Dad & Sara took Michael up to Stetson this morning to move him in. They left around 4AM, arrived around 8AM, saw the shuttle launch around 7:20AM, and Michael phoned me around 10AM and told me he was moved in and Dad & Sara had left. Super condensed, yes, but accurate.

Sara is bummed she isn’t moving on, but she can’t see that she is. Just because you are going to a local school and living at home doesn’t mean you aren’t moving on with life. It means you are moving on in a different direction than your twin because you are a different person. Next semester after she gets straight A’s she might apply to UF and move out too, or she might stick out her two years and finish her AA and get guaranteed acceptance into any Fl state school.

I posted to PMs that I cannot believe I have two kids in college. Mine, but not mine. I remember taking them to 8th grade and signing them up for 9th grade and I feel like it was yesterday. I remember getting the call that they were born.

My bio kidlets are in K, 3 & 4 this year. Where does the time go? I feel like I have stood still in many ways myself. I’ve been in my own holding pattern for the last eleven or so years. Maybe it’s time for me to break out too. Dance class, acro class, guitar lessons… I might need to dig out some time for myself to do something.

My brother and sister are awesome. They purchased seasonal Universal tickets for the entire family. We drove up Sunday morning. That went pretty smoothly. Kids we OK, our stuff was packed and we got out the door and on the road by about 8:30. Rock!

We arrived around noon, parked and took our vouchers to customer service at Islands of Adventure to turn in for actual tickets. While we were there I asked for the medical assistance card and was given a red “fast pass” type card. I smiled, said thank you and went on my way.

We did a couple of things in Seuss Landing, wandered through Lost Continent and actually strolled right into Harry Potter. We did not realize how much we lucked out, more on that later. We got on line for the new ride, and since we had to do the child swap we were able to avoid the locker queue and get right on line. The line moved pretty quick. The talking painting were amazing. I am guessing they were flat screens with some sort of overlay to make it look like it was painted. Very very well done. The 3D Harry/Ron/Hermione were very well done, if not a bit rushed and then we were able to board the ride/get in the child swap area. Here is where it started to suck.

Michael, Eshiva & I went to child swap and Dad, Michael, Sara, Dorian & Malachai went to get on the ride. Within two minutes Michael was back in the child swap looking very grumpy. He was too big to fit in the seat. Not too fat mind you. Too tall. My 6’1″ not unusually tall husband was too big for the shoulder harness to lock properly. What a bitch, considering the *only* reason we did Universal and not Disney was for the Harry Potter area. I went on the ride with my brother and we split for other things. The Butter Beer was all right, tasted like a liquid Butterscotch Krimpet. The stores were cute, or what we saw of them anyway.

Then the skies opened up and we hightailed it from the back of the park to the front and left. We were soaked through. We checked into the hotel, got dried and changed and went to dinner. Michael phoned Universal and complained about the ride and was basically told “we’re sorry but there is nothing we can do for you”. No surprise, but it didn’t make anyone feel better.

Fast forward through a craptastic dinner to Monday morning. We went to the old park after breakfast. We walked right onto Twister, tried to use the medical pass at Disaster and were surprised to find out it gave us a return time for 25 minutes later. Not a huge problem except what am I supposed to do for 25 minutes? The man working disaster did call over to Jaws to see if the wait was short enough for us to ride it and come back to disaster, but it was a 60 minute wait at Jaws. If we didn’t go back to Disaster we could not use the medical pass anywhere else (it has to be validated at the last ride to mark it down before you can use it again). I got pissy at this point and walked across the park to The Simpsons ride. Michael took Dorian and Michael on The Men in Black ride, and we got on a 60 minute line. I explained to Malachai as best I could that it was an hour wait and his card wouldn’t work. He said ok so I said ok. Eshiva, Malachai & I got on a hot, slow moving line. We made it 25 minutes before we wound up back-tracking out because he was done waiting in line (this was after 10 – 15 minutes of coercion to wait it out). We met up with the rest of our group, saw a magic show, bought some stuff, saw the Horror Make Up Show and I stopped at guest servic es on the way out.

I explained what happened and explained that I wasn’t asking for a skip the line card, but that I expected better treatment. Had we gone to Disney I would have gotten a red Guest Assistance Card that let us into the fast pass line instead of the regular line. At Universal I refuse to pay, what, 20$ per person per day to bribe them to let me into the fast pass line, especially when I have a party of 8! I said that two years ago we were given complimentary fast pass tickets, they were attached to his seasonal pass and we picked them up when we went to the park. She said they no longer do that, blah blah blah but she was awesome and did attach 6 complimentary fast passes to my name along with a medical card. I just have to present my ID and the confirmation number to guest services and they will give me the passes. I said thank you and left in a much better mood.

Tuesday morning we went back to IofA, picked up my passes and had a much better day. We were able to do quite a few rides, get soaking wet on Popeye, eat at Mythos (yum!) and get out of dodge and home by bedtime

Lesson learned? Go to Disney, they have more to do, are more accommodating when needed and I like it there better. EPCOT has the food & wine festival, the garden festival, there are more “special” things going on during the year that do not cost extra. Universal has extras, but they are all “in addition to” not “included with.” No thanks.

What is July 25?

My sister died on July 25, 2003.

So it’s been seven years. And this year was it. I didn’t post about it. Well, I’m posting about it now, after the fact, because it didn’t occur to me to post about it then.

An internet acquaintance of mine recently lost her sister and I wanted so badly to tell her that no matter how awful it it now, it won’t be forever. I didn’t, because it wasn’t what she wanted or needed to hear. I told her I know it’s awful, and nothing I could say could make it better, and that was the simple truth and the best thing I had to say.

Apparently seven years is the magic “not forever” number. Who knew?

It might help that I don’t have anything else to associate the date with. September 16 will never come and go. It’s a scant two days after my eldest son’s birthday. She held on long enough to see him turn six, and that was that. Maybe it will come and go? Maybe it’s just still too soon, too fresh. I still can’t think of her without wanting to cry, my eyes stinging and tearing up. Maybe in 2013 September 16 will come and go and just be another day of celebration in Dorian’s Birthday-Week.

So he said he knew M had a facial deformity for a while now (thanks for mentioning that, doc) and had been keeping an eye on it. He also mentioned some deformity in the cheek bone/sinus cavity area. Can I interject here that I never, ever thought my son had a deformity. I was a little shocked at the casual use of the word. I know he has a severely recessed jaw – I had one too and it just required major orthodontics and no surgery (although it was threatened). His big squishy cheeks are not a deformity, they are big and squishy and I love to squish my cheeks into them. I just had to get that out. When I hear deformity I think of major, obvious things. Not minor “normal” things like recessed jaws and big squishy cheeks.

He said he’d like to see an orthodontist first. I said no problem, seeing on on Monday afternoon! He said the one we’re seeing is a good one, too. I told him I’d hold off on making the cranio-facial appointment until after the ortho.

He said he had never heard of the CF we were referred to by Susan (our ST) but when I told him he was out of Joe DiMaggio he said he must be good.

My head is kind of spinning – I am back to “is it braces or is it surgery?” and not sure which to hope for.

Dor was awesome at the dentist this morning like I said. It was two fillings, and he got dropped off at school around 11. He told me his lip felt better after he played whiffle ball.

So he came home and I phone the dentist who then told me they would call on Monday because they have a new dentist working there and they hadn’t figured out a schedule. Fine.

His new appointment is for 7:30 tomorrow morning, so hopefully he will be in and out and in school on time or at least not too late. Then I have to find an orthodontist to see him because one of his upper teeth cannot come in because the other teeth are too crowded to let it by. We were told we could pull the eyetooth, but really that’s a temporary fix – he’ll need braces anyway. I hope the insurance will cover it, as it’s effecting his development, but if they don’t we were recommended to a local ortho who has a payment plan.

Malachai. Oh, Malachai. Malachai has an appointment tomorrow afternoon with the ped to get a referral for a craniofacial specialist AND he has an appointment for a consult with an ortho (not the one we’re looking to take Dorian too, but one who is a friend of his speech therapist) on Monday afternoon. They block out an entire hour to consult, take x-rays, etc.. Hopefully he will let her do the x-rays (this is the child who wont walk through the door if he sees the dentist chair) and maybe (maybe!) braces will correct his jaw and the craniofacial specialist can get chucked out the window. Of course, I don’t think braces are an ideal solution for him in terms of tolerating them… oh, nether option is a good option.

I feel like I have spent more time at the doctors, on the phone with the doctor, waiting for the doctor in the past month than I have in the past year. Crazy.

Eshiva started Dance yesterday and loved it. She was over the moon to be there. I am so glad she enjoys it. Dorian is starting MMA on Saturday (I think) and Malachai wants to do MMA too, but it’s on T & Th during his therapy. I am not paying the same amount for him to go once a week as Dor to go three times, so… he is SOL for now. I tried to convince him to take dance, but he isn’t interested (they have acro dance, so I thought he might be). Maybe he can do MMA when he finishes therapy? I don’t know when that will be.

Because she isn’t near big enough for a loft bed, we’ve turned it over and made her a four poster bed.

I’m going to buy some tulle and maybe some matching fabric to wrap around the posts and sides and make her a “princess” bed. We’ve put the ladder in the garage in case we decide to turn it over later on (it’s a huge waste of space now and took up the “play area” in their room and I wish she was big enough to sleep in a loft).

Any ideas on how to attach said fabric other than attacking it with a hot glue gun? I can sort of wrap it, but I suspect it will slide down the posts.

^ The bed is on top of where it shows in the image. The opening for the ladder is to the wall and that space is just open underneath.

I have better images on my camera… in the car lol

My boys are off to second and third grade.

Dorian made the gifted and talented class this year! I was told all the kids in that class are smart – some naturally, some because their parents push them (my friend was room mom in the boys class last year, so she knows a lot of the kids) and I was also told that we’re probably the only two laid back moms in the room. Yep, my boy is that annoying kid who just “gets it” without trying too hard. I hope he is challenged this year. I also hear they are doing multiplication and geometry the first week! The teacher seated Dor and his best bud together, and has been told she should split them up ASAP. She said she was giving them a couple of weeks before she moves them around.

Malachai’s teacher has taught kindergarten for the past five years… I’m not sure how she will do in a room full of second graders. I only requested he not have the teacher Dor had last year – that would have been a wreck! I don’t know anything about his teacher other than that though. She seemed nice enough.

Eshiva went to her first day of Pre-K today. She bopped right out of the car and was on her way. No tears, no nothing. She was so excited to make her own friends. I am so proud of her. She is so social, and so intelligent – I’m glad we decided to send her this year instead of waiting for K.

My cousin is working on her masters in childhood education and was in town this weekend and spent an hour with Eshiva for one of her papers. She said E “tested” at a first grade reading readiness level. Either the bar has really dropped or E is a smarty pants. Guess which way I am leaning?

I knew he would need major orthodontics. I did not realize until fairly recently just how much his jaw/mouth was impacting his speech. I mean, of course it was, but that much? Really? I had a majorly recessed jaw and I was never in speech. I had braces when I was 11, a normal orthodontic age (as far as I know anyway).

So tomorrow morning I will call the pediatrician about getting a referral to the craniofacial team (I got a name) and then I’ll call that office and make the appointment and then I’ll call CMS for the approval. Phew!

I know what craniofacial can entail at it’s worst… I wonder what it can entail at it’s best and where on that scale my little man will fall…

Had Eshiva meet & greet this evening. Did not take her. She gets 10 swim lessons before October, and 10 after October, and gets to swim every Monday (they have an indoor heated pool on the property). She will learn in English & Spanish (too bad I don’t speak Spanish) and is a minority in the class – being both white and Jewish

Dor is in his friends class this year and is in the gifted & talented class. This is not based on testing, but based on his test performance last year. Still awesome! My boy is a smarty. I told him and he told me isn’t so good with subtraction. He’s funny, too.

Malachai got his aide, and I don’t know who his teacher is yet. I know who it isn’t though. Update on that later I guess.

I made a… it’s not a budget so much as a “this is what we spend” in Excel (thanks Jesika – I used yours as a template and edited it to my needs) and while we are ahead of our “out-go” there isn’t much wiggle room. On the bright side, almost 1500$/mo of it is debt in one form or another. 450$ of that will be done the end of this year (the van payment). 150$ of it will be done in the next few months as I pay off some smaller cards. Then the larger ones roll off. 160$ of it is student loans and 200$ is another small loan that needs to be paid off. The rest will roll off quickly once the van is paid off as I can roll that 450$ into that other debt. The rest of our monthly expenses… well, I am going to trim what I can, but I don’t think it will amount to much. Most of the rest of it is insurance (life, auto), NetFlix (which saves us multiple hundreds a month), internet, phone, cable (which is already at it’s basic – for us), school (Hebrew & Pre-K)…. we’re not doing so bad though! I thought it was worse.

Skip to this morning – no phone calls (I know, I kept waking up and checking my phone in case I slept through the ringer) and got a text that said they watched “Journey to the Center of the Earth” and they were all out by 10 last night. M didn’t get up once and slept through till morning. C told me he rubbed is head on his pillow for a while, but was otherwise all right.

He’s a little off from what I see, but… he was a little off yesterday too.

His ST is going to phone CMS for us this morning, and possibly an ortho, to find out what we can do about his jaw. It’s impeding his speech development. She thought we had this in motion last year, but when we decided not to pull his top teeth, everything else kind of stopped too. We’ll see what happens.