Big PUF Couch

Back in High School, I had a giant PUF chair.  It was amazing. I sat on it, slept in it, in college, we put it at the end of the hall, and would run and jump on it, it was fun and comfortable, and a really awesome chair.
 
Did you know that they made them in couch form?  I did.  And I've coveted it for years.   But they're HUGE, and take up a crap-ton of space.  I mean, the chair was a good 3' tall and as round as a willow tree, so a couch?  haha.   Adam joked that we'd get rid of our sectional and buy a ton of these PUF chairs.   what a horrible idea.


So when I saw a PUF couch in my Black Friday Amazon shopping cart, I thought it was a joke.  Adam said it was a good price, so I bought it. Team effort. It's amazing.   Have I already talked about this?   Maybe.  I have a horrible memory, and there's a bunch of crap-tastic stuff happening in life right now.  But Alas, here's our giant PUF couch, which hasn't left our living room.  In fact, I'm not sure I've sat on the couch since we've gotten this.

It comes in a small  box  (I mean, this is a couch)

This photo actually makes it look smaller than it is in real life.
In real life, it's my entire length of body, and Ares and Atlas can
lay on each side of me - comfortably.  LOVE!

Atlas' First Winter Concert

My phone was dead, so I have no photos. I haven't even been on Facebook for 2 days, so it's not that.  I promise, once I get some from others, I will add  them here.   He was super cute, super shy at first, until he saw his teacher, whom he loves.  He sang most of the songs, and kind of did the hand motions, but VERY small, and down by his waist, so as not to appear to be dancing, haha.  He did warn us that he wouldn't dance though, so I'm super proud of what he did do.  For his first concert, the little guy was super!  Ares had a rough go at it before the concert, but once in there, he was proud of his brother, and kept pointing him out and wanted to go up and get him off stage at the end of the concert 

He's in the middle row, in the red vest, with his fingers in his mouth making faces.  This kid!  hilarious!

It took a LOT to get Ares out of the house and into the concert, but once there, he was a
proud big brother, and his mood lightened up. 

Take TWO!

Ares, my son.  Oh, how I love him.  So so so much.   But oh, how I do not like him as of late.   It's tough, he's having a tough time, but he's so defiant.  SO SO defiant.  Throw all his toys away.  He doesn't care.  Take all furniture out of his room (and put in ours, SMH Adam.  Thanks so much), he doesn't care.  If he doesn't want to go somewhere, he won't, I must physically carry or drag him. 


So he's on a second med now, hopefully this will begin working today, because the only difference we saw yesterday, was him staying up extra late because he wasn't even a little bit tired.  He read some (and by 'read' I mean, flawlessly read through a perfectly long chapter in minutes, while I was there.)


And he's making Christmas tough, like, he only says he wants a slugterra blaster, a power ranger something or other (Aunt Katie got it for him) and a baseball mitt (Papa Keith got that for him).  My mom got him a TON of Science kits, I got him a spy kit and the slugterra thing, and he wants NOTHING else.   Maybe some nice art supplies, and a nice tote or bin that fits pads of full size paper, and crayons/markers etc that can ONLY be his, so he doesn't need to share?   he's obsessed with all things glue and tape....   I'm totally stretching for items.


Atlas wants 'Monster trucks.  All of them.'   That's it.  nothing else.  Mom got him a shit ton of Paw Patrol things from the mommy's group. 


Adam and I both  have our lists on Amazon, although, they're not beefy.  I really just want my laundry room moved so I can have a mud room.    We did a lot of damage with Amazon shopping this year.  Like, the "couch" that's like the puf chair I had in HS and College has been on my list for years, but I refuse to pay a lot for it (and we have no room for it).  Well, apparently it was on sale, Adam put it in the cart, and I hit 'buy'.  It was a tag team effort, hahaha.   


Speaking of Christmas... I put up a new tree!  (It may or may not be the FOURTH tree in the house!).   This one might have a beautiful gold glitter on the tips of most branches that will drive Adam crazy for as long as we have this tree, but I love it.)  it matches the room PERFECTLY, too.   Although, we had to move the beer fridge to be by the liquor cabinet, so it's farther away from the island.   Ah well. 

Thanksgiving/Christmas Fun!

 

 

I want this, I have a feeling I ordered the wrong thing.  =( 

Swim

Well, we told Ares if he could participate in every swim lesson (7 total) then he would never have to take swim lessons again.  He did great for 1-3, but lesson 4, he wouldn't do anything except for nearly drown and pout and be multiple laps behind other kids. 



This is the first lesson that Atlas would participate.  Well, first and a half, I guess.  He had a great time (he's to the right of the kid in blue).  He had tons of fun and got a cookie at the end.  (That may have been why he did so well, whatever it takes). 

Although Ares was a complete Ass during the swim lessons, (and during school, where he didn't do his work), he was fantastic when it came time to doing his school work that should have been done during the school day.   He wrote quickly and neatly and didn't complain a single time.  He was writing about spider webs. 

Hot Chocolate 5K

Saturday morning Ares had a soccer game.  This kid absolutely hates practices, but man, when it comes to game time - this child has scored a goal in every game he's played in since starting indoor soccer.   The team tied against Hudson, 3-3.  They were down 1-3 until the end, where Ares scored goal #2 off of a corner kick, and then not far after Logan scored a goal to tie it up at the end of the game.   Great game boys!


This past weekend we packed up and headed to Columbus to stay with Leah and Amanda (along with Adam's parents) to run the hot chocolate 5k.  Well, we all walked, except for Ares and my father in law, who ran the entire thing.   It was cold.  COLD and windy, oh so windy.  It was quite miserable, especially for poor little Atlas, who was just sitting in a stroller for over an hour (the walk, plus the hour wait before the run started).  By the time it was over, his fingers were frozen (almost literally) and his body was so cold, all he could do is cry.  Poor kid.  Bad mom.  I only had 1 pair of gloves on him, TOTALLY forgot I planned like a good mom and had 2 pairs with us, but he never specifically complained about his hands.  =( 


The weekend, overall, was a good time though!  

Love this one!!!

The official DX is.......

Ares had a good day at school yesterday.  Still had some work to bring home that he didn't want to do in class, but he got the golden ticket for the day for walking in the hallway, when there was a big gap in front of him, where most kids run.   He was so proud, and when Adam got a phone call from the school (I was right next to him) we were so proud too!   An OK day at soccer, made it overall a pretty decent day.
 He saw the doctor in the morning, he definitely showed the doctor that he has NO attention span.  He's a contortionist, his feet were not on the ground once, not ONCE the entire time we were there. Behind his head, around his arms, anywhere but where they should have been.    So, we left home after 2 hours with an ADHD dx and a script for concerta, I think that's what it's called.   Said behavioral therapy won't even help until we can get this under control.


So, we practiced last night swallowing ticktacks and he got the pill down today after about 1 minute of practicing (unsuccessfully) with a ticktack and 30 seconds to get the pill down.  Let's hope for a great day.  Parent teacher conferences tonight. 

Get the Ball Rolling

Well, my dear child has graduated to the throwing of furniture, screaming, kicking, hitting, and yesterday he bit his brother.   It's a joy being around A, as 80% of the time we're walking on egg shells.  The other 20% he's not around.  


Both boys had swim lessons today.   Ares has been doing great - aside from him almost nearly drowning while doing the back stroke - every time.  He's good with the other strokes though.   He's been behaving because he knows that if he does well, and participates, I won't make him continue with swim lessons.   It's more self preservation than anything else.  He's in pre-swim team now, so I feel that he'll live if he happens to fall accidentally into a pool. 


Atlas - well.  Atlas.   He's his own person, and aint NO ONE tellin' him what to do.  $67 down the preverbal drain.   He wasn't happy that Ares got a cookie today and he didn't.   (the crazy thing, is that we were swimming for a half hour before lessons started, but he wouldn't get into the water for lessons. He's lost that privilege.) 

Ares had 10 vials of blood drawn this past Wednesday.   Then something concerning came back (elevated ANA levels, showing an autoimmunity deficiency), and a pediatric rheumatologist was contacted, and he requested 4 more vials of blood to be drawn for more tests. That was fun.   took 4 of us to hold him down, and then we walked out, sat down for 10 minutes, Adam talked to him for a while, we went back in, and he was ready and watched the needle go in without even a flinch.  good boy. 


Atlas has been taking a page from Ares' book and now screams, kicks, cries and throws tantrums when he doesn't get his way.   This is not all that often, but often enough. 
So right now I hate my life.   I'm trying to survive, but I'm drowning.  But at least Atlas won't go into the water - so he's not drowning! 

BIG House Project

Here's the most exciting thing that's been decided between me and Adam.  I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am at just the thought of this, (AND that Adam is even entertaining the idea!)  I know it's going to be a TON of work, and pretty expensive, but I've convinced Adam (it didn't take a lot, he kind of likes the idea) to turn our unused, always messy office, into the laundry room, giving me the mud room that I've always wanted!!  I mean, it only makes sense to be able to keep shoes and coats and backpacks in the room that we first walk into from the garage, but we always have clothes and baskets in there.   Right now, I can't even get to my washer/dryer, because of the shoes and baskets in the way.  I want to do this right, however, so I'm thinking about what floors to put in, if I should hire an interior designer to help plan the space (does it go against the back wall, or side walls? Should I put built ins there, or open shelving?  etc.   To say that this is the most fought for, exciting project for our house would be an under statement.  I can close the door to the laundry room if we have baskets/clothes there (although, they'll be closer to the rooms to put things away), and I've been asking for a mud room since the day we bought the house and I realized there's NO room in the laundry room.   I seriously will put off having Lasik surgery, and an RV if it means I can have a mud room.    squeeeeeee!  So exciting! 


------------------UPDATE--------------------
Plans have changed, surprise surprise. 



(see about 1:30 into the video, I like that idea, or possibly doing the same thing but with a closet with (classy) accordion doors).
http://www.younghouselove.com/2016/10/kitchen-cabinet-organization/

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

So which order do we go in?  


Do we start with the CLEVELAND freakin' INDIANS?!!?  Yes, I will.   This city is ALIVE!  Last night, the Cavs received their rings, the banner was raised, and they won their opening game for the 2016-2017 season.  The city went crazy!!! OH!! and, at the exact same time, the Cleveland Indians, less than 100 yards away (for the first time in our history) hosted game 1 of THE WORLD SERIES!   I mean, what-the-what?!?!  Oh, and BOTH teams won!!!   The excitement was amazing.  I mean, it's the Cubs vs Indians, Combined, some 176 years of World Series Championship drought between the two teams.  Tickets in Cleveland are going for close to $5K! (That's each, not for a pair.)  Nearly double that in Chicago!  (Naturally, I mean, our cost of living is lower, we don't' have that $10k to throw around, but that also means, LOTS of Chicago-ians are buying up our tickets, because they're cheaper - but they all left sad last night!)   It's awesome how together this city is, even after the Cavs won the first championship for the city. Everyone is wearing either championship Cavs or Indians gear everywhere.  Oh, and the Monsters won last night too (their game was away).     And the Browns didn't lose!!!  *Because they didn't play, they did lose on Sunday, to be a lovely 0-7 team.   http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/17889262/cleveland-indians-cavaliers-host-renaissance-mirrors-modern-cleveland  I hope that story is available for years to come.  It's the truth.


The bad - well, we're still having a rough go at it with Ares.  To the point, that we're currently looking for a good psychiatrist.  One that works with parents too.  I can't seem to keep my calm around him.  He's so negative about everything, including himself, but he's SO DISRESPECTFUL to me.  I find myself being very sarcastic with him.  He constantly says that no one likes him, or he's a bad person, and in the first breath I tell him that he's not a bad person, that he just has been acting like a bad person lately, and in the next breath I tell him that maybe his friends would like him again if he stopped having temper tantrums and would start respecting his friends again.  I know, good job mom.  But I can only be told that I am mean (for him seeing a crock pot) and I disrespect him (for picking him up at the EXACT time he asked me to from daycare) and that I don't like him (for taking him to his indoor soccer practice, which I asked him 30x before I paid for it if he wanted to play or not) so many times before I want to throttle him.   Hopefully the psychiatrist we find can do some parent training as well, because, well, while I love him to death, and I get upset when I see him sad, and I cherish his cuddly moments (he does still have those from time to time, it's a switch that clicks on and off), I honestly do not want to be around him.  This month, we had 7 horrible days (where I could have easily not seen him all week and been ok with it), followed by 7 of the best days, and we're back to 3 (so far) bad days.  I have been told not to make a crock pot meal today, and to pick him up at 6pm exactly.  I walk on eggshells all day long around him, so simple requests like this I try and do.  I mean, go home after work and take a nap, or go shopping for some Halloween treats I need to pick up for classroom parties?   Either way, no kids.  Thankfully, for sanity purposes, Atlas is ALWAYS happy.  Loves to give hugs and kisses, say 'I love you' a million times a day, play with his 'baby' (a random and different 'so cute' stuffed animal each day).  Honestly, he's keeping me sane these last few weeks.  


and the ugly - me, when I yell or get frustrated, which seems to be pretty often as of late.  Plus, I've been sick, which doesn't help matters even a little bit. 


I'm going to end this with a GO TRIBE rally call, since tonight is Game 2  (of the WORLD SERIES!!!)