Angry Birds

We have six large ficus trees in our backyard. They are beautiful and we loved them so much- they really made the backyard feel so private. Then we had far too many frost days this winter here in Phoenix and they froze. UGH. Poor trees. We started doing some yardwork today and attempted to start trimming back the ficus trees to help promote regrowth.

A few weeks back we saw some large birds' nests in one of them and I told my husband, let's lovingly call him "Dum-Dum" for anonymity, to NOT TOUCH THE NESTS. What does he do? pulls out a big ol' nest while I am not looking and sure enough, 3 baby birds.

I told Dum-Dum to cram it back up there because there were now some VERY angry birds squawking on my lawn...and by looks of the babies, I am pretty sure these are vultures that are planning to eat my children. Seriously, they started multiplying out of nowhere like some bird gang..or considering where I live, I am thinking perhaps they are Polygamist Mormon birds and they have sent their kind to annoy the shit out of me forevermore.

Let's just hope the momma bird goes back to the nest now and gets her babies. I sent Dum-Dum out with a peace offering scoop of bird seed....we shall see.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Same shit, different State. Ugh. I despise IEP time and EVERYTHING That goes along with it. I am made to be the enemy and it feels AWFUL. You leave those meetings either feeling like the biggest beyotch on the planet and they all HATE you..OR you leave feeling like they just railroaded you and you hate YOURSELF.

The last few years I have chosen my path. I hold my head high. I speak with clarity and direction. I do my research and make informed comments as to hold back from snarking, "bullshit." under my breath. I leave many a meetings knowing that I haven't made friends and they hate sitting down with me as much as I hate sitting down with them. My plan is to have that exact thing happen- for them to dislike me enough, fear me enough, and to keep them in the backseat. I am driving and you can get on board or it's going to be an awful and drawn out ride. I don't give up and will not be intimidated. I don't work for you. I work for Nate. I also work pro bono, so you know I am working on sheer determination.

In the end, I hope they respect me. I hope they look back and say, "Ya know what? I would do the SAME thing for my kid.".

But the "retrospect" I hope they find takes time. In the meantime I make sure to aim my fight at the DISTRICT and not the teachers or therapists that work one on one with my child. Creating a divide in THAT relationship only causes harm.
This is insanely hard to do though. The IEP meeting is to create an open forum between parents, teachers, therapists, and the District, to create an INDIVIDUAL plan that will serve all of Nate's UNIQUE needs. But, it is not that. It is about the teachers and therapists being told what they need to cut back on and what they are NOT ALLOWED to authorize, no matter what that child needs. If the parent or outside professional finds that the child needs more, it goes over the IEP team's head and basically there is no discussion of what would suit NATE best, it becomes a game of who will blink first. (Good thing I am uber competitive-ha!) In the end they decide if they think they can push me around enough to win AND if they think my case would look foolish for them to bring before the superintendent. Unfortunately what is best for NATE is no longer a deciding factor. It's incredibly sad and makes me ill just writing about it.

So here we stand. Nate's school district has proposed one thing and I countered with another- of course stating all the legal and concrete reasoning behind my proposal. Now we wait. I love pushing it to the end of school. Guess what- you have teachers, therapists,and employees going on break and some are not under contract to attend a meeting. You better back down now because ya know what? I got ALL summer. I don't go on break. Stay at Home Mommy benefit packages are a little lacking in the "vacation" category".haha.

My first year in IEP-LAND wasn't as successful. I was unskilled and they DID railroad me. I hated it. I cried and couldn't understand why they weren't helping NATE. Then it dawned on me to fight back and not stop. The only person REALLY fighting for NATE is me...and when I say "fight" I mean FIGHT. Money is an ugly awful thing and schools are bound by it. You occasionally find awesome teachers and even therapists that haven't had their spirits broken by the District yet, and they will help you. But ultimately it is all on us. You accept your role and suit up. By day you wear your Mommy clothes and make cupcakes for class. By afternoon you tie on your MommyBeyotch cape and walk into your meetings (all 110 of them). I promise you that a reputation goes a LONG way. Of course I don't WANT the hate surrounding me, but you know what? They pick their battles...and they will learn to not pick one with me. They learned that lesson in Ohio and now it's time for Arizona to get on board.

In the meantime, we will just strangle Nate with all of our love. hehehe...

Love ya, T!!!!



That Boy is MINE

Tuesday was the Mother's Day celebration at Neve's school. It was so so sweet and I already am dreading the end of preschool and all of the adorable things we get to be a part of. It goes SO SO fast. Nate started Kindergarten and I barely see the boy anymore. :( Breaks my heart. Well I am going to make it last with my sweet girl and soak it all in.

The kids had been rehearsing little songs to sing for us about "mothers" and they sang them to us. Well Miss Thang never even opened her mouth, ha!. What's that all about?? I barely get a word in edge wise the rest of the days.

PLEASE TAKE NOTE that Neve's boyfriend, Logan, has moved on. Yes, I believe he has moved on and left Nevie in the dust...and with her friend no less! tsk. tsk. Oh well, brush it off, Neve. There are plenty of other potty trained boys in the sandbox to choose from. 

They had a "Guess the Baby" game which was cute...and Neve and I got them all right. Neve was really good at it!

MMM..MMM...I LOVES me some Gluten. HAHAHAHA! Can you tell we talk about Gluten a lot in our house??!?

Then it was muffins and milk with mom.

..and a quick picture with her teacher and one of her BFF's.

We left school, hit the library for some new princess books (she can't get enough DISNEY lately), and a mommy and me lunch at her fav, Chipotle.

LOVE this girl. I really do. (..and even more so as she is currently sound asleep and I have had a glass of wine..ha!)

..oh, and tomorrow I can hopefully update some Nateman IEP drama. Good times never end around here. :)

Mommy - The best thing I have ever been called.

Pretty low key Mother's Day around here, which is just FINE by me. My mom was here this week so the kiddos were able to spend lots of time with their Grandma. Aaron got home on Sunday morning so order has now been restored in my world. :)

Neve and Dad made Mother's Day cupcakes for us. Neve has been talking about wanting to do this for weeks so this was a long time coming for her.

My sweet boy Nate wrote me some messages on his Doodleboard.

..and he made me a cute card in his therapy class...

Nate and Neve gave me some darling gifts they painted as well- a picture frame from Nate and a jewelry box from Nevie.

I am so lucky to be their Mom.

..and HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the amazing moms/grandmas in my life as well as my kid's - my mom (Grandma Ding), Granny E, Grammy Koke...as well as my mom friends that I admire so much... and my sister Lana, Supermom Aunt Jen, Aunt Katie, and the list goes on and on...

Back in the swim of things...

Day four of Aaron being out of town and I have had enough, thank you very much. I would like my husband back please. These kids are driving me bananas! I swear we will never get divorced if for no other reason that neither of us wants to take the kids. hahahhahha...ok, kidding (sort of).

We started swim lessons back up today for the first time since moving to AZ. Neve was quite hesitant to trust the lifeguard at first, but eventually she was happily kicking away on a kick board. The instructor was a young kid and I had to suggest to him that he *might* want to introduce himself to the kids first. This age of kiddos is taught all day "stranger danger", then they are supposed to happily swim into some guy's arms? Not likely. I could tell Neve was about to go all Bruce Lee on him every time he got close to her in the beginning.

Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini,  er, I mean a hot pink long sleeve skin protecting rashguard..sorry Gidget, skin cancer ain't cool. Kids with exposed skin are SOOO out. :)~

(not sure sure what's goin' on with "Hulk" in the green shorts. I think I snapped this mid-transformation..)

Dad and Nate will both be with us next week so hopefully she is in a better mood. We shall see. Nateman also had his first "bad" day of school and therapy on Friday. I am sure it has everything to do with Aaron being out of town. Nate is definitely a Daddy's boy--and when Daddy isn't part of the routine, it all goes downhill. :(  I am off to bed and will be counting the hours til Dad gets home so I can clock out for a bit. Mama needs a BREAK.

Gentle

The girl is T-R-O-U-B-L-E!

..and all we hear is Nate's sweet sweet little voice from under the pile saying, "Gentle!"

What are we to do with her?!

Take time to smell the flowers

The sunflowers Nate and Neve planted have BLOOMED. Neve is so super excited.

Next up are the carrots, lima beans, and cucumbers. :)