What Happened to Summer? (And Other Random Complaints!)

Prepare yourself...this is a bulleted list of complaints!

• First of all, where on Earth is summer?  It has been basically raining for 2 weeks here...and mostly chilly!  It's amazing how my mood lifts the minute the sun peeks through the clouds...but then it hides again and crushed for a few more days.  Oh, and to top it all off?  We are going tent camping in Maine this weekend...with six kids ages 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, & 8...and they are calling for thunderstorms ALL weekend! 

• We have been going NON-STOP for days!  It's appointments and meetings and picnics and parties and therapies and work.  I would give anything for time to just do chores...really!  The kids are burnt out, Mommy's burnt out, and I'm guessing (without asking him) Daddy is too.  We need a vacation...and I don't think camping in a tent with 6 six kids with no flush toilet and thunderstorms is the vacation we need!

• I'm feeling more than a bit burnt out.  I haven't mentioned it before but I have been struggling with blood pressure issues and had to start medication to help.  I'm supposed to make lifestyle changes...like reducing my stress.  When the doctor mentioned this, I offered to loan her my children for a while.  I don't think she thought it was as funny as I did! 

• So add to all that, Sassy just her EI (early intervention) yearly re-eval.  Cognitively, she was well advanced (she gets that from her mother!) but she showed delays in other areas such as speech and gross motor as well as a significant delay in fine motor.  Her articulation for speech is terrible, with less than 50% of her communication understood.  No one can figure out what is going on with her gross motor issues that are involving swinging legs and knee pain.  And overall the therapists have noticed a weakness on her left side.  So the result of all this?  I have spent the entire afternoon scheduling (or attempting to!) a second opinion with a pediatric orthopedist and a consult with a pediatric neurologist.  Let me just say that the whole thing of checking my baby's brain is not sitting well with me! 

• Then Bruiser needs to start his appointments with his social worker...and we've been playing phone tag for the past two months!

• Oh, and Tater's kidneys are relapsing and her allergy related things are off the charts...and we're playing phone tag with her doctor!

• Does ANY doctor answer the phone??????

Okay...deep yoga breath...lowering my blood pressure...

I'm now going to go try and call another doctor and then go dig out all the camping stuff before the little ones descend home from school!  Don't worry...I'll this all happier in a bit when I post pictures from the weekend!