we are all learning who Brendan really is or maybe he is just becoming more 'typical' as he ages. I am not sure but I am loving this little boy that is growing up on me. He can play by himself in his room. He watches t.v. in bed and...

Brendan still has accidents on occasion. He doesn't get in trouble for having an accident since he can't exactly run to the bathroom. He does get in trouble for not telling us because we don't want him sitting in it. This has been going on for over a year now possibly longer. Two weeks ago I said to my husband "he just isn't getting it, we are doing something wrong because he just doesn't get it, we have to figure something else out". We have taken away his t.v. for two days, his power wheels, the computer.... basically everything he loves for not telling us, hoping this will make him tell us. Two weeks ago he had an accident and Derek took away his t.v. yet again. We both had long talks with him about why we took it away and we kept reiterating that he wasn't in trouble for having an accident but for not telling us. We had him practice telling us "I had an accident" over and over and over. Derek actually felt bad after our discussion of him ...

Shaws has a great deal this week. Buy ten Betty Crocker items and get $5 off instantly. Combine this with coupons that double and you make out. I bought 21 items and paid just $10. The picture I posted only cost me a total of $35. Lately I am able to cut my usual budget of $150 per week (to buy food and household items) to around $70. The picture shows 8 pillsbury grand rolls, 3 fundamiddles, 2 cake mix, 2 frosting, 4 packages of cookie mix, 2 boxes of potatoes, 3/4 lb. of fish, over 2 lbs of chicken, 3 packs of english muffins, chocolate milk (for my husband), juice boxes, jar of pesto sauce, two zone bars, can of chefboyardee, and a box of breakfast bars. That is a $1.06 an item. Ya I can deal with that! We built a huge garage. 28 feet long to be exact and we are having space issues. We are having issues parking both vans and being able to open up Brendan's ramp and get him off. Seriously who knew? How could this garage not be big enough. Well once you throw either a lift or ramp...

I think dealing with the ADHD is beyond harder than cerebral palsy. Some days I am at the brink of a mental breakdown. He can drive me batty in the matter of seconds depending the day. If we are stuck in the van together on one of his bad days it is not pretty. The girls hate when I yell and I don't like yelling but sometimes nothing works and I lose control of myself. I try asking him nicely, I try taking away anything that is causing bad behavior, I try threatening, I try taking away a favorite item....some days absolutely nothing works and I lose. I think I need a class on how to handle my child with ADHD. I can't stand when my kids don't listen and when it involves banging, slamming doors, or hitting the keyboard aggressively I flip out very quickly. Some days I can control it. Some days it doesn't bother me quite so much but other days I go bazerk. If this kid could run I would be in trouble! Can you guess I am home with 3 kids all day due to no school?? Right now ...

Brendan is turning 9! How can that be? How have I been a mother for 9 years?? I think back to the day he was born and can not believe where we are in life today. Life certaintly did not turn out as intended but does it ever? I never expected to be a mother to a disabled child but now I can't picture life any other way. Years ago we never knew if Brendan would talk, ambulate on his own, or go to a public school. Today my boy is doing amazing and he never stops progressing. He doesn't stop talking and he is learning new things everyday. We have been through so much together and have the most amazing bond I could ask for. I know I can handle just about anything after handling these past 9 years. Yes I have my moments. I do cry. I do feel like life is unfair at times but in the end I really wouldn't change my life. Would I want my son to experience life easier...YES! Do I wish he never had to endure all those surgeries...YES! Do I wish he could walk or stand without his walker....

Coupons take up a lot of time from cutting to sorting to storing to figuring out the deals!!! UHHH but it is soooo worth it. At shaws I ended up getting 6 bags of Doritos, 6 jars of gravy, two large bags of Tyson Chicken Nuggets, 4 frozen TGIF meals for one, 3 cookie dough's, a bunch of bananas and a large tote of apples for $30 and then I got a $5 coupon back. Happy Halloween Everyone!! Brendan was Batman...again! That kid loves being batman. We tried giving him other options but he would yell BATMAN after every character we said so batman it was. He really enjoyed trick or treating this year. He was happy as can be being wheeled up to each house. He would say trick or treat and you could even understand him this year! Our neighborhood was super busy so lots of houses ran out of candy. The houses with lights on became 'candy houses' and the kids would yell there is a candy house! It was cute. My husband even got home from work on time to come with us! The first season of S...