The first week...

The First Day...
    Malcolm's first day of school ever was 10/9. He started in his 3yr old special preschool class. The best news is that he loved it! He didn't like be woken up, but who does, and he didn't want to eat breakfast or have his picture taken. when we took him to the classroom he didn't cry and throw a fit. she was glad to be rid of us. When i picked him up from school, he was crying and didn't want to see me or Inara. He had so much fun!

And week..
   the rest of the week he has been doing great. He's is crying when one of his teachers grabs his little hand and leads him into the school and Inara screams and reaches for her brother, which makes it hard on him and me. He comes home happy and excited to see us! though he has started to get a little cold but still a happy little man.

yesterday he actually ate some of his lunch and his snack!! he hasn't done that all week. he even took a nap, though not on his mat. it was on his teacher's lap.

I am already starting to see a difference in him. he is trying to talk more. and some of the words are starting to come out!! He even, are you sitting down for this, pick up some of his toys before he got out different toys!! well, at least in his room but it's a start!

he has gotten great reviews on his daily notes. he is starting to play with the other children. there are 6 other kids in his class. i cannot express how proud i am of my little man!

Inara is still not used to not having him around to play with. it's kinda funny and sad. we'll play barbies or cars and she'll yank one out of my hand and run, expecting me to chase. I just go hey that was not nice and then grab a different one and continue playing. she sighs, shrugs, and puts it down and goes sits down. she's been pretty bored. so today i took her to the park and to the library (all of out favorite place) she was excited! and swung for about an hour until it started to rain. boy, was my arm tired from pushing! I am work trying to work with her on her letters and words. she's doing pretty good at matching the magnet letter to what i write on the board.

That is all for now. Have a great weekend everyone!!
Thanks for stopping by!

Ant Problem?...Use cinnamon

  Whenever it rains, we always get ants, especially in the kitchen. They were coming in through the window.

here are some tricks that i have figured out on how to get rid of ants and keep them away.

- if they are coming in through the window like ours were replace your screen (or tape over the holes, a little ghetto but it works). Ours were coming in through the bottom of the window frame. So i caulked. Lesson learned. Always check, especially in an older home, that your frames are flush with the wall and it not replace, repair, or the cheaper route caulk it. if you do a good job, then your wont even notice.

- if they are coming through the exterior doors, kill them first (duh) and then to keep them away use cinnamon. yep you read that right. ants travel along the scent trail that they leave and when you sprinkle cinnamon they lose their trail and can't stand the smell! I rubbed down my baseboards and my hardwood floors with it then i vacuumed it us. remember it's all about the smell not the actually grains. On a good note, your house smells great! You can use other fragrant spices as well. (clove, garlic, etc but none smells as good as cinnamon)

We are going on 2 days now with no ant problem. Terminix couldn't even get rid of these pesky insects!

I am going to try to post helpful hints that i figure out along the way. if you have any let me know :)

maggie

School and Blood

 
 School....
  Malcolm will be starting school on October 8th. Well, i think October 9th because the 8th is Christopher Columbus day. He will be starting a Special Education Preschool. I am still working out the kinks onto which one.
   We had Malcolm tested for autism back in July. They said that he is on the spectrum (mild to moderate) but probably more of the savant kind but he is too young to test for that. I have been since working with the school district to get him enrolled into pre-school. they did their own tests of course and then we came up with something called an IEP (individualized education plan). Basically what it is, is a set of strengths and weaknesses and goals to over come the weaknesses. his weakness is obviously communication and social. i think that once we get him talking and understanding us completely then he will be just fine. I am working out which class he will be in. there are 3. severe disabled, not for him at all, there is autism class and then there is cross curriculum. these last 2 are much a like but the autism is more of a rigorous structure with pretty much no room from change. the cross curriculum (which i think will be best for him) is kind of like the general special ed. we will get speech therapy a few times a week. 1 hour outside of his classroom and 30 with his class. if there is anyone else in his class who is also taking it he will get and extra 30 with them.
  I think that once we get all details nailed down and he starts, he will absolutely adore it. then, i can work with inara at home and will be able to take her around other kids by myself, like to the playground and such, while malcolm is in school. She is starting to excell her brother in soemthings. if you ask her a yes or no question she will answer it and most of the time she understands the question and answer it correctly.

blood.....
  since about march, i have been batteling gallbladder pain. been kind of putting myself on the back burner and taking care of everyone else. after all, isn't that a moms job? Last tuesday i was in so much pain and none of my normal releaf meathods worked. i went to the ER. they scanned my gut and said "yep, you gotta ton of stones in there. go to a surgeion." so i found a wonderful wonderful surgeon. an old man whos been doing this for 40 years. i saw him on thrusday and made an apt for the surgery friday morning. They took is out and sent me home where with much help, i am making a fast recovery. today, i made the final visit to the surgeon. he said that all 4 of my holes that he cut in me look great and i should be completely back to normal in 4-6 weeks. he also told me that the gallbladder was riddled with gallstones. some starting to protrude and it was inflamed. probably another few weeks and i wouldve been really sick.
  i have an appetite now but once i smell food i kinda back away. but doc said that would change here soon. i hope so i really miss cooking. 
  i have even found my figure again!! it was swollen under all the inflammation :)

My husband, thomas, is the most wonderful man. he went to every appointment and held my hand every step or the way! even though he has been working hard, he took the time and came with me for everything. he is a wonderful man! he made sure that i got my meds on time and brought me beautiful roses. i love him so much.
and sorry ladies he is taken!

here is a wonderful picture of malcolm and me together

 and my crazy little inara

well that's all i have for now...some glimmer into my crazy life! Until next time...

Maggie 

A bit new...

Hey everyone and welcome to my first ever blog! I'm new at this and not sure exactly how this works so you must bare with me while i figure this out.

The wonderful Misadventures of the Smiths is the perfect title for us. We always run into a problem  or two (or curse) but we stick together as a family to get through it. what has torn most families apart keeps us together.

A little bit about me.....
I'm Maggie. I'm not quite 30 yet....i have one more year until that happens to me but i have been told that it's the best decade of your life. I have a loving, hardworking husband, Thomas. He is the best husband a woman can ask for. We have 2 beautiful children, Malcolm and Inara, and a fur baby as well. A basset hound named Ginger. We have a full house here in Georgia and I love every minute of it.

                                                     Malcolm and Inara....The Names..

Inara Olivia

Malcolm Montgomery

Our babies!! most common question when non-geek people hear their names is "where did you come up with those names?" Probably something that you are asking yourself. We love the show firefly. (there was a movie called serenity) Malcolm is the captain of serenity. he is a very no-nonsense, tough fighter yet a real sweetheart (played by Nathan Fillion). We liked that name so hence why we named Malcolm..well Malcolm. as for Inara. in the show she has an unusual career choice (I'll let you look that one up) but she is a strong woman and doesn't take crap from anyone. it's also a name from mythology. Inara was a goddess that protected wild animals (except dragons which she slayed). So we chose Inara. it's a beautiful sounding name.
"why didn't you name them after someone in your families?" is usually question number 2 if the person has not walked away. well we had both sides wanting certain names and we could not satisfy anyone and if we picked one someone else would be upset so we choose 2 very different names. Simple, right?

Ginger....
Ginger is a rescue dog that we got from BROOD (basset rescue of old dominion). she was breed for bucks then dumped. BROOD picked her up and saved her from death row and fixed her up and now we have her. she is a very very very lazy dog. the most stressful thing she does is sleep in the son all day then get a drink, maybe a bight to eat, then off to bed. and when i say bed i mean our bed. not hers. She's mainly a daddy's girl though she does love when i feed her and snuggle her. i guess I'm her back up when daddy's not home

Ginger

Well that's the intros...i hope that you enjoy this blog. any even if no one reads it it will be good therapy for me to write and rant when needed (i will let you know when i write a rant so you can skip it if you want to).

So long friends. I'm not sure when i will post things but I'm sure that i will put it on Facebook when it gets updated:)

Maggie