hello

Oh, hey blog friends.


I have had this post in draft mode for probably six weeks.  I just can't seem to wrap it up.  Or add pictures.  And who wants to read a post with no pictures?







Summer was a whirlwind and is suddenly over and going back to school was harder this year than ever before.  I miss being with Hannah.  I am not excited about my assignment (massive understatement).  I interviewed for jobs that didn't pan out and I put in for an in-district transfer that didn't happen.  There were a lot of tears the first few days (from me, not from Hannah, she is doing great).  It's been really rough and I fantasize about putting in my notice and walking away forever on a daily basis.  This has been my hardest September yet: a caseload twice as big as other years, an onslaught of beginning of the year meetings and paperwork, parents requesting meetings, a student with significant behavior problems.  I have literally been working round the clock, but September is almost over, and things are starting to look up for October.  I am hopeful that Ryan will continue to do well at his job at Comcast and maybe someday I can work part-time or at a job that doesn't require so much of me. 










One major thing I haven't mentioned yet on the blog was that Hannah is now doing speech therapy two times a week.  I began to be concerned at the beginning of the summer because Hannah really only says a few words and she they are the same few words she has said since she started talking-- no new ones.  At her age she should have a large vocabulary of more than 50 words and combining words into phrases.  When I wrote out all of the words she said there were only five words on the list.  We are also seeing an increase in her tantrums and frustration as we are unable to understand or guess what she needs and wants. So I took her in for an evaluation and my suspicions that she is delayed were confirmed.  She is doing well at speech for the most part, but still prefers pointing, gesturing, dragging us around the house and signing as her primary means of communication rather than speaking.   They recommended 12 weeks of therapy and then looking at her progress, so I am anxious to see what her therapists recommend next. 




My sister and brother in law were in town for a visit and it was so fun to see them.  Ryan and I took a day off of work and joined them, my parents and quite a few members of Drew's family in D.C. for Jen's graduation. We all had a nice lunch as a family and then we went to the National Zoo.  It was a really great day to play hooky and have some nice family time.  It's always sad to say good-bye to Jenny as it will be such a long time until we see each other again.


Isaac has been busy with travel soccer again.  His team has had a few losses and a few ties but so far no wins which is discouraging.  Tonight he is being a "ball boy" at the high school jv and varsity soccer games.  He loves doing that.