Happy barfy Monday!

What an interesting weekend. On Saturday, we went to a birthday party for one of Erin's classmates. It was at the zoo. The zoo is a great place to have a birthday party, it turns out! It was really fun. Have I mentioned that I freaking love the charter school crowd? All five kids who showed up were really good kids, very nice, well-behaved, and even played nice with the younger siblings who were there (including Orren, who was the youngest of all, and very fussy having missed his nap). The parents were super cool, too. It's so different from the standard crowd of this city. It's like I said before. When we did regular public school here, there's no way in hell I'd have let Erin go to her school friends' houses. With this school, I would. These are good families.

Of course last night was Halloween, and that was a lot of fun, too. The kids were adorable, and they had a great time. Scroll down the page to the end of the next entry to see some pictures.

So now it's Monday! Woke up barfy, which is a great sign since it means the baby's still doing great. It occurred to me the other day that I'm not exactly looking forward to the few weeks between the morning sickness going away and the baby's movements being detectable to me, because for those few weeks, I'll have no tangible sign that the baby is ok, and I like having some tangible sign. Yes, even if it means spending the first few minutes of my day barfing, and the first few hours feeling awful, it's still good because I know the baby is doing well. Plus, Erin is wise to this. She goes, "Mommy, were you barfy this morning?" and I say yes, to which she replies, "Good! The baby is helpy, then!" (that's how she says healthy). It's adorable.

Anyhow, what a busy week we have ahead of us! Thak began his ACAP workshops today. That is the Army's preparation course for getting out of the Army. He was looking forward to it for all this time. There's really only one that will do him much good at all, though... well, maybe two. One is the VA one, where he can start filling out some paperwork to get in the system to possibly receive VA benefits after he gets out. The other is a government jobs workshop. Part of me still hopes he will take a government job. He will be able to buy back his Army years to credit toward retirement, and the benefits are pretty good. I know he'd far rather work in a shop out in town, and eventually open his own, but a government job would far and away make the most sense for our family. Hopefully something makes sense to him in that workshop. I guess we'll see. Otherwise, ACAP is kind of a load of crap. (It was when I went through it a million years ago, and by the accounts of people who have done so recently, it hasn't changed much.) They give you a bunch of really bad resume writing advice, a bunch of pep talks about how being a veteran is the awesomest thing ever, and they only give you half an hour for lunch because that's what you'd get in the private sector. On the positive side, you get to wear civilian clothes. So basically, Thak is doing this ACAP thing today through Wednesday, and is psyched about going to work in civvies for those three days. Works for me!

Also today, I go and pick up the new double stroller! I'll post pics when I get it. I'm so excited. I know it's probably really silly to get all excited about it, but it's SO nice, and I can't believe what a great deal we're getting on it. I've always wanted a true luxury stroller, but could not rationalize paying more than we pay in rent, to buy one. This one is less than half that, only because it has been used once (ONCE! It's even a 2010 model!), and the local market would not bear its true value. (In any other major metro, this stroller would sell for $650 or more in a second. I'm getting it for hundreds less than that.) I pick it up on post tonight.

Wednesday night, we have our first ever appointment with Alyson!!! I'm so excited about that. I've had this stupid OB situation hanging over my head for the past 10 weeks, and while I'm not entirely out from under it, being actually seen by Alyson, and knowing I can ask questions without having to worry about having pills pushed on me, or implications that it's an inherently risky thing to be pregnant, or receive boxes of formula on the way out, or wait for hours in the waiting room only to be be rushed out no sooner than I got to the exam room, will be a huge change for the better. I'll just feel so much better to go to my first appointment at the birth center because it is my kind of place, and I feel comfortable there, unlike the OB's office, which is frankly kind of scary and cold. I'm so happy to finally be going to Casa.

Friday, we have a big IEP pow wow at Erin's school. It's going to be me and Thak, Erin's special ed teacher, and the diagnostician who retested her. Mr. M may or may not be in on it. It's going to be at 9 am, so he's going to be really busy with lessons at that point. I'm sure he'll be there if he can. The diagnostician said that she knows what types of programs they need to find for Erin, and how to get her past this. There is no doubt they can provide the services she needs at VDF School, so we just have to get it all down on paper now. That's what everyone's said really. Mr. M even said that when we first went to talk with him about all this. He had noticed that Erin is super smart and does great in a lot of stuff, but has difficulties with the strangest things. He said he is 100% sure that when we find a way to get her past that stuff, she'll stay on a par with the other kids for the duration. She is receiving special ed services, in-classroom, not pull-out, and it is working really well. I know the small class sizes don't hurt either. Mr. M is able to give her tons of individual instruction, and that's helping, too. What we come up with in the IEP meeting will be interesting to hear, but I'm not afraid of it at all. There are a lot of people working hard for Erin right now, and as long as we're at VDF School, we will have that. I'll tell you, it sure is a far cry from trying to get special needs services at a public school. I know people who haven't gotten as far in two years as we have in a few weeks. I'm glad we're at VDF. It is far and away the best for Erin. You would not believe how much she is learning. I never knew she could do this well. It is still painstaking at times, but that's just her learning disabilities talking. We'll find our way around that.

I think this week is going to go by fast. Now me and Orren have a lot of grocery shopping to do. Since Thak won't be home for lunch today, we'll have plenty of time to go across town to Sun Harvest, then come home, put everything away, and finish up at Target after we get Erin from school, since her school is right by Super Target anyhow.