Thankful Thursday and School Updates

1) I am grateful for the drive I've had to lose over 15 lbs already. I am feeling so much better physically, mentally and emotionally. It's been a wonderful thing so far and I'm so glad that I finally started doing it.

2) I am grateful for the gift of planning that my Heavenly Father has given me. It may drive others up the wall sometimes, but it's helped me be a better wife, mother and daughter of God. It makes my life a lot less chaotic and helps to cut down on stress big time.

3) I am grateful that it's snowing out, because it means we'll have a white Christmas. I realize we almost always do, but I've never forgotten the brown Christmas we had once when I was in juniour high. It was so disappointing to not have snow for Christmas that year and it has made me grateful for the snow at Christmas every year since then.

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As an update, Caleb has improved in many of his subjects since last year. His teacher is very happy with him and the progress that he has made so far this year. She especially commented on his passion for science. I am so thankful that we found out what was going on with him, that we're dealing with it, and that he has such a wonderful teacher this year.

Ty is right where he needs to be for this point in grade 1. His teacher said that she knew that his teacher last year was really worried about my choice to move him up, but his current teacher isn't worried at all and neither am I. He is thriving in grade 1 and I would have done him a serious injustice had I held him back. I am so thankful for the reminder that I made the right choice for him. The EA in his class commented on how happy and full of life he is. Yup, that's definitely Ty :)

Thankful Thursday Yet Again

1) I am grateful for the many comforts that I have during the winter. A home with heating, sweaters, parkas, boots, hats, mitts, etc. It may get chilly here for a huge portion of the year, but I'm very blessed to have so many different ways to deal with it and I'm so grateful for them all.

2) I am grateful that my mum is coming to visit us this weekend. The last time she was here was the day of Caleb's baptism and things were too chaotic to have a proper visit, so I'm excited to see her again.

3) I am grateful that we found a way to hugely cut down on how much Brettley sucks on his fingers. He did it a lot and it kept blistering his fingers. However, we realized he did it while cuddling his pillow, which he carried with him through the house all day long. So in the morning we put it up on his closet shelf and he gets it back for night time and now he's pretty much only sucking his fingers at night time. Hurray for big progress :)

I'm Still Here :)

So I kind of, sort of missed last week's post. Oops! The kids were about to start a 5 day weekend and I was on Friday brain all of last Thursday. Today I'm still sort of on Tuesday brain, but it'll be okay by next week. And here we go :)

1) I am grateful for my MyFitnessPal app. Using it, I have lost 9.2 lbs so far :D It's one of a few tools that I'm using to help stay focused, but it's incredibly useful and it would be a lot harder without it. Okay, so maybe I'm grateful for all of the tools that I'm using, ha ha.

2) I am grateful for the power of prayer. It helped us get through something that could have been potentially extremely stressful this past week. Instead, we were patient for a few days as we prayed and the situation was resolved.

3) I am grateful for the snow. While other people have been complaining about the snow and the cold, I'm actually really happy. It means that for the next several months I won't have my kids bringing buckets worth of sand home in their boots. Plus, Brettley loves it, and it's so much fun to see the look of pure joy on his face when he talks about it.

Thankful Thursday

1) I am grateful for suckers. No, seriously! Okay, so apparently I went hypoglycemic at mutual on Tuesday. It wasn't fun. Thankfully, our first counselor in YW and the bishopric member over YW figured out what was wrong pretty quickly (the bishopric member is currently in school to become an RN). We got enough sugar into me to get me home safely, but what really made all of the difference was the bright red sucker my husband handed me. That thing totally helped turn things around. I guess I'll be carrying them with me a lot from now on. Those things work wonders!

2) I am grateful for my amazing husband. There aren't enough words to describe how grateful I am for this wonderful man who stands beside me (and occasionally even carries me) through it all. All of me loves all of you, John.

3) I am grateful for a quick response from Telus this week about a concern about our wifi. They found John's tweet, had him contact them about the problem and within 24 hours they were here with a new modem getting our wifi to a much better speed. It may seem small, but it's so nice to see such a big company give good service these days :)

Caleb Update

So an update about goings on with Caleb. We met with the psychiatrist yesterday and also with the psychologist. Caleb, as I've mentioned before, has been officially diagnosed with ADHD. He also meets the criteria, and then some, for Oppositional Defiant Disorder, but doesn't have an official diagnosis at this point. We will continue to see the psychiatrist every couple of months to ensure that his current medication and dosage is still working well for him. However, we no longer need to make use of the psychologist unless we choose to. We are happy with the progress that Caleb has made (more like thrilled, actually). Things are getting so much better and I am SO grateful for that.

Things with Caleb have been a very big learning experience and eye opener for me. I am learning so much about ADHD and ODD. I am learning how to change how I parent to be more effective for him. I am learning how to be an advocate for him in school. I am (finally) learning how to have more patience. Some of the eye openers have been learning that ADHD doesn't always look the way you expect it to. Also, a big one for me was accepting that sometimes, kids require medication, even if it's not a road you wanted to travel. The way I look at it now is that when my kids have a bacterial infection, I make sure they get antibiotics. Because something is actually wrong that causes Caleb to not have control, I make sure he has what he needs for it. Sick is sick! I know that from my own experience, and now I'm learning it from yet another angle as a parent.

I love Caleb so much, and I'm so grateful he's been a trouper through this trial as we waited and waited to find an answer.

Thankful Thursday

1) I am incredibly grateful for the amazing son of mine who turned 6 today. Ty is the most hilarious little guy I know and he is so adorable. I am beyond blessed to be his mother.

2) I am grateful for our military personnel and first responders, especially on days like yesterday. They deserve far more thanks than they get.

3) I am grateful for the amazing group of Young Women that I work with. They are such a strength to me and I love them so much.

Thankful Friday?

I'm a day late with this, oops!

1) I am incredibly grateful that Caleb made the choice to be baptized this last weekend. What an amazing experience it was to see him do that!

2) I am grateful for my amazing mum who made sure that the potluck after Caleb's baptism ran smoothly when I got a wicked bad headache. She is a rockstar!

3) I am grateful for my good friend who brought me back some Excedrin when she was in the US last time. That stuff is amazing and so is she.