Top 10

Top 10 for the Week:
May 5th, 2014


10.  Ill Feeling.  He haven't been feeling my normal self lately.  Not sure if it's stress, anxiety, or something else.  But I'm done with it.  And I'm starting to question what I started a year and a half ago.  Which is SO scary to me.


9.  Rough Bedtimes.  Bedtime is the worst.  And this week seemed especially hard.


8.  Giving Gifts.  One of my love languages is MOST definitely love of gifts.  This is how I show my love towards others.  AND I love making it homemade:o)


7.  Mal's Game.  So stinking adorable.  She's getting to be quite the Tball player.  So fun to watch.


6.  Hudson's Bday.  My nephew turned 2 this past weekend.  We had such a good time visiting them in GR.  He is getting SO big and saying so much.  I know Clay and him will always be buds.


5.  NEW Car.  We no longer are van owners.  It was time.  We (I) didn't want another winter like this past winter.  I'm looking forward to being able to get up my driveway EVERY day!  Here's to little accomplishments! Ha!


4.  Mother's Day.  Was a great day.  Jay let me sleep in, made me breakfast, went shopping for flowers, had lunch at Mongolian BBQ, came home, planted my flowers, had ice cream for dinner. Oh and grocery shopping alone! What more could I want?!!?  Oh--and Mal even serenaded me in the car with her VERY own Mother's Day song.  It was the best.


3.  Clayisms.  IS rough.  It will not be easy.  HE is not easy.  They are long days.  But I am trying my best.  With support and help.  We will get through this.  (Side note:  He will no longer go to the old speech.  Ever since he has gone to the new one.  I'm serious.  He keeps repeating home.  And he cries, kicks, anything to stay in the car.  I am cancelling his last visit in order to not experience this again.  Warms my heart that my boy knows.  He knows.)


2.  Malloryisms. She's SO interested in learning.  She talks my ear off ALL day.  Asking questions, stating observations.  Never a dull moment with that lady.  I love her desire to learn and experience everything.  The outdoors.  People.  Activities.  Foods.   She'll try anything.


1.  SUPER nice weather.  The weather has been awesome!  Love the warm-enough-weather to play in the water!  Here's to being hopeful it doesn't stop!


Until next week,
Mrs. Newell

New Day

Last week, our son was diagnosed with apraxia.
Kind of a bittersweet moment for me.


As his mom, I had a gut instinct that there was something more.
His extreme effort in sounding out words that weren't coming out.
His word sounds changing every once and awhile.
His frustration.  Our frustration.
There had to be something.


And I suppose it was the several professionals that reassured me,
That he really didn't need extra help.
That all he needed was a preschool setting.
That maybe he was tongue tied (which he is NOT).


Then it happened.
It only took one professional last week, 45 minutes.
One setting.
One boy with his mom, dad, and sister.
To tell us this.
Something we'd been waiting for a LONG time.


So I should be happy right.
We're on the right track.
I'm hopeful.
We're hopeful.
Given instructions.
A weekly session.
And I was last week.


But after today,
I'm sad.  It's hard.
His constant screams. Tantrums. Unrecognizable words.
Trying so desperately to tell me something...
And I just can't understand him.
It's changing him.
It's changing ME.


And today,
I ignored.  Yelled.  Got frustrated.  Did things I'm not proud of.
And now that he's sleeping in bed,
My heart hurts a little.


I'm thankful for a new day tomorrow.
For our bright boy to wake up with his giant smile upon his face.
I will not let this consume us.
And I will continue to let him be the boy he needs to be.


Top 10 for the Week:
April 28th, 2014


10.  Good Hair Day.  Of course I had a good hair day on Thursday last week.  It was the day that I never left the house.  Maybe that's why.


9.  Playground Dates.  Had a few dates at the playground this past week.  It is SO nice to be outside.  You don't realize how much you miss your outdoor playground until you are on it!  However, my summer is going to be crazy chasing after Sir Clayton.


8.  Easy, Crazy Weekend.  Our weekend was a bit easy but crazy at the same time.  NO real plans but the kids were sure acting up here and there.  Not exactly sure why.  But Jay and I were ready for a date night...which we didn't get.


7.  Friday Coffee.  So, I'm not suppose to have coffee anymore.  BUT I've decided to give myself ONE cup every Friday.  BOY do I look forward to this!  And it went SO well with garage sales this past Friday:o) 


6.  Bunnies.  Mal and Jay mowed the lawn this past week and found a bunny nest.  They were the cutest thing ever!  6-7 of them!  I was just as much into them as the kids!


5.  Craft ON.  My SIL came over this week and we crafted for HOURS.  Like 5 hours!  It was BLISS.  And we did it with kids around.  It also motivated me to do some more on my own.  I find such pleasure in doing this.  Who would have guessed that?!?!


4.  SPEECH.  We have a new private speech therapist that we will be going to.  We LOVE her.  I knew this would be a good fit for Clayton.  I'm excited for what's in store for US.


3.  Clayisms.  Oh Clay has been picking the worst possible places to poop.  Don't worry, it IS in his diapers.   But it's at bad moments.  This week it was in the NEW car we were test driving.  Yeah, when I was dropping it off.  They weren't opened yet.  Good one Clay.  (This week it was the chiropractor (no changing station, the dealership AGAIN, and a greenhouse).  He even told me once this week at the playground that he had to poop "I poop" and wouldn't go on the potty.  Clay had his 3 year check-up.  87% for height and 80% for weight.  He looks so small compared to Mal that I think he's not as big for his size (Mal was always in the 90's).  But he is.  His sleep patterns have been really off lately.  In fact, one morning he took a morning nap due to his not going to bed at night and then getting up several times.  His parents are ready for a full night of sleep.  We will see.  This week Daddy has become DeeDee for no apparent reason (although our new speech told us this was totally normal for apraxia).


2.  Malloryisms.  She gets me.  Truly gets me.  And it scares me at times.  We think and say the same things multiple times a day.  And I make sure to tell her this every time it happens.  She's also very motivated to do things when she wants to do them.  This week, I told her how we could go on a nature hike--she was ALL about this.  Before I could even get ready to go, she was ready! Boots, hat, vest on with her Amercian Girl Doll (Target really.).  She also had brought up my hat, boot, and vest as well as all of Clay's.  It was the sweetest thing.  She was ready.  For that nature hike!  The morning Clay took a nap, I had my SIL pick up Mal.  I had also had my MIL drop her off due to Clay's 3 year checkup.  AND in the morning when I left, she was still sleeping.  Which meant I had gone half of the day without seeing her.  I can't tell you how bad I missed her!  To be reunited with her at the park was so great!  I have NO clue what I'm going to do next year when she's in kindergarten all day.  BOO.  A cute phrase this week that shows her vocabulary "Sometimes I recognize the cars as students from my school."  Seriously.  She's 5.


1.  Garage Sales.  Love them.  Addicted to them.  I never would have pictured myself going to them.  But late last summer, I started.  And let's just say that I might stop at one at least EVERY Friday.  I found some great deals this week including some GeoTracks for the kids.  Unbelievable.


Blogging is so therapeutic for me.  It's like, once it's down, I feel better. Not completely better.  But better.  Like someone out there understands and gets it. Gets me.  And it's reassuring.  For the most part:o)  Thank-you.


Here's to a better rest of the week!
Until next week,


Mrs. Newell
(I've contemplated changing my name here.  But it's like the ONLY thing I have left from teaching (besides the boxes in our basement).  I find it rather fitting I should comment on this this week, since it IS teacher appreciation week.  I love you my teacher friends!  And support you.  Thanks for ALL you do.)

Top 10--(Not totally finished)

I have to admit I've struggled blogging lately.
Finding the time is difficult.
So many other things that I feel I NEED to do.


But blogging is a passion of mine too.
I love recording
My thoughts.
My stories.
Our life.


And when I finish one,
I DO feel accomplished.
Proud.




Top 10 for the Week:
April 21st


10.  Monday Blues.  This past Monday was not my best day.  I started with a flat tire at Clay's speech.  After a nice towing service switched it out for me, I was in the grocery store and got a call about my debit card being breached.  I honestly felt down all day.  But I did accomplish a few phone calls (new speech for Clay, ordered cake, and a call to Terminex) that I have been meaning to do but just didn't have the time.  Being stuck in a parking lot for awhile, can help you with that!:o)


9.  Lazy Sunday.  Yes it was.  And it was great.


8.  Leo Lost.  While my mom was visiting, Leo was out more.  Not sure if it was her, or just wanting to be around, but he was always within our eyesight.  Then all of a sudden he was gone.  We searched and searched and could not find him anywhere.  There was about a four hour time span where we had NO clue where he was.  We thought the worst--he had gotten outside somehow.  After returning from Mal's T-ball practice, he finally joined us upstairs.  NO clue where he was but glad he was there. 


7.  Impromptu Bathroom Redo.  So, the Terminex guy came to take care of some ants in our downstairs bathroom.  While he was here he noticed our bathroom toilet was cracked.  Bad.  Which meant we needed a new toilet.  It took a few days to get the correct pieces for installing the toilet, but it's done!  I also ended up painting the bathroom while the toilet was off.  Looks great.  And for the first time since we've lived here (and probably FOREVER in this house), we have a WHITE toilet.  Goodbye yellow toilet and hopefully goodbye blue toilet in the near future.  Makes both of us want to redo our bathrooms now!  Oh updates are so fun.  Ugh.


6.  New Speech.  Summer is truly around the corner.  Which means, Clay's speech will be done until the fall.  Jay and I have been meaning to try and find an outside speech therapist to work with Clay for the summer and even longer.  I finally put a call into a woman who used to work at Western.  I left a message explaining Clay and our situation.  She called me back and told me she was overly booked.  BUT due to my explanation of our son, she was willing to take him on:o)  I love this.  We meet her Tuesday--the ONLY time she had/has available.  We will take it.  The two of us talked for about 20 minutes.  I'm really looking forward to this and what it means for our Clayton.


5.  Nana here.  My mom was here to help out a bit this week.  IT was great having her here and we even got a few hours of shopping in together:o)   Always a good time.


4.  My Birthday.  Yard Saling.  Coffee.  Lunch and Dinner OUT.  What more could a girl ask for?


3.  Clayisms. 


2.  Malloryisms.


1.  Clay's Birthday Party.  Huge success.  Kids had fun.  Parents had fun.  Clay was a hoot!  Couldn't go to bed after it was all over either!  We are still recovering from his NO sleep then:o)