Happy news!

So, I survived the MRI.

After taking the sedative, I showed up at the hospital and The Hubs and I were escorted back to the radiology area.

Then they say that 'accompanying adults are only allowed in when the patient is a child.'

I told them that I had been told that he could come back with me to help me get through it.

The tech repeated their 'child only' policy, and we left The Hubs in the waiting area.

Back in the room, they got me on the table. They strapped me down, and before they could even move the table into position, I started shaking uncontrollably again. One of the techs told the other one to 'go get the husband'.

My awesome husband spent an hour and 15 minutes with his arm all the way up to the shoulder stretched into the MRI machine so he could hold my hand during the whole procedure.

It was the ONLY thing that made me okay. Truly, I could not have done it without him holding my hand.

So, I did make the entire test.

Results came back same day.

They're lymph nodes.

Not sure what is going on, but they are definitely benign.

My options are to watch and wait, or see a surgeon that specializes in lymph nodes.

I'm opting for the waiting.

So, AWESOME news on that front...

Other exciting things are happening, too... I will post about them as soon as I can reveal them :)

Dear 2011.

Dear 2011,

I want you to know you've been my favorite year so far.

My daughter turned 7. My son turned 6. We celebrated 9 years of marriage. I turned 31. The Hubs turned 32. Nothing in there is spectacular, but yet we're here, we're healthy, we're a happy family... in this day and age, that IS spectacular in itself.

That's not to say it was all easy this year. We faced the biggest decision in regards to JT's autism and treatment that we've faced. We'd been avoiding it (they told me at his diagnosis he'd need meds... not 'he'll probably need meds', but 'he'll need meds'). Looking back, that was one of the hardest decisions we've made as a family. Medication is a serious subject. But I now know we undoubtedly made the correct choice for us. It has changed our lives.

We dealt with bullying of both Audrey and JT, and were happy with the response of one school and at least semi-satisfied with the response of the other. Either way, neither of our kids are tormented now, nor are they broken because of it. We've had some valuable discussions about bullying and what that says about the bully - and tried to set up a plan of action if it ever happens again. It happens far too often now, to far too many kids.

We've seen JT go from an entirely self-contained class to now only having two 'blocks' (social studies/science and english/literature) where he's NOT mainstreamed, and he has no aide - he's doing it all himself! He's made a real friend. He's gotten notes from kids at school. He's finding his place. He is one astonishing little boy.

Audrey's testing has shown that she's even smarter than we thought (which is pretty freaking smart). Her math benchmark was 100%. She was above grade level in everything. Her reading? At a 6th grade level. And this is a kid that will fight tooth and nail to NOT do homework or read... Thankfully, Captain Underpants (another 2011 discovery) is a new favorite - but she's almost done with the series. Frantically trying to find a new 'friend' for 2012! Her artwork has gone from 'that's cool' to 'that is AMAZING'. We have to get her in art classes, because for a child her age to draw with perspective and to be able to replicate what she sees so perfectly... she needs to explore that talent.

The Hubs got promoted. He's got an awesome store now, with great people. He's still good at what he does, and enjoys doing it. You really can't ask for more in a job.

I got a job (YAY Starbucks!). They helped me transfer, even though they didn't have to. I get free coffee. They have awesome benefits. And I get free coffee :)

As 2011 comes to a close, I can say we're in a really, really good place. Our kids are doing fantastic. We're doing fantastic. Our family is doing fantastic. Everything really did turn out okay...

So, thank you, 2011.

I can only hope that 2012 brings us more of the same :)

Onward and Upward.

A week ago today, The Hubs got a surprise. A BIG surprise.

He was promoted.

The Hubs is now the store manager at Northlake Mall in Charlotte.

He had been in Charlotte to talk to the DM on Monday, and LOVED it. The store, the mall, the area...

I was not so excited. Excited for him, but not so excited for me.

I have a job. That I LOVE. Just got it... after waiting years to go for it. AWESOME people, great manager... seriously, the perfect job.

And Starbucks policy is you can transfer... only after you've been there for 6 months.

So, I'm staying here in Raleigh with the kiddos until my 6 month (March 13), and The Hubs is moving to Charlotte.

The Hubs will be back every Saturday night and all day Sunday to take care of the kids since my work availability includes 'all day Sunday'.

The Hubs's first day was Tuesday. He is really excited about this new store and his new job. He's going to do awesome things there, I know.

We already miss him, but have a countdown to his next day home (yay Saturday nights!) and have a 'party' planned with all his favorite foods and things.

I'm balancing a job and kids - now I know how single moms feel. I am very, very thankful for my job dealing with my reduced availability, and we're getting all caught up on flu shots because we certainly can't afford to be sick this winter!

There are so many positives in this situation... I am deciding to look to those rather than the downfalls (because God knows you'd rather have your husband around than not!). In the long run, this is so good for our family.

This is the beginning of an all new journey for our family - wish us luck!

Busy!

I haven't updated in a while...

Because I got A JOB!

I'm a barista at Starbucks. BEST JOB EVER! I am so excited to go to work, that my days off make me a little sad. The people are great, my boss is great, the work is (complicated but) fun. It's awesome!

The kiddos are in YMCA-run afterschool. They have one at each of their elementary's, so Audrey is at her school and JT at his.

They both LOVE it. The first day Audrey got mad at me for coming too early (I didn't get to pick a second activity, mom!) and day 2 JT kept trying to take me BACK to the cafeteria to play more. They both say it's fun. I walk in to get JT most days, and while he's not playing with the other kids, he's around them and watching closely. He has a ton of fun, and he's SO happy (before and after he sees me!).

Both kids LOVE their teachers, they are both doing fabulous, and academically are (still) ahead of grade-level, which makes this momma really proud. They are some smart little ones (and use it to their advantage!).

The Hubs is still enjoying his job, his store is still doing well...

JT has yet to have a behavioral problem at school. He has had no meltdowns AT ALL since starting the risperdal back in June. He now reminds us (GIMME MY MEDSINS) if we forget his dose at night. The stuff tastes nasty, so you know it must help him feel better.

We're doing fabulous, pretty much! Loving life!!!

9 years!

Happy anniversary to my husband :)

9 years ago, I married my best friend in our backyard, with a 'best dog' and 'cat of honor'.

Since then, we've been through a lot. Several moves, two kiddos, job changes, autism... It hasn't always been easy, but it has made us stronger.

I love him even more today than I did 9 years ago.

He is my soul mate, and still my best friend.

Sick again.

Audrey brought home a nasty bug Monday... since then, she has been a hacking, coughing mess. She was running a low grade fever until today, when it spiked at 101.1. Eep!

JT woke up at 4:30am with the hacking cough. Less than 24 hours after he stopped coughing from the croup. He's running a low-grade fever.

Now I have a fever and body aches.

It looks like a flu strain... cold/cough accompanied by stomach upset.

I hope this passes quickly...

Why Demand Media Works For Me

Last December, Demand Studios asked for writers to submit a short summary on 'Why Demand Media Works For Me'. The responses were to be used on the Demand Media blog (under the same title) if chosen.

Guess what? Yesterday, mine was chosen :)

Here it is:
Why Demand Media Works For Me

I love Demand Media/Demand Studios. A wonderful company, a great experience and I've learned so much.

My Drawings

I just decided to draw a few things this weekend. I've never really done anything freehand, I usually have my paper broken into grids to get it right. Not to mention I haven't drawn anything in over a year!
Anyway, here are some of the drawings...

1 Year Bob-iversary

Today is the 1 year anniversary of the removal of Bob.

Rest in peace, Bob. And I hope all your little bitty pieces stay little bitty and don't grow.

Surgery

My ankle arthroscopy is all done! I'm in my splint, which they will replace with a hard cast at my post-op appointment next week. Then the hard cast stays for 3 weeks.

Surgery went well as far as I know. The Hubs had JT out in the car, so my surgeon didn't get a chance to talk to him. He handed me two sheets of pictures (8 pics per page) of the inside of my ankle (the arthroscopy camera's view) and said that we'd discuss the pics at my appointment next week. It looks like he may have been right about the cartilage or something. Whatever it was, I'm certain he cleaned it up. Yay for being done!

The Hubs is being so sweet. He took off Wednesday, worked a little while yesterday, and a half day today. He's off all weekend. :)

I am so thankful for a wonderful friend taking my kids to school this morning. The Hubs's new director of stores (his boss' boss) was in town, and being that The Hubs had never met him, he couldn't exactly be late to their first meeting. She took both JT and Audrey to school. So very sweet.

Audrey and JT are both being really sweet and gentle. They think my crutches are toys (hey, they DO look like fun when you don't have to use them in all fairness), but they bring them back after a minute or two.

I'm getting used to the crutches and hopping. They're much harder than they look!

Hope everyone is doing well... I'm off to continue sleeping. I am flat out exhausted! I think it's my body telling me to take it easy (yesterday I ignored it and tried to ride with The Hubs to take the kids to school. Let's just say it was a good thing there was a plastic bag in the car... YUCK).

Cool Stuff...

Happy update time :)


JT
JT is talking. A LOT. He's asking for things he wants (mostly milk and popcorn, haha). But doing SO well. He's socializing with other kids at school. Pulling his mat up to play with them and really having fun! He's riding his scooter. Big deal!

Audrey
Audrey is reading!!! She read us two books last night. She's tying her shoes! She knows more Spanish than I can keep up with... I really need to get moving on learning to speak Spanish. I have no clue what's she's saying/singing. She's good at math. She's AMAZING at art. She wants to take swim lessons, and we've agreed to let her join a swim team if she's good enough. If not, we'll just continue lessons until fall when she can join that season. We may do dance as well this fall... we've been holding out because of her listening 'issues', but she got the memo finally and is toning it down when it's not appropriate.

The Hubs
His store is doing well. He's doing well. He did break his toe (he ran into a wall...), but it hurts him less and less each day (unless he does what he did last night, which is jump over the couch and stub it).

Me
Surgery in 4 days... 3 months of recovery. Writing is going really well. Started studying for the GRE... still planning to go back to school to get my Master's in Special Education (in the fall of 2011). Want plenty of time to get scholarships...


There you have it... Duzan family updates!

Surgery

After falling twice in the past month, I have screwed up my ankle enough to necessitate surgery.

*This is really a re-injury - remember I hurt my ankle back in June of 2008 and went through physical therapy in August... I was recommended for surgery after that didn't work, but my appendectomy, hysterectomy and neurosurgery pushed that to the back burner. I thought it would be fine... but I was wrong :(

Anyway, March 3rd is my surgery date. 6 weeks cast, 6 weeks boot. He said I could start running in 3 months (JUNE! Let the countdown begin!). Arthroscopic ankle surgery.

Basically, my lateral (outside) ankle ligaments are stretched really far out, holding nothing in (tendons, etc). I partially tore 2 tendons (flexor hallucis longus and peroneous longus) and have inflammation in the sheath of the flexor hallucis. He thinks there's cartilage issues.

Timing works out well - PT will last 3 months, so the last of it will be right before school is out in June!

Yikes!

This morning at the bus stop, Audrey was playing the rhyming game. We are way past easy words, so now we're doing crazy ones.

Audrey: Mommy, what rhymes with Kit Kat bar? ... Shit shat jar?

Me: Whoa, that's a bad word! We can't say that Audrey.

Audrey: Which one? Shit or shat?

Me: Good point. Both.

She was laughing hysterically then.

I'm just hoping that she doesn't say it at school. I reiterated several times it was not allowed...

Stay Away Swine!!!

The kids and I are vaccinated!!! I got the shot, and they both got the mist yesterday. Of course, they have to go back for a second dose in a month... but they're good for now.

Thank God our doctor got it in.

The swine flu hasn't really hit here in Cary yet. I've heard of other places hit really hard, but it's just not here yet.

Looks like we've dodged this bullet... hopefully!!!

Time to Read!

Every night, we have book time at 7:45-8pm. We read for 30 minutes, and the kids get to choose the books we read. It is so cute! JT LOVES Corduroy's Halloween (we may be reading about Halloween ALL year!) and both love Snuggle Puppy (if you haven't read any of Sandra Boynton's books, do. She is my *favorite* kid book author!).

It's the best time of the day for us... and the only time the kids ever sit still!

New ComputerS

Our old pc finally bit the dust. It was a great pc - we bought it about a month before we got married - so April/May 2002. It lasted almost 7.5 years!

However, its motherboard is fried. The monitor goes out constantly, and you never know when you can get it back on. Even though the drives are shared, the other pc's on the network can't see it - the pc locks itself up when it's accessed.

Anyway, all I needed off of it was pictures and music. Nothing else on there is a big deal - those are the only two things I use.

Over the past 36 hours, I have managed to get all the pictures off, and I'm working on the music (it is syncing it to my iPhone, so it's almost done).

Hooray!!!

I had bought a refurbished laptop to use since our pc was dying and I couldn't work at all... and my dad also bought a new laptop for me. I'm using the new one, the refurb is for the kids and The Hubs...

Audrey LOVES playing on the computer. Nickjr.com is her deal - she can get around that site like a pro. JT enjoys some of the easier games on Fisherprice.com - he can't figure out the mouse yet, so he likes games that are keyboard-friendly.

We're all having fun with them for sure!

Hooray for new computers!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

Well, we had a good time in the end (haha).

It started with the mall trick or treating... JT was fine with the monkey costume (he loves it, that's why he wore it again). But when we got inside and started, it was just too much. Y'know, he's almost 4, people kind of expect (and wait) for him to say "trick or treat"... And he won't. Plus, people all in his face telling him he's a cute monkey, kids and other people bumping him and getting in his space, WAITING IN LINES (major meltdown starter there)... We hit 4 stores and we had to leave... Carrying a monkey that sounded like a velociraptor. Ugh.

We came home, JT and I stayed in to hand out candy while Audrey and The Hubs went out in our neighborhood. JT had an awesome time, he giggled, played with me, watched Alvin and ate our candy... He just doesn't like Halloween. Fine with me...

He said "cahkey" (candy), "poh-wee" (pony - he loves Audrey's costume of a princess on a pony), "twihtwee" (trick or treat) and "hee haw" (yee haw - as he was riding the pony). I'm impressed!

Audrey of course LOADED UP. She was the cutest Cinderella EVER, and she charmed all the folks handing out candy... One guy asked her what she had for HIM as he was giving her candy, and she promptly dug through her bag to pull out a piece for him. He told The Hubs he had an extremely sweet little girl, and explained to Audrey he was just kidding and could keep every bit of her candy (and I think they gave her more ;) ).

So, Halloween was a success in the end.

Nothing to report out of the ordinary family-wise. If you want to see more specific updates on the kids, they each have their own page... there's a feed on the sidebar for them. I have my blog under the blog list, just in case you ever wonder about my personal opinions or issues... I'm trying to streamline this blog into family updates/important info, so that everyone knows important stuff about fun family times!!!

Monkey Joe's

Yesterday we decided to try out Monkey Joe's. Monkey Joe's is an indoor playground with nothing but inflatables. This place had 3 obstacle courses (one was two-story), one bounce house/slide, one HUGE slide, one plain bouncy castle and a toddler bounce for smaller kiddos.

The kids had SO MUCH FUN. JT eventually just shuffled to the door and pointed outside. Audrey was crying, but exhausted when we left. We spent 3 whole hours there, and they went from one to the other the whole time.

I was kind of surprised JT liked it. He is terrified of vaccuums, so I really thought the noise from the inflatable pumps would scare him. It did not! His favorite was the ginormous slide... and he wasn't scared at all. He even did the rock walls!!! (Audrey, of course, did everything just fine, and made a friend named Maya).

Here are the kids having a blast:

Moving is Exhausting

Even JT thinks so!

Seriously, though... We've been moving and grooving... Down to about 15 boxes. It's amazing how much STUFF you accumulate!

I got awesome news today - JT is probably going to be in the full-day program here. It is very structured, and is for autistic children. They use the TEACCH approach - which is different from our preferred ABA.. But we've never tried TEACCH. It sounds great at least :)

The bad news is my gallbladder is apparently pissed off. I have been having pain in the upper part of my right abdomen for over a week, and I finally went to the doctor. He pushed on my belly, and it hurt like hell. I think it's called Murphy's Sign. I am off for an ultrasound Friday to see if I have gallstones or gallbladder problems. If so, he is referring me to a surgeon, and he said he wants me to have the surgery (if there are problems on the ultrasound). As I was flipping out (I believe I was a little overzealous in asking him why my body is falling apart, when would it stop, etc) he was very reassuring, and said there's still a small chance it could just resolve itself. Hanging on that thread right there...

So, I'm all over the place (and not just because I'm bipolar!). I'm happy - JT is going into a great program, they're really excited about him, and excited about helping me. Big difference from what I was thinking this would be like. Turns out meetings were causing the slowness, not lack of caring. Phew! Audrey's first day of Kindergarten is next Thursday, and we go for a meet and greet that morning. We got her teacher assignment and everything. School stuff is all taken care of - YAY!

So, maybe heading for surgery #4 in a year. Fun stuff. I told The Hubs if so, he's just gonna drop me off and pick me up. I'm a freaking pro. Take care of my kids, and get me when it's over. Blah!

Happy Trio

Here's a snapshot of me and my 2 favorite people in the world.

Side note: JT actually stayed for a few pics... Crazy good!