All right, all right! You guys are right. Its time for me to snap out of it and rejoin the land of the living! (Putting on a brave face)
Here come a bunch of updates so get ready
. Its late so I dont know how much time I can put in before my meds put me to sleep
Working backwards starting with my
health update
.
I am sick, I am sick of being sick. Ive been sick for two weeks now. Some sinusitis, post nasal drippy, makes you cough so much that you cant sleep or think, voice-losing disease
.
I may not have a voice right now but I can type. At first I thought it was just a virus and it would pass, but I did finally go to my doctor on day 7 to get some meds. Which turned out to be very messy. I had a severe allergic reaction to the nasal spray he gave me for the postnasal drip. Within 5 minutes of taking it I started to vomit uncontrollable for 20 minutes straight. It was so bad because not only couldnt I breath but I was in terrible pain, because it felt like thousands of needles were trying to escape out of neck, my face, and my shoulders down my arms all at once. It totally freaked me out especially since I was home alone. When I could get up off the bathroom floor I crawled into bed and fell asleep. Later that day and for the next 2 days, every time I coughed I felt those needles trying to escape again. Lets just say I am never taking that med again!!!! Now I am on antibiotics and most of the symptoms have gotten better. I am now left with the occasional cough and no voice to speak of. While I was at the doc, he decided I should try a new med for my Fibro, which also helps anxiety. After my bad experience with the nasal spray I decided to wait till the weekend, especially since it causes nausea and sleepiness. I wanted another adult around when I took it. Ive always hated meds because finding the right one for me requires A LOT of trial and error as I tend to get hit really hard with the side effects. Anyway Saturday was my first day and I spent most of the day in bed, feeling tired, weak, nauseous and headachy and my whole night wide awake. So I didnt put in much computer time this weekend. Now I am taking it in the evening hopefully I will sleep better
Computer Update
.Well, the external hard-drive is with the Geek Squad. It should take 7-10 days to find out if they can get all my files off of there. Not only are all my priceless, precious, photos on there but so is all my research. Research on Disney, ADHD, Fibro, and any other thing that may have been important to me. My Disney stuff includes lists, planning info, touring cards, excel sheets and designs that I found from fellow DISsers. If the local Geek Squad cannot fix it at the store, they will refund my money and I can then send it to their lab for double the price. The good news is they seem confident that if the local store cant do it then the lab definitely can. The head Geek said that we could have taken a hammer to it (which had crossed my mind) and burned the house down around it and they still would be able to recover my files. The bad news is it will cost me the same as an AP and could take 4 6 weeks. So here is crossing my fingers that the store can handle it rather than sending it out.
Leon & School Update
Leons first day of school went fairly well. Until he got home
then the chaos ensued.
There was a bunch of excitement at the bus stop once the kids got off and the bus left.
We were all excited to hear how everyones day was (we have about 13 kids at our stop) when I finally say ummmm does anyone know whose child this is? Yup, we had an extra kid at the bus stop. This poor little boy was on the brink of tears. He was a kindergartener who got off at the wrong stop. We assured him that we would get him home, my heart was breaking for this little guy, I was holding his hand and he was squeezing it sooo tight. A high schooler that came to the bus stop to see his baby brother get off the bus took off running after the school bus and caught up with it at the next stop. It came back and picked up the little one. While all this is happening Leon looks me right and the eye and says, Mom, I am going to be honest with you. I am going to tell you the truth
. Im thinking - Ummmm okay what now
He then proceeds to tell me that he bit his friend Thomas on the bus. I tell him to get in the house and wait for me to come talk to him. I went in to find him sitting in his time out spot waiting patiently for me. When I asked him why, his response was I dont know, for no reason. This is an answer I am stating to get used to and learning to accept, because given his impulse control issues he really doesnt know why. I made him call Thomas and apologize and I spoke to Thomas mom, who was very understanding about it. Leon then wanted to wait outside for everyone to come for cake. I told him okay but STAY AWAY FROM THE POOL! Next thing I know, I hear him at the door saying, Moooom, I am really, really soooorry! Really I am. Even though the blow up pool in the yard had been drained of all but maybe 2 inches of water, Leon managed to fall in and get soaked from head to toe, new school shoes and all. Rather than yell, I just started to laugh and I sent him to his room to change his clothes. Next he comes running out saying he hears his friend coming can he go back out. I tell him yes but SLOW DOWN. Wham! He falls face down on the concrete! I heard the thud! I go out to find his knee ripped open and blood dripping all down his leg while he is screaming and crying at the top of his lungs. I cleaned him, wiped his tears and he was off again. Well that was all of the first 15 minutes after Leon got of the bus
Phew! After that the kids enjoyed the school bus cake I made (which I cant show you because my pictures are gone! - maybe) and played in the yard together. It was very nice. Leon got homework the first day, which was only a little bit of a struggle, thanks to my new Pokemon card reward system. And then it was time for dinner, shower and bed. All in all a good day. I have a daily behavioral journal going back and forth between his teacher and I, that is how I found out that on his second day of school Leon ripped up and threw away his reading comprehension test. YIKES! Oh well, he IS a work in progress. Right now his biggest problem in class is not being able to sit still and disrupting the class with his non-stop talking.
Okay now going further back, to our
Amusement Park Practice Weekend (aka OMG, I may have to cancel our Disney trip) Mini PTR.
Step into my time machine if you will, back to the weekend of Aug 22nd 2008. I had planned 3 days of fun, rides, fun, water park, fun, pirates, and more fun for my boys, what I got was headache, tears, more headache, whining, headache, pain, more tears, more whining and more headache!
Day 1, Friday Aug. 22: Plan - Have the Pirates of Old (Characters we created for Leon last year about pirates that leave treasure for well behaved boys) leave clues that lead him to a Land of Adventure were he could practice the skills he will need in Disney World. This went very well, he found one clue (made on the computer by me), which led to another, and so on, and so on, till we ended up at Adventureland. A small local amusement park where we met up with his cousins. He was so excited and had a blast. Unfortunately a lot of the rides he was interested in had a height requirement that he missed by half an inch. But there were a few that he was very happy to ride over and over again. He did pretty well on the lines, they werent huge and he had his cousins to occupy his time with. He is always drawn to water, so his favorite ride was the mini log flume. He must have gone on it at least 6 times. Things started to go a little sour when we reached 6pm thats just about his witching hour. Thats when the whining and the tears started. It hadnt gotten that bad yet. We hadnt eaten dinner yet so we decided to all go somewhere for dinner. The first place we went to was so packed that there was a wait, after half an hour we decide to try somewhere else. Leon through a fit! All he kept saying was no, no, no, I dont want to go I dragged him out of there kicking and screaming. I finally got him calmed down enough to find out he thought we were going home and to bed without any dinner. By this time it is way after 7pm and we have to get up at 5:30am to leave at 6am for our 3-hour drive to Hershey Park. So I decided he had had enough and it was time to go home instead of join the others for dinner. Another huge fit all the way home. I tried to feed him something quick (pa-ha) and get him to bed immediately, but it took forever. By the time he fell asleep it was almost 10pm and he usually has a 7:30 8:00 bedtime. Whew! Now to get ready for Hershey.
Day 2, Saturday Aug. 23: Plan Leave at 6am and get to Hershey Park by 9:30am, stopping only once to stretch me legs. Start in the water park area, have lunch and then enjoy the rest of the park till 10pm, watch the fireworks and then check into the hotel.
Ill admit it was asking a lot, what with Leon having a late night, the night before, but I was willing to play it by ear. Be flexible and what not.
So this is how the day actually went We woke at 5:30am, got the car packed, stopped for gas and bagels, got on the highway and got stuck in bumper to bumper traffic for about an hour. It cleared up once we were in New Jersey, in fact it cleared up so much that there were hardly any cars on the road with us
.. Weird. We immediately started noticing that EVERY overpass that we went under had a bunch of fire trucks on it displaying huge American flags; we also saw cars pulled over at the side of the highway waiting for something. After about the 15th overpass, we decided to get off and ask someone. After Ron asked someone he came back to the car and told me that. They were transporting the World Trade Center crossbeam from NYC to the plane crash site in PA, and that there was a whole motorcade of fire trucks and law enforcement accompanying it along with 1000 motorcycles. We were already back on the road when he was telling us about it. Tears started rolling down my face. Ron asked if I wanted to pull over, at first I said no, but the further we went and the more overpasses we went under displaying the flag, the more I wanted to stop. We passed a weigh station and we were going to stop there but it looked packed so Ron decided to go a bit farther. We pulled over and waited, and waited, and waited. While we were waiting, Leon was having a bit of a fit. He was having a hard enough time with the long ride; he just wanted to get there. I explained as best I could through tears the importance of what happened and how this was a once in a lifetime experience to be able to stop and honor all that was lost on 9/11. As I sat there with tears coming down my face, Leon put his hand on my arm and his head on my shoulder and said, its okay mom, we can stay. This just made me cry more, my baby is such a sweetie. Well, we waited a while before we started to notice that the 2 or 3 cars that were passing us by turned into 20 or 30 cars passing by. We then came to the conclusion that the weigh station we passed was a pit stop for them. Rather than wait, we decided to get back on the road. And as a result get stuck in traffic again. Ugh
We finally get to the Giant Super Market were we plan to buy the discounted tickets. It was now after 12pm, so rather than but an expensive lunch at Hershey Park, we got a pizza there. By the time we finally got into the park it was 1pm. I was not happy about this at all, but I was definitely going to make the best of it. Our original goal was to head straight to the water park area when the park opened because I had heard it can get pretty packed, plus Leon seems to be most at home at a water park. If the ride involves water we are golden. But since we arrived so late I figured we would go on some rides on our way to the water park area. Leon was having none of it. The first area we went to had tons of rides for younger kids, perfect for Leon in my book. He didnt want to go on any of them because they were for little kids. The two that we almost got him on were abandoned after waiting on line for 10 minutes. He just could not handle it. This is where the whining and crying comes in because he doesnt want to wait, hes too tired, he has to sit, its too hot, etc
I see the log flume that Leon got excited about when we reviewed the rides on the computer before coming, and head to that line, which wasnt short. The park was PACKED! Leon did not want to get on that line. We basically had to bribe him and he complained the entire time on line. I was getting sooo fed up and all I could think of was
..Is this what its going to be like at Disney? We made it through, we waited 25 minutes for a 2 minute ride and here we were already one hour in, $100 lighter and all we got to do was 1 ride! He is hyper-focused on getting to the water rides. Walking along we suggest a bunch of other rides. All of which are too high, too scary, too fast, etc. I finally se one that doesnt look too bad, so I head straight for the line. Leon starts complaining and crying, stating very loudly that hes too scared, and afraid of heights and we shouldnt force him to go on because it is not nice. I become one of those evil, mean, moms that says you are going on and you are going to like it. We tell him that just like at Disney World he is going to have to get on lines he doesnt want to because there are rides that mommy and daddy want to ride even if he doesnt, more whining, He agrees to go on then says no I cant do it, you cant make me, then he agrees again, then no way I am too scared. I was ready to pull my hair out. It was hot and sticky and we were tired and
..OMG what if this is how it is going to be at Disney. I tell him thats it we are not going to Disney, (Yes, I know I am mother of the year) if this is how you are going to be about every ride, as we get to the front of the line. So he says Oh okay Ill try it but Im not gonna like it. He got off the ride begging to do it again
until he realized he would have to wait on line again. So I think okay thats better, now we wont have any more probs. Wrong. We passed about a dozen doable rides on the way to the water rides and he refused to try any of them. We get to the Boardwalk area were the water rides are and it is more packed than the rest of the park. Every attraction has at least an hours wait time. There is NO WAY Leon would stand for that. So we decide to move on. By now I am not only fed up with Leons bad attitude but I am sporting one of my own because I am in so much pain from all the walking back and forth and criss crossing the park over slopes and hills. At least I am now positive about getting an
ECV at WDW. By the time 6:00pm rolls around we had only convinced Leon to get on a total of 5 rides. I was very grumpy about this. Now I know we were there to have fun, but his whining and complaining and crying at the mere suggestion of just trying a ride was putting me over the edge and all I could think the entire time is how am I going to survive 9 days of this in WDW? In reality I know that it wont be like this, and there is so much more WDW has to offer, and we were having an off day to begin with. But at the time
well I was NOT HAPPY!
At 6pm we make our way back to the Boardwalk area where the crowd has gone down considerably. Leon gets to go run amok in the water with Daddy, while I sit down to nurse my aching body and hide my tears of disappointment behind my sunglasses. Yes, folks, I was having my own personal pity party and no one was invited but me.
After 20 minutes I see Ron carrying a crying Leon over to me. Oh, oh, now what? He pooped! Yup he pooped his pants. Well just great, our change of clothes are at the car. So we head out of the park with a little boy in tears because mean ole mommy decided that its been a long day and it would not be a good idea to stay till 10:00 to see the fireworks after all. Guilty as charged!
We then get lost trying to find our hotel, by the time we get there it is 9:30pm and we still have not had dinner. Leon considers it a serious offence not to be fed dinner before bed, so we had to get something. So we stop at the hotel restaurant for a quick bite. The quick bite took an hour because every time we ordered something the waiter would come back from the kitchen saying they were out of it. We finally ate something, scraps I think, and headed to the room. We all past out pretty quickly.
Day 3, Sunday Aug. 24: Plan PlanShman, forget about a plan. After the previous day, I just didnt care what we did. This was going to be a no pressure day. We woke up when we woke up. Which as it turned out was fairly early, since with Leon it just doesnt matter what time he went to bed, he will still get up at the crack of dawn. We went down to have breakfast and then I sent Leon and Ron to the pool while I got costumes ready for the day. Costumes??? Why yes didnt I mention we were going to the PA Renaissance Faire on this day? Well we were and did. It was a Pirate Invasion weekend! Leon and Ron dress as Pirates and I a wench. We took the day at a very leisurely pace. We stayed till the first of us showed signs of being tired and then headed home, stopping only for dinner at Red Robin. I love Red Robin!!!
And that there, was my practice run for Disney.
In the end, of course we are still going to Disney, but I learned a lot. I learned we need to get our rest, and that we need to slow down, and that I will need to figure out a way to distract Leon while on line, and that I definitely need an ECV.
Okay thats all for now, my meds have kicked in and Ive been fighting to keep my eyes open so I could finish this.
Next Ill tell you how I ended up getting an extra day in Disney and $225 towards our next trip.
I'm not sure I've ever been called a smart person before. I had to giggle out loud on that one. 
She's very worried about getting everything off her computer-including all of her Disney stuff! 
Okay, as newtodis said, time's up! We're ready to hear an update on the computer and vacation plans.
It was horrible!! They'd been there twice and this was her first time
We ended up leaving the park at about 3:30 ...
