Now I'm the Dreamer . . . and the Non-Doer

I so love the way that I decided to get a sitter for my kids this afternoon so I could clean the house in peace. (And have the house be clean for a little longer than one hour. ) Yeah, I also love the way that I just took a two hour nap, have done my online banking, and have spent the last 45 minutes blog lurking. Yeah, of course I couldn't spend some of that time updating my own blog or uploading photos that are sitting on my camera.

Speaking of cleaning house, for those of you that have someone clean your house, have you ever had issues with theft? My son's DS Lite has been missing since last month (the same exact day our cleaners came). I have spent the last 3 weeks looking EVERYWHERE for that darn DS Lite. And I can't find it anywhere. We have searched under Tino's bed, looked behind his computer desk, drawers, etc. I can't find it anywhere. He can't find it anywhere. AND I KNOW it was in his room the day the cleaners came. One of the ladies was the gal that has been cleaning our house for over a year. The other two were new to the company. She was training them. How should I handle this situation? Is it too late to call the owner of the cleaning company? Should I just ask the gals when they get here on Monday? Let it slide and keep looking for the thing?

Dreamer and Doer

Each year Walt Disney World invites school districts across the state to select a Disney Dreamer and Doer. The Disney Dreamers and Doers program recognizes students who possess Curiosity, Confidence, Courage and Constancy - the qualities that Walt Disney so admired.

Students complete a form listing their school activities and activities outside of school (such as sports, music, theater, dance, visual arts, scouting, church, synagogue, mosque, community volunteer work, etc.) This year they decided to mix it up a bit. In order to celebrate the whatever year anniversary since they have been doing this, the focus was on COMMUNITY SERVICE. When Tino brought the form home, I threw. it. in. the. garbage. can. Yes. And then we had to fish it out of the garbage can the next day when Tino told me it was homework and EVERYONE had to fill out a form.

I came to a harsh realization. How many countless hours upon hours have I toted my kids all around town as I do my community service schpeel???? They have learned to follow me around as I do my community stuff . . . canvasing neighborhoods for politicians, being active attending school board meetings, Port Commission meetings (when living in CA), PTA, School Advisory Committee, Cub Master for the community pack, and later den leader for church tri-pack, 5th Grade Banquet Committee, and that's not even taking into consideration the countless hours spent doing church callings (Young Women Presidency, Primacy Presidency, etc. etc. etc. ) But with all this hauling around town and spending countless hours doing community service, HAVE I TAUGHT MY OWN CHILDREN HOW TO SERVE IN THE COMMUNITY?????? And the answer would be NO. Ouch.

So I made a mental note to self that I really need to be a better mother and teach my kiddos the value of serving others and watched as Tino filled out his Disney Dreamer and Doer application. He included the community service such as School Beautification Committee, Mentor, Reading Buddy, being a teacher helper, Cub Scouts: Neighborhood Clean-up and Scouting for Food, Faith in God: Helping to plan and carry out a quarterly activity for the primary children.

Apparently the 128 5th graders that applied for Disney Dreamer and Doer had less community service than Tino. He ended up being one of the three finalists for the school. And then came the interview with 10 adults including the principal, assistant principal, guidance counselor, librarian, and the 6 fifth grade teachers. Of the experience, Tino said "Mom, that was a really nerve-wracking experience. Do you know how difficult it is to be in a room with ten adults asking you a bunch of questions and you're the only kid in the entire room?" To that, I replied "That was a great experience. When you are a professional baseball player, you will be interviewed all the time."

So the inside scoop (given to me straight from Tino's favorite 4th grade teacher), is that he did awesome on the interview. The 3rd finalist was no longer in the running. It was neck and neck between Tino and another girl that had loads and loads of service. Although Samantha won on the school level, Tino is still my DREAMER and DOER. I'm very proud of him.

Noah's Ark

Church leaders have counseled each of us to “build a personal ark” (W. Don Ladd, in Conference Report, Oct. 1994, 36; or Ensign, Nov. 1994, 29). President Ezra Taft Benson said, “The revelation to produce and store food may be as essential to our temporal welfare today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1987, 61; or Ensign, Nov. 1987, 49).

The members of Orlando Florida South Stake are currently involved in a project to build our personal arks. We have been admonished by our stake leaders to prepare for a rainy day . . . both temporally and spiritually. Elder W. Don Ladd taught: "When it starts raining, it is too late to begin building the ark . . . We . . . need to listen to the Lord's spokesmen. We need to calmly continue to move ahead and prepare for what will surely come. We need not panic or fear, for if we are prepared, spiritually and temporally, we and our families will survive any flood. Our arks will float on a sea of faith if our works have been steadily and surely preparing for the future" ( Ensign, Nov. 1994, 29).

Each couple of weeks or so (we still haven't been able to establish a pattern . . . so it could be at any time or any given moment) four families from each ward or branch are chosen to see if their ark(s) have been properly built and are ready for that "rainy day". What exactly does this mean?

• Living off of food storage for one week. Absolutely NO food shopping, eating out, etc.
• Acting as if a natural disaster has left us without modern day conveniences . . . no television, dvds, internet, blogging, text messaging, etc.
• No paying for any kind of family amusement . . . no THEME PARKS, bowling, going to the movies, KangaRoom, etc.
  

I'll elaborate on this a little bit more . . . but I've got to get off the computer. If you notice that I am missing in action from blogging or commenting, etc. I'm not truly missing in action, it's just that it means it's my family's turn to sink or swim for the week.

Off to continue building my ark . . .

Good News

I PASSED MY WRITTEN AND PRACTICAL GROUP EXERCISE CERTIFICATION EXAM! YIPPIE! My next goal is to become a personal trainer. And of course Zumba certification is on my "to do" list as well. Thank goodness for side jobs that help fund my Kindermusik business that so far has not turned a profit . . . .

Stay At Home Mom

I am a "stay at home mom". But even after being a SAHM going on four years now, I get a little stir-crazy. Or maybe it's just a little crazy. So I work outside of the home for about 10 hours per week. My main "job" away from home is my business Kindermusik with Heidi Ramirez. I love it because I get to be around children other than my own. Also I love it because I am able to teach. It's awesome because there are absolutely no school district politics, no "No Child Left Behind", standardized tests, report cards, parent teacher conferences, etc. I teach. I have fun. I go home.

My other job is Cristian's favorite job for me because so far it has turned a 100% profit. I teach piano lessons to four students. If you know anybody else that is looking for a piano teacher, please give them my contact information. And yes, I teach theory and technic.

I meet the neatest people in the whole entire planet in my third job. Yes, the neatest people in the entire planet. I teach a group exercise Silver Sneakers class twice a week. Most of my students are 70+ years old. Chemotherapy, radiation treatments, hip replacement, knee replacement, arthritis, double bypass heart surgery, stroke, and diabetes do not keep my students away from the gym. They come between two and five days per week to exercise. Some of my students don't have health issues, but they care for a spouse or loved one with a debilitating illness. For them, the one hour per day of exercise is their only time away from their sick loved one that they care for around the clock day in and day out. Today I met a new enrollee. For anonymity purposes, let's call her J. J. just received doctor's clearance to exercise last week. She completed her last round of chemo/radiation in November and is now cancer-free. She was using the 1 pound hand weights and the yellow resistance bands during today's class. She lost a lot of her muscle strength while receiving chemo and radiation. She shook with every single bicep curl and tricep press we did. Lunges and hamstring curls were challenging. Jogging in place, jumping jacks, and dancing the bachata, salsa and tango-cha cha were not an easy feat. But J. stuck through the entire class. And J. will be returning again tomorrow. Along with my other 15-30 friends that go to the gym Monday through Friday at 11:30 a.m. Their stories are unique. Their stories are special. And I feel blessed to be able to know them and interact with them.

Being a stay at home mom has been extremely challenging for me, being the workaholic that I tend to be. But I find that the whole "stay at home mom" title is a complete misnomer anyway. When do "stay at home moms" stay at home anyway? I still can't figure that one out. Anyway, I am grateful for the daily experiences I have with my children and also for the 10 hours of "me time" that I get by working my 3 "stay-at home mom" side jobs.

25 hours 13 minutes

So what was supposed to be a 24 hour EEG turned out to be 25 hours and 13 minutes. But who's keeping track of those kinds of minute details anyway? We went in 30 minute cycles. 30 minutes everything is a.o.k. And then 30 minutes where Sarah would say, "O.K. Mami, I pinished. Let's go home now." And then the same routine repeated inself . . . 24 times. As you can see, in every picture Sarah was either intently watching t.v. (Goofy parents who deprive their children of the finer things of life by not having cable or satellite in their home). And when she was not watching t.v. she was EATING. Oreos, macaroni and cheese, pizza, cheese nips, lunchables, Trix yogurt, chicken noodle soup, apple jacks cereal, more oreos, chocolate milk, and donuts. Maybe the reason she didn't sleep much was because she was on a SUGAR high. And if not a sugar high, a processed foods high.

The Findings

On Monday morning, Sarah woke up about 2 hours earlier than normal. And slept during the day a whopping 20 minutes. At 11:30 p.m. she was still going strong like the energizer bunny. (Were they really zapping her with MORE energy instead of monitoring her brain activity?) She slept for a couple hours until she had to go to the bathroom. After her 3:30 a.m. potty break, she didn't go back to sleep until around 5:45 a.m. Although she slept WAY less than normal, Dr. Davis was able to find out that YES, she does have several night time awakenings BUT they are not seizure related. Yeah for that. So the good news from all of this is that we will not have to have her on daily seizure meds. I just have to carry her emergency seizure meds with me IN CASE she has another seizure during the day. But that's no biggy, because I'm used to being the walking medicine cabinet. If you ever need one or two epi-pens, I always have them with me. And now, I will carry Sarah's "just in case of emergency" seizure meds.

Don't Woe-wee I O.K.

Sarah has a little phrase that she has learned over the last couple of weeks. She uses this phrase as a coping strategy. Instead of having a complete melt-down like the "Old Sarah" would have done, she simply has to say "Don't woe-wee, I o.k." and everything is indeed o.k. Her phrase comes in handy when she has just fallen off her brother's scooter, has stubbed her toe after jumping off the top bunk onto the floor, had an accident (although she is about 99.9% potty trained now), etc.

She even uses this phrase as I pull her out of her OCD moments and redirect her. Kiddos with sensory processing disorders have OCD tendencies. Whenever she gets into an OCD moment or starts exhibiting OCD behaviors, we have been instructed by her Occupational Therapist and Behavior Therapist to redirect her. OCD behaviors are LEARNED BEHAVIORS that can be "unlearned" the same way those behaviors were learned in the first place.


As you can see in this picture taken around Christmas time, Sarah has her sippy cup and books lined up right next to the advent calendar. This was BEFORE we were instructed to pull her out of her OCD moments. (I actually got quite a lot accomplished because she would play with the advent calendar for HOURS. In between playing, she made sure to have her drink and books close at hand). Had I pulled her out of this OCD moment back at Christmas time, there would have been a COMPLETE meltdown and temper tantrum that could have lasted upwards of 1-2 hours+. Now with her new phrase "Don't woe-wee, I O.K.", she is able to self-soothe and doesn't have a melt down as I pull her out of her OCD moments.

This conversation is CLASSIC Sarah. And although it was relayed to me via her babysitter, I know this really happened. How do I know this? Because Sarah was talking on the phone to cousin Abbie yesterday and she told her the same exact thing.

Scene: Yasmin's house. Mateo comes out of the room crying because Sarah has just bit him.
Yasmin: Sarah, what happened to Mateo?

Sarah: Da Biting.

Yasmin: Sarah, who bit Mateo?

Sarah: Um, da teef did it.

Yasmin: Sarah, whose teeth did it?

Sarah: Um, da teef did it ah Mateo.

Mateo: (Still crying, wanting loves and hugs from Yasmin)

Yasmin: Come here Mateo. Are you o.k.?

Mateo walks over to Yasmin. Sarah walks over to Yasmin as well (knowing she is about to get a time out and is going to get into trouble for her BAD behavior).

Sarah: Don't woe-wee. I o.k.

Conversation shared in a phone conversation by Sarah to her cousin Abbie:

Sarah: Hi Abbie. And da biting. And da teef did it. And da Der-wah time out. And da Teo crying. And da don't woe-wee, I o.k.
Don't worry, I'm o.k. too. Although I wish I could be inside of Sarah's brain and process the things the way she does and figure out exactly how I could be a better support to her, I am learning little by little. And the fact that we are starting to get some answers from the specialists in the field makes it a lot easier for me to deal on a day to day basis with my special needs kiddo.

Meet Mateo

This is Mateo. We waited for a very very very long time for his earthly presence to bless our lives. After a miscarriage (which happened in the middle of Tino's 3rd birthday party), I had issues getting pregnant again. The infertility specialists couldn't come up with any particular diagnosis . . . other than "secondary infertility". Once I finally did get pregnant (about one week before the scheduled artificial insemination), I had to do daily injections of this icky medication that helped the pregnancy to be viable. Finally after 20+ weeks, the pregnancy looked like it was going to be successful so I didn't have to do the meds anymore. On December 11, 2003 Mateo Douglas Ramirez entered into our lives. And our lives have not been the same since.

Mateo is a very very strong spirited child. (I think he needed this strong spirit to be able to survive the medical secondary infertility odds that were stacked against him). Anyway, he keeps me very busy. Who needs a full-time job when you've got Mateo as your son???? He is ALWAYS up to something new. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. The above picture is one of his creations for an acceptable outfit for the day. Yes, that's right I told him to go get a shirt on (three different times). So this particular morning he took me literally. And was trying his darnedest to put three shirts on. This is what he came up with. And yes, he was ABSOLUTELY right. I did tell him to put a shirt on . . . . three times. And won't his voluntary pre-kindergarten NEXT YEAR be pleased to know that Mateo already knows that 1 + 1+ 1= 3.

Lately we have been having issues in our house. Lions and tigers have been writing on the walls AND on the furniture. I thought for sure it was Mateo because he ALWAYS has a crayon, marker or piece of paper within arms reach. But he was insistent it was the scary lions and tigers. I told him to go ahead and let the lions and tigers know that I was going to throw ALL of his markers, crayons and art supplies in the garbage can if lions and tigers kept writing on the walls. He promised me he would convey the message to them. Fortunately, graffiti has ceased within the confines of our home. And Mateo's art supplies did not have to be thrown away. NAUGHTY LIONS AND TIGERS!
Mateo has been having ISSUES with his curly hair. So on Sunday morning, he decided to "pull" (translation: CUT) his curls out. ALL OF THEM. So now he looks a little bit like this.

I cried and cried and cried on Sunday morning after Mateo's haircutting incident. Cristian had JUST taken Mateo for a haircut on Wednesday and it looked SOOOOOOOOOO cute. Obviously Heavenly Father thinks I need to improve in the patience department. I don't know WHAT I am doing wrong as a parent, but Mateo always seems to be at least a couple steps ahead of me. Maybe one of these days I will learn to catch up with him. Until then, I will look into those big brown eyes and MELT every time I look into them. I will also remember that we waited a very very very long time for him to join our family. I will also TRY to forget about the little bumps in the road and all the lions and tigers and alligators (another story for another day) that come our way.

Clueless Mommy Moments

Tino: I've got one more thing to say before bed. And it's about sports. I know who scored the putt to hit the touchdown to lose the game.

Mami: Who?

Tino: Roger Federer


Mami: WOW.

Tino: Mom, were you even listening to me?

Mami: Yeah. But I don't have any idea what you were talking about.

Tino: Listen closely. I know who scored the putt to hit the touchdown to lose the game. Roger Federer. I was talking about five different sports you know.