Happy Birthday Monster and a GIVEAWAY!!!

Sunday was Monster's 4th birthday.  (Where has time gone?)  Instead of one party, we did a couple days of celebrations.  It started on Thursday.  We took Monster to one of our favorite stores for NEW BOOTS!!!

I LOVE walking into a store and seeing a wonderful display like this!!! There's a lot of hard work here!!

Now, on to the BOOTS section!

This is the lovely saleslady that helped us with finding the right size for him...and it was hard because he didn't want to hold still.

Here he is walking down the row to try on the boots.  He was more interested in all the trucks they had over there.

So, now Monster has a new pair of boots, and of course we can't get these off his feet either. 

We also went to the Houston Zoo with him, and he got a BIG BOY BED.  But that will be another post.  So...now for the giveaway!

Baskins has generously offered a pair of Justin Boots to one lucky reader! I'm so excited.   

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I HATE being made to feel like an idiot!!!

Yes, it took me a full day to calm down enough to actually post this.  

Am I happy with Hudson ISD right now? NOPE!

We had Monster's ARD last week, and I felt like I was in front of a firing range...I was totally blindsided by what they had to say and I believe it is because I threw a fit because THE SCHOOL withdrew him from school, after only missing THREE days!

Only one week prior to this ARD, the teacher had assured both DH and I that Monster would be in PPCD half a day and also Pre-K for half a day.  When we went to the ARD, he was suddenly so much better with his speech and behavior that he didn't need PPCD anymore.  DH and I both didn't know what to say at the ARD...we were both floored.  

Then, on Monday I called the Superintendent and was referred to Peggy F.  who is the Special Ed coordinator.  She agreed that it needed further investigation and asked if a meeting on Tuesday would be OK.  DH and I both agreed and we went to the meeting.  It started out with the Principal, his teacher, and Peggy F.  The principal started talking to us like we were idiots and that we needed everything explained to us.  I felt like he was one step away from using sock puppets with me.  Then...the speech therapist, some other lady that works with Special Ed ( I still have NO CLUE why she needed to be there) and another lady that I neither met nor saw before the ARD.  I think they realized that I was pissed because I shut up and accepted whatever they said...AGAIN.  

So, this meeting did NOT GO WELL and I don't know where else to turn, except to hire an attorney.

Am I happy with how well the school has performed with Monster? YES

Am I happy with his improvements? YES

Am I happy with the outcome of the ARD? HELL NO!!!

DH and I both believe that Monster still needs the same amount of speech therapy that he has been getting, but the school thinks differently.  Even compared to a friends daughter, whom the state of Michigan put in speech, Monster is talking nowhere near as well as her.  

So, I rolled over like an idiot and shut up because I don't know where to appeal to or who to appeal to and I certainly DO NOT want to talk to these people again.  I feel that Monster is smart enough to be in Pre-K and has been since he started school, but it's still very, very hard to understand what he is saying.  So, instead of hiring an attorney...I'm doing the next best thing...I'm posting this on the internet.  I'm hoping that someone forwards this to the State of Texas and they actually do something about this!!!

Possible FREE T-shirt

Ya'll know I'm ALL OVER T-shirts!! 

Especially FREE T-shirts! 

I LOVE this shirt and hope I'm one of the people randomly selected to get one!!

You can sign up for your (possible) t-shirt HERE!

This will also sign you up to be a Beta tester of THIT when it goes live.  From what I can tell, it's a new social networking innovation! I can't wait to see how it goes!!

P.S. This is the same as I posted on Money Saver Marci

Three Years Since our New Normal

I like to bring awareness about Traumatic Brain Injuries.  To let other people out there know that they're not alone in dealing with this.  Three years ago today, DH had his first brain surgery to put a shunt in.  It was supposed to be a routine surgery, and he would get out of the hospital in a couple of days.  For one day he was good.  He didn't have a bad headache, and was actually in a good mood.  Then they discharged him.  Since it was late, we stayed in the Fisher House overnight and during the night the vomiting began.  The next morning, he could barely stand up.  I put him in a wheelchair and Monster in his stroller and wheeled both up to the emergency room at the hospital.  Nothing.  They sent us home.  When we got home, DH went to bed and stayed there almost a week with the vomiting, and increasing lethargy.  So, I called his doctor.  We were told to go up for his appointment early in the morning even though it was in the afternoon.  They did an emergency CT scan, and blood work.  Everything turned out fine.  BUT...I'm very thankful that we had a good doctor that coould tell that there was something wrong with DH and admitted him to the hospital.  

After a day or so on the hospital, it was discovered that there was an infection in the shunt.  He was scheduled for surgery right away to remove the shunt.  After a week in the hospital, right at Monster's first birthday, DH was discharged home on IV antibiotics.  I had to learn how to mix them and administer his IV twice a day.  Then, the long uphill battle for DH to get his strength back so that he could go in for another brain surgery to put in another shunt...that took almost a year.  During that time, we've gotten used to our "New Normal".  DH has headaches all the time, sometimes he's wobbly when he walks, and he has a very bad memory.  But, I believe that we're never given more than we can handle.  Yes, we've been through a lot, but it has made our family stronger.  We appreciate our days together and we especially appreciate days when DH doesn't have bad headaches.  Hydrocephalus is a part of our life.  I'm constantly worried about a shunt malfunction.  I always try to make sure that DH is walking in a straight line, and there's some days he needs his walking stick.  Then, there's the days when he gets the really bad headaches.  Hydrocephalus never goes away, but it can be treated.  The brain damage that DH has because of the Hydrocephalus can never be fixed.  We just have to learn how to live with it. 

Daddy and Monster opening presents on Monster's first birthday!