This post may contain affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, if you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a commission. Read full disclosure and privacy policy here.
Happy belated New Year, Clan! We’ve been laying low through the holidays and 2021 has just been crazy so far. It’s more like December 50th, 2020.
Seriously, this year has been just one thing after another. Professionally, work has been added to an already busy workload. Medically, things are just insane. Personally, homeownership is hard.
I basically took the 23rd of December through the first of the year off from work and the side gig, to just relax and be with family. I thought I’d take some of that time to do some deep cleaning to our closet and bathroom area. Apparently, God had other plans and said “Hey Sara, that’s just not going to cut it, it’s time for the entire first floor to get cleaned out”, but we’ll get to that in a bit.
I went back to work (remotely still) on the 4th, had a nice first day back, and got a lot of the administrative stuff done. I was feeling pretty good, refreshed, and excited for the new year.
Tuesday, I picked up a new region to work on, in addition to the other two I have assigned to me. There’s nothing like working on several project proposals simultaneously. It’s all good, though, I was happy to dive into a new area.
Did I mention that both kids have new teachers starting this semester? No? Well, that’s a good time right there. AJ will be going back to traditional school in the fall. We literally had to sign off that we are aware if we keep him in virtual school this current semester that he most likely will fail.
No joke, we got emails just before the winter break that all students would be required by state mandate to return to traditional school unless parents acknowledge and sign off that my “at-risk” child will probably be held back. The school system tried to bully us into sending our kids back even with a high-risk student in our home.
Riley’s teacher fought to keep her remote, so we only got bullied about AJ. Trust me, I get the importance of getting the children who are truly at risk all the support they need. But understand this, not only is AJ doing well, anyone who speaks with him asks how old he is and is shocked to find out that the little kid who sounds like talks like a 40-year-old man has just turned 7. He has so much support at home that it’s like having a private tutor, or 4.
Riley has exceeded all her previous IEP requirements because of the incredible support she gets at home, one to one time, with her nurse and grandmother, that it would be hard to justify her going back to school at this point.
I am livid at the school system. I’ll just end the rant there. I know the teachers are doing their best, but the school system is failing the students and the teachers.
So just keep in mind the first week back to school, learning with new teachers, and us trying to figure out if we would be getting a new nurse starting the following Monday. Riley’s nurse’s last day would be that Friday, the 8th. Let me tell you, she was AMAZING, and will be deeply missed.
Thursday, the water heater pipe burst in the wall that is right next to Riley’s bed. God bless my mother, who heard the pipe burst at 6:45 am, grabbed Riley out of bed, and got her safely out the room. Within minutes her room was flooded. My mom, she’s still got the moves. 😊
I ended up taking half the day off to get Riley’s room situated, which was now missing part of the wall. Luckily we were able to get someone out that morning and we had running water by 1 pm that day. Today is the 19th, the wall still isn’t patched up, we’re waiting on the mold reports, and whether or not more drywall has to come out.
Water leaked through the walls and out through the laundry/storage room, so that all had to come out and get cleaned up as well.
Same day, I get a call from our DME that the one of Ri’s two insurances isn’t covered, even though last year we got a shipment from them. So now I have no supply of diapers, wipes and gloves that I thought I had coming.
A couple of hours later I call our pediatric care coordinator to find out more, and she says she’s already working to find a DME that will help, and oh, by the way, the Rifton activity chair that we ordered in July is on back-order, and that it won’t be coming anytime soon. She gave me good news too, the wheelchair we ordered is in, though they didn’t send all the pieces, so we have to wait on that to come in.
I got a notice that same day that the bank I use for my small business Moon Waves Design was closing, so I’m on the hunt for a new bank.
That Thursday sucked. Saturday, we were doing some garage cleaning, since the water leaked its way through there as well, and I noticed water again. Really?! The fridge in our garage died. We lost a lot of freezer food and other stuff.
It’s just been one hit after the next. Luckily, other than some bad teaching experiences with AJ’s teacher, this past week wasn’t so bad, though our plumbing decided to back up on Friday. Crappy first couple weeks of 2021, indeed. (See what I did there?)
I just hope that everyone else is having an awesome 2021 and that one day I, too, can say that 2021 is the turning point we all need.
Most of you have been around with me for a while and know how easily it is to have these things happen to you and that can easily set you spiraling off. While I felt like it was bound to happen, I didn’t spiral. I redirected. I haven’t stopped moving since it all happened.
Saturday, though, I did nothing. We did nothing. My family literally sat on the couch almost all day and watched movies. We didn’t clean, we ordered food, we got under our blankets and watched 3 movies, I think… Maybe 4. We got the kids outside for a little bit and let AJ ride his bike, but that was the extent of the effort.
When things get rough, just keep swimming. Turbulence is bound to happen in life, and the special needs parenting life is full of turbulence. Take a day, do nothing. I promise you, you’ll feel better about everything. Cleaning can wait, chores can wait, time with family is always priority.
Sunday, we cleaned. But boy oh boy, Saturday’s do absolutely nothing marathon was a winner.
Happy new year to all, and may we all keep things on the positive.
