It's baseball season!

Monster Boy started baseball a few weeks ago.  He LOVES it.  He does seem to do better at this than at soccer, but as long as he is enjoying it, I really don't care how good he is.  He and Daddy Mac have worked hard on fielding and grounding balls, and he does very well at that.  Now, if we can just get him to understand that he needs to throw the ball to his teammates rather than run it in to them, he'll be all set for field play.  They are going to work together on batting this week.  It's great to see them spend some time together, just the two of them, playing ball in the back yard, even if it does mean I have a two year old girl and a dog both standing at the back door yelling/barking at them the entire time.

We are still trying to settle in to something of a summer routine here.  I've been tossing around the idea of getting them signed up for classes at the local library or something, but haven't made it that far yet.  I did get Monster Boy signed up for the summer reading program at our public library in town, and he's already a third of the way to his goal, even though he has until the beginning of August to complete it.  He just loves reading as much as his mom does (which is a LOT) so he is busting right through those books.  I think we are going to make Wednesdays library day, and head up to the library for a bit each Wednesday to turn in old books and check out new ones.  We are currently reading the last few of the Beverly Cleary Ramona series now, and I'm not sure what we will move on to after that.

Miss Sunshine had her first meeting with her new speech therapist last week, and it went GREAT!  We are going to continue seeing her every six weeks at this point, just to make sure she is maintaining her speech, but she is now age appropriate, or even a bit advanced in some areas.  It's SO reassuring when we hear that.  We have had several new acquaintances comment to us recently about how well she talks for a two year old, and, as many of you probably understand, my heart just sings every time I hear that.  When you are dealing with a child with speech delay, and they finally catch up, to have people, strangers, affirm that to you is just a wonderful feeling.

Both kids have been doing amazingly well behavior wise so far this summer - such a vast change from last summer and the constant battles it felt like we were fighting.  We have had to impose a time limit for Monster Boy on TV/Computer/Video Games, as he tends to get "in" to something and obsess over it to the point of ignoring everything else, but he has accepted that readily and hardly complains when we inform him his time is up.   Miss Sunshine is, well, two, and all of the lovely things that go along with that.  We still haven't started potty training, as I just feel she isn't ready.  I don't want to force it on her until I know she will have success with it, and at this point, although she likes to tell us if she is wet or poopy, she does not consistently do it, and it's rare indeed that we manage to get her on the potty chair and actually have her go.  She just does not seem to have the desire to do it yet, although she desperately WANTS to be a big girl and will tell you that big girls go on the potty chair.  We started too early with Monster Boy and it was a disaster, so we are taking our time with her.  Also, since she has another trip to Chicago coming up next week, I figured it would be better to wait until she is done with that before trying.  I know that the trip itself will be stressful enough, no need to add stress to Daddy Mac's trip!

We are still chugging along here as well - the new car is perfect for our family and even though it puts yet another strain on our finances, we are finding ways to make it work.  We certainly were careful not to purchase something outside of our budget, it's just that we were used to having that extra money every month that is now taken up by a car payment.  Add to that the fact that I have lost hours at work (a long story perhaps for another time) and it just makes our budget tighter.  We have many money saving plans in the works though, we just have to power through the next month or two and then things will be on a more even keel.

I have taken the steps needed to go back to school myself.  I already have a Bachelor's Degree from K-State (Kansas State University, for you non-local readers) but the degree itself is in Sociology and hasn't been much help in finding a job.  We've been tossing around the idea of me going back to school since I got laid off, and I finally bit the bullet and turned in my FAFSA and applied to two schools here locally - both of which I was accepted to.  I am working this week on getting all the rest of my paper work (transcripts, forms, etc) turned in for my financial aid, and then hopefully will be able to meet with an advisor some time in the next week or two at each school.  Then will come decision time.  I plan to go back to get my nursing degree - I just have to choose between an RN program or a BSN program - which will decide which school I will be attending.  (Of course, this requires applying and being accepted in to the programs, but I have faith I will get in, and the first semester I will actually be picking up a few required classes needed for this degree that I didn't have to have for my other degree).  I'm going to look at how long it will take for each degree - there is a possibility that because I already hold a BS, I may be able to complete the BSN in about the same time as the RN, and if that is the case, then I will go for the BSN.  Otherwise, I plan to pursue the RN. (Also known as the ASN).

Many changes are headed our way, I can feel.  For now, I am just working away at what I need to do to get to those points.  Wish us luck on our new journeys!