Monday, February 25, 2008

Monday, February 25th, 2008

Hello everyone! I hope this Monday finds you all bright eyed and feeling perky! I’m in-between. Last night Bryce and I slept on the floor in the living room. Our choice! Right now Tim is high above us, heading to The Lone Start State for three days. He had to be up and out the door by four a.m. Because he slept in Sunday morning, he wasn’t feeling all that tired come 11:00 p.m., so I don’t know what time he eventually fell asleep. I decided to let him have an uninterrupted five or so hours of sleep, that’s why I piled up some sleeping bags and tossed down a couple pillows. Devin appeared about 2 a.m. and climbed in on my other side. Later Hunter admitted that he saw us sleeping on the floor, which means he was awake after 2 but before 4 because Bryce and I relocated to the bedroom when Tim left. If you had been a fly on my wall you would have heard me say: HUNTER JAMES! YOU ARE NOT TO COME OUT OF THAT ROOM ONE MINUTE BEFORE 6:30!

It seems Tim was right. Many of you don’t read thru my Updates. It’s OK. I’ll get over it. Out of the 23 people on my email mailing list, take away Tim as he doesn’t count, only five people responded to the short paragraph buried in my last update that asked you to contact me for a free something or other. Tim says I write too much, it’s too long, that no one has the time; possibly not even the interest to read my rambling’s regarding life in Northeast Ohio. Oh, well. The five of you will be getting a 5x7 picture of the boys eventually.

I actually started this update about 7:30 this morning, thinking I’d get it out to you all by lunch. But no such luck. Devin was crawling around in Hunter’s closet and brought me half of a pirate’s ship. He wanted me to fix the boat so we went back to the closet and pulled out all the pieces in there and we also found some under the bed. We brought it into the living room and I tried to put it together, but Hunter had taken it completely apart; it was hard for me to figure out where the pieces went. So I searched online for a picture of the ship and eventually found it and was able to put it together. I had trouble on my own because I had pieces that were the same color, but they belonged to the castle (which I’m sure Devin will want me to fix later, after he’s done with the ship). It still wasn’t complete though as some of the cannon balls, pirates and the treasure chest were missing, so I spent over an hour cleaning out Hunter’s room to find them and other pieces I recognized went with it. Phew! Now here it is early afternoon and soon Bryce will be needing my attention!

Hunter’s had a pretty easy going week. He’s been very helpful to me in watching Devin with Bryce. Devin has been smacking the baby on top of the head, sometimes for no apparent reason, so has been spending quite a lot of time in Time Out. I’d hear Hunter tell Devin no hit, or if I was elsewhere he’d holler down to me that Devin was hitting again. I had to ask Hunter to do this because he was just ignoring his younger brothers. I’ve been having to remind him to pick up his small toys from the floor and told him that Bryce couldn’t play in Hunter’s bedroom with him unless he picks up all the toys and stuff all over his floor. Hunter just closed his door. (He doesn’t catch on very well.)

The only big news with Hunter this week is that he’ll probably be getting glasses. He’s always sat in the front row near the teacher to help keep him on task so there hasn’t been a problem with him not seeing or understanding the work. Tim was sitting with him in the living room when he relinquished the remote to Hunter and saw Hunter get closer to the TV to see the list of programs. Tim asked him to back up and read what the screen said, but Hunter was unable to do so. Here’s a reminder to me to make him an eye appointment. He did have an evaluation in Kindergarten I believe.

This weekend we needed to get some things in the bigger city, so Tim dropped the boys and I off at the mall to play on the soft, indoor play land they have there. He went and did some of the things on his own and would join us later. There are probably quite a few situations with children that a parent might describe as a nightmare. Devin’s broken arm at 18 months was hard going, but not necessarily bad. What happened at that play land I’d rate in my Top 5 of the worst experiences for parent and child.

Once inside the horseshoe shaped enclosure, the open area of the shoe being the only entrance/exit, I took Devin's shoes off and away he went. I've shown pictures while at this playground before. It's a shiny, squishy place where everything is soft although slippery in just socks. He headed to a boat where a wave was at the back in the shape of a slide. I put Bryce at my feet where he started to crawl toward a colorful lady bug. I saw Devin go down the slide and back into the boat to do it again. Hunter had brought a book but decided he wanted to take a video of Devin. I asked him not to drain the battery and take pictures instead. I saw Devin climb up the little tree house and down the slide and back up again. Hunter said something was wrong with the camera so I put it to the right setting and then brought Bryce back to play in front of where I had chosen to sit, which was about half way around the shoe. There were quite a few other parents and children.

Hunter asked where Devin went and I said he was by the tree. He didn't see him over there and I said to look under it because there was a house there. Hunter went inside, but said Devin wasn't there. I looked at the boat and then the motorcycle, which is Devin's second favorite after the boat. Then I started to look more closely at everything and everybody. But Devin wasn't there. I picked up Bryce and headed around the enclosure, behind the tree house because you can't see about a five foot space from where I was sitting. But he wasn't there either. I called Hunter to me and as I turned back the way I'd come, a lady calls from outside the play area and said, "Is anyone missing a little boy?" I went to her and said, "I am. Is he out there?" She said that he was running toward Target.

I ordered Hunter to sit down and put Bryce in his lap and told him not to move an inch while dropping baby toys at their feet. That isn’t a lot to ask of Hunter, he is quite capable of doing what I needed. He heard what the lady said about Devin. I took off toward Target faster then I ever have since my childhood. About 50 feet from the entrance a group of young adults said he had run inside. I got in there and looked in the three directions the store allowed; into the clothing area, straight in front of the check out aisles and toward the exit to outside. I didn't see him anywhere and I was really beginning to panic. An older gentleman recognized that and asked if I was looking for a little boy. I gasped yes and he said he saw him run that way, and pointed straight, past the registers. As my eyes clung to his finger and search frantically in the direction it indicated, I first saw the welcomed sight of a security officer and walking with him was a woman and she was holding a crying Devin.

Oh, my God, I was so relieved. I felt like I hadn’t been in my own body that entire time, but when I saw my son I snapped back into myself and the horror of having lost him sunk temporarily below the belt. When he saw me he started to cry louder and reached for me. The warmth of his body seemed to renew me.

They were both very considerate as I was feeling like the worse mom in all the world. The security officer said they were headed toward the playland because Devin wasn’t wearing any shoes. I thanked them so much and left the store, clutching Devin like there was no tomorrow.

The walk back to the play land was long indeed. The feeling that had fallen away from me when I first laid eyes on Devin returned in full force and I was attacked by What If’s? As I sat back down with him on my lap, I could feel the other parents staring at me. I'm sure everyone had heard the woman ask if someone was missing a child. I buried my face in his shoulder and told him how scared I was. He had scared himself pretty good, so a lesson learned for both of us.

When Tim arrived I told him what happened. He was positive about it, and went in to play with both the younger boys as Hunter was taking their pictures (and later read a book) like it had never happened. I’m relieved he didn’t bite my head off, but also a bit perturbed he didn’t make a bigger deal of it. So maybe I wanted to get yelled at? He knows already the worse punishment I can get is what I deal out to myself. I’m going to be sensitive about this for a long time.

Bryce wants to eat my every meal and just wants to go and go and go like the Energizer Bunny! I think he’s even dreaming of crawling in his sleep! This week he realized that there’s a whole new world to explore down the hallway! He discovered the bathroom, which he was promptly shut out of, and then Devin’s room where he slobbered all over Devin’s train. Then he discovered the clean toy room (be sure to see the pictures back on the web site!), which will eventually become his bedroom, making him forget the rest of the world and just focus on all his little hands could get hold of and gnaw on. He is such a happy baby; his smile takes up his entire chubby face! I have a little concern over his two front teeth though. I didn’t take a picture of them, but they both have half circles missing from them, in almost the same position as each tooth. Hmm. I’m going to have to look into that.

I hope you all have a great week!

Yo

Sunday, February 17, 2008

February 17th, 2008

Hello all,

I didn’t realize you’d have to sign up to make a comment to my Update here, in Blog form. You can continue sending emails if you’d like.

I hope your Valentine’s Day was good. Tim surprised me with a night out, although I didn’t think we were going anywhere.

He called to tell me not to make dinner, so I assumed we were going out and started packing a bag for Devin and Bryce. But when Tim arrived home, he said a delivery was coming at 6:00. I asked who was delivering because nobody delivers to our house; I can’t even get Pizza Hut to meet me half way! Tim’s lips were sealed so I unpacked the bag and didn’t make the kids anything to eat. Then our sitter, Caleb, pulled in and Tim said the delivery was here. We were going out!

I had to yell at Tim, though, because he knows I just can’t get up and leave the boys without getting them dinner, digging out the disposable diapers, although Caleb did use the cloth last time, writing down our phone numbers, and giving Caleb The Talk, even though he’s heard it all before. Tim ordered me out the door so fast I couldn’t even run a brush through my hair! I told Caleb to feed Bryce small pieces of the chicken nuggets just in case, although I had nursed Bryce before Caleb arrived.

Tim and I had two hours of talking without interruption! We went to Blazin’ Bill’s, which has yummy ribs and sweet potato fries. When the waitress asked us about dessert we said we’d take a smaller version of the Brownie for Two we saw being served all around us. Instead, she brought us the full size but only charged us the small price as it was Valentine’s Day afterall. I asked hubby to carry me to the truck, but he told me to hush and to roll him out the door.

When we got back all was well. Hunter had his school party that day and brought home some candy and a lot of Valentine’s. Instead of treats he was asked to bring in 28 pencils. His Valentine’s Day card theme were character’s from his favorite cartoons on Cartoon Network. He got a little flustered with me if I asked him about any Valentine’s from girls. I didn’t name any names because I don’t want him to get uncomfortable with me (or her), but his teacher tells me that he spends a lot of time with a girl named Abby. So much that during the last desk switch, she put the two of them next to each other. His teacher tells me that she sees them talking in the classroom and outside at recess. He’s leaning over to her at his desk to see if she needs any help and has helped her pack up her things (so maybe that is why he’s been late on Tuesday’s when I pick him up!

Bryce is crawling! For over a week now he’s been doing two to three little crawls in a row. The other day I had put him down on his bum by the back door while I got my boots on to go into town. About five feet away was the dog bowl, filled with small nuggets of hard food. He focused in on those and before I knew it, he had crawled over there and was grabbing at the pieces! On the longer crawls he plops down on his belly, but he mostly does the shorter ones still and pushed back on to his bottom. He’s also still backing himself up against things and getting frustrated.

He’s eating more and more table food, although I have bought the occasional baby food in a jar, but not that often. I tried some bananas I picked up and they were awful. The only ingredients listed were extra ripe bananas and vitamin C. They had kind of a caramel taste to them, but not a sweet taste. He didn’t think much of them either, but it was a new experience and he wanted it in his mouth.

He had a nasty case of gas the other night, and while Tim was lightly bouncing him around, waiting for the gas drops to kick in, I went upstairs to check on Devin. He had a late nap the day before, so who we put down with a DVD at 11:00 and went to bed ourselves. The time was 2:00 A.M. and what did I see when I entered his room? Not a toddler dreaming the hours away, but a happy eyed little Rug Rat who didn’t look sleepy at all! I gave him the hug he wanted and told him to go to sleep. He said, OK. Bye, mom! and went back to his movie.

He was up with me at 8:00 A.M. but fell asleep on our way back from town to get haircuts. I should have taken a picture; both Hunter and Devin could have sported Mohawks if I could get close to them with some gel! We were going to go grocery shopping, but it was raining and I don’t like doing it in the rain with three kids in tow. He’s was so deep asleep when we returned home that I was able to move him from van to his bed without him moving one voluntary muscle. I think he’ll be out for awhile!

He’s still waking most mornings everywhere else but his bed. Some moms on my message board have said to lock him in, but he would just cry and scream. He’s not getting into any trouble; he’s just relocating and falling asleep, sometimes not even making it to a new location besides the floor outside his room, before the Sandman comes back to him. More magic sand needed, please!

I spend a lot of time on message boards, I admit it. Some of the ladies I’ve been chatting with for over two years now! I’ve even met one of them during our annual trip to KY. I almost met another while traveling north for Hunter’s Spring Break last year. But that mama was close to going into labor, so the timing wasn’t good for me to bring three more kids into the house!

Grrr! It’s raining right now. Mother Nature just can’t make up her mind! Hunter didn’t have school on Monday because we were hit by a blizzard the night before. It was very windy to begin with, and with our house being just outside of the snow belt, we don’t get that much snow. When Tim got a phone call that his weekly game of basketball was canceled because of the weather, we were like, Why? It’s not even snowing! We thought we’d just go out to eat since I don’t really plan a meal with him playing thru the dinner hour. As we drove into town we thought that it probably wasn’t such a good idea! The snow was thick and the wind was fierce. Some restaurants had closed up early because of it. That night I looked up the school closings before going to bed at 11:00 and saw that Hunter’s was closed. I went into his room to turn off his alarm, but he hadn’t turned it on. Apparently he wakes up on his own, but we’ve learned he is awake way before he should be.

One week day morning Tim had come upstairs to check on Devin and he finds Hunter under a blanket in the recliner, watching T.V. It was 3:30 A.M. Hunter was told in that tone of voice Tim gets that he, Hunter, is not to leave his bedroom earlier than 6:30. If it happens again, Tim is going to use a timer on the TV where power will not get to the set until 6:30.

Tim doubts any of you actually read my long Updates and told me of an experiment he did in his office. He had sent out some admittedly boring but needed to be shared information, and buried in the email he included a sentence that said; If you read this, contact me for a free _____. He told me it was a week later since he sent that out when someone, and only one, person contacted him. I argued that I thought my Update was a little bit more interesting than his boring work email, and he said that it probably is, however, my Updates tend to get long and not everyone has the time to sit at the computer and read them all. That probably no one except maybe my sister and parents actually read them to the very end. I didn’t like hearing that, but he’s probably right. So, to test his theory, if you’re reading this, shoot me an email and I’ll send you…something. Something small because I just know all of you on my mailing list read my Update to the very end! Prove my hubby wrong! Fill up my inbox with your email now!

Hunter had a friend over last week and they had a lot of fun just hanging out. We had pizza and they made ice cream in the ice cream ball maker the boys got for Christmas. I’m remembering now that the pictures I took of them doing that are on my cell phone. It’s new, so I’m not sure yet how to get those off of there.

Make sure you visit the Hunter in School page to learn about the recent Parent/Teacher conference held earlier this month.

Have a great week!

Yo

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Hello everyone,

By now you’ve probably realized that I’ve changed things around again. I decided I didn’t like the lay out of my pictures and Update, so I tried rearranging it, but I couldn’t come up with something that made me happy. I was doing something else when I came across Blogs, and I thought, Why don’t I give that a try? So, here it is!

You’ll still see the pictures and other information on my web site, but I thought, if I used a Blog, then people could leave their comments right here instead of sending me an email, and it would keep all my Updates in one place for those of you who don’t read it as often as you should! :) Consider this a test run. If you don’t like it, then tell me so in the comment area below, and I’ll go back to doing it pretty much the same way I’ve been doing it since Hunter was a baby. Hunter a baby? He doesn’t believe it!

When I told myself to have a seat and jot down some things to talk about this week before my sister calls asking where the heck her Update is, I strained and racked my brain. All I was remembering was negative things about Hunter this week. He’s been testing the patience of both Tim and I. A lot of it are little things that I won’t even mention, but the following are bothersome.

Every night he has the same routine:

The bus drops him off about 4:00. He watches his cartoons until 5. Tim argues that he should do his homework right away to get it out of the way, but I said he would just be getting home from doing it all day, he needs a break! So about 5:00 I have him sit down and do his homework. Dinner at 6:00. He plays in his room or on the Xbox until 8:00, and at that time he heads to the bathroom where he is supposed to be doing three things; using the toilet, taking a shower, and brushing his teeth. An HOUR later I’m hollering at him to stop hogging the bathroom and he almost always comes out forgetting to do one of the three. I’m considering using the visual schedule again. The past few times he’s gotten in the shower, I’ve had to verbally remind him to use a small amount of shampoo and soap or else he plays with all the bubbles and the bottles are empty by the third day.

He carry’s those small toys every where, with every thing he does! He almost dropped a gallon of milk because he couldn’t get a good grip on the jug while holding the felt characters from the Three Little Pigs! If I send him on an errand with something in his hands, he’s slow or he forgets completely.

If he spills something, it stays there until I notice it, be it milk on the table, pop on the carpet, or bread slices on the pantry floor. He’s sneaking snacks, but leaving the evidence all around him. He’s eating the selections he’s chosen for his school lunch, so for two days last week he didn’t have a morning snack or chips in his lunch box because he ate them all in one sitting.

He has been taking my new phone, which is smaller than the previous one, and hording it with his other small toys, in the lock box he got for Christmas. I talked with him about it, but he really got chewed out when he took his dad’s cell phone and did the same. Is he playing a game, or does he really need to take it?

Ok, enough of a vent! He is walking on the treadmill! I told him he could watch cartoons at the same time, but that he must keep moving on the treadmill for at least 30 minutes and not go any faster than two and a half mph. He said he could go four, and with me right there I said he could give it a try…he agreed he’d only go 2.5! Last weekend he did it both days and he’s done it twice so far this week. Back on Saturday, his first day, I went downstairs to check on him after hearing the treadmill turn off after ten minutes. He was slouched in the chair watching TV and I said if he was done with the treadmill, he’s done with the TV. He said he needed to catch his breath, that he felt lighter, that he lost at least ten pounds! I had to laugh and told him it takes much more than walking ten minutes on a treadmill. If that was all it took, I’d be wearing a bikini by now!

What I am most happy about is that he told me a story! It had been snowing and the white stuff was clinging to the windows and he asked me if I knew what it really was. I went into educator mode and spoke of frozen water, ice crystals…but he stopped me and said it was really ice forts and castles and that every time it snowed more were built by the little people and creatures that rode the flakes down. I asked him some questions and learned that there are danger zones, like the windshield of cars and that after the snow melts, they live in the water and go back home. I wasn’t sure what he meant by “go back home”. It took a little working it out because he couldn’t put the words together right, but he meant they ride the vapors back up to the clouds. He says they are from the artic circle and come here with the snow on a vacation.

I was very impressed and said I would get him a special notebook and new pencil set to write down his story. He doesn’t want to do that because his printing isn’t that good and it hurts his hands. Yes, that’s still an obstacle. Kind of changing the subject here, but kind of not, but Tim tells me that a co-worker of his has a son that had horrible penmanship, worked with an OT, and now his printing is the best in the class. Therefore, Tim thinks the OT Hunter has been working with for a few years now, isn’t very good. I disagree and think it lies within Hunter. You can offer him different tools; bigger, darker pencils, pencil grips, different types of lined paper, but it all boils down to Hunter and how he always rushes to get it done and that he doesn’t take any pride in his work. When he slows down and notices what he writes, it’s actually pretty good, although not as neat as his peers.

Back to what I was saying before, I would really like to get Hunter one of these. I’ve asked the school if they’d provide it for him, but they said no, of course. I asked another mom I know if the Autism Scholarship would cover it, but was told it’s an all or nothing kind of thing. The mom who first suggested we get one for Hunter said I might want to gather up some research and give it to the school to show how beneficial one of these would be for Hunter. I haven’t talked with Tim about that yet, so it’s still up in the air. If not, then I’ll probably use our tax return to get it for him.

Once again we’re experiencing crazy weather days. On Monday it was almost 60 degrees, but today, Thursday, the snow is back and the temperatures will continue to drop until they are down to the teens for Sunday. I am so looking forward to warmer days and drier conditions so I can take the two year old who keeps throwing balls at me and the black lab that keeps staring at me outside and let them tire each other out! Tim and I are considering installing a small fence to keep the boys confined around the play area, but I really don’t want the dogs in there all the time, either (poop factor). That might be a problem with Devin because he wants to be around Knight all the time. The poor dog can’t get any rest…but he’s not complaining! Devin has started pulling on his tail, making us get on him tough, sometimes drawing tears, but even the great family dog that a black lab is, Knight’s patience will only go so far, and he’s getting older.

Devin is still sleeping most of the night on the floor. I’m trying not to think of what he might be breathing in!

Right at this moment, he’s trying to rearrange the track of the train I put together for him. It’s great to see him want to change things around like that! However, the plastic track doesn’t do that as easily as the wooden one…which I see he’s just realized and put it all back in the tub and is headed back out to the living room, where he has the wooden track spread out all over the floor…and Bryce is probably gnawing on it.

Devin is talking so much; it’s hard to believe sometimes that Hunter was silent at this age. Dev has such good manners with us and his brothers, and even with Knight! His favorite thing to do is play fetch on the stairs. He stands up at the top and drops the bumper or dog bone down and tells Knight, Fetch! Knight is happy to oblige. The stairs is the only place they can do that where it doesn’t shake the house! You may have seen the picture already of Devin covering his mouth while playing fetch in the sunroom. I was sitting here at the computer when Devin threw the ball and Knight pounced on it so hard and fast, it seemed like there was a thunderstorm in the room for a second! I said, Whoa! Easy, Knight! and Devin slapped his hands across his mouth! I let them shake the house a few more times so I could get a picture!

His eating habits have gone up and down. Some days he pigs out something awful, and other days he eats only a few bites of each meal. Sometimes he gives me these looks, with his eyebrows down low where I can’t really see his eyes and his upper lip is protruding a bit. I got this look just this morning when I gave him a bowl of Coco Puffs and he looked up at me that way and said in this tone like I was being scolded, Chips. I told him, for lunch, yes, for breakfast, no. He must have known what I was going to say but thought he’d try anyway, because he took his bowl of brown circles and left.

Bryce will be slimming down soon, I know it! We’ve been keeping the gate above the stairs closed because Bryce is rolling, scooting and sliding backwards all over the place! Most of the time he gets to different places by starting on his belly, sitting himself up, reaching toward something and ending up back on his belly. Then he pushes himself up again and repeats, and before I know it, he’s on the other side of the room! No more being stuck in the center of blankets for him!

I was sharing small bites of my pasta lunch the other day. Obviously I wasn’t sharing fast enough because Bryce got up on his hands and knees and did a half crawl and reached out to me, trying to grab my plate! He loves snacks of table food, but he’s still getting most of his meals from me.

The past two nights haven’t been that bad. Last night I think he woke three times, the night before one or two more than that. There have been nights when he was waking every 20-30 minutes. I couldn’t give him the same boob he had the last time he woke, I had to offer him the other, but by flipping both of us over to the other side, before he’d settle back down again. Picky! One of those nights he woke up every 30 minutes, we also had Devin come downstairs crying for his sippy. I was able to sneak away from Bryce so hubby could stay in bed and brought Devin back upstairs and laid him down, promising to be right back with a sippy. I come back into his room, and what do I find? He’s sound asleep! My lack of sleep and zombie like state wanted to call him a brat, but he looked so precious laying there on his side with his blanket clutched in his little fist. I returned to the dark kitchen, clenched my eyes closed and put the sippy in the fridge. Have you ever tried to find something in a fridge when you’re blind? Try it some time! :) I didn’t want the bright light in my eyes, or else I’d NEVER get to sleep that night!

I think his top four teeth have finally broken thru enough to give him some relief. I think I said once before that I got him some baby Orajel because the Hylands Teething Tablets didn’t seem to be enough for all four at once. Ya gotta be quick if you use your finger; those little teeth hurt! I was sporting a deep groove on my finger for a bit!

OK. I’m going to end this now. But before I do, I’m going to announce something that I wrote briefly about in my last Update (not to be found on this Blog because this is the first one!) I spoke last time of the news about Bisphenol-A or BPA being in our children’s bottles, sippy’s, etc., and how Tim and I were looking into a new undertaking that will help us put away some money for a rainy day, but also to help me feel better about Hunter’s future. If this works out like we hope, it can run itself and support Hunter until he finds himself and his place in the world.

Tim has always given me heck about my “Soapbox Ways” and, now that the sleeping bag business has fallen through, he wants to try something else and is open to my ideas. I told him what I’ve learned and how I feel about it, and,
www.bpafreekids.com is the result. We started off reading the “Z Report” and I did surveys and polls on a few message boards to find the most popular of the products found to be BPA free. We selected one from each category and have stock in the Foogo and Adiri at the moment and if there is interest in the other three, we’ll get those as well. So far we haven’t put a lot of money into it, just time, and want to make sure we sell what we have before we continue. I plan on putting in more pictures because that’s a big selling point for me; I want to see different views of what I’m looking to buy, not just read words. We’ve found a way to do a 360 degree view, but have to iron out some stubborn details.

So, please tell me what you think. How is it on the eyes, navigation, too much, too little? One thing we paid attention to on another site is how many clicks it take to buy the products if you choose to do so. We’ve made it so if you know what you want, you just have one click to make to buy it, but if you’re not sure and need to know more, there is more information in another click.

Those of you with English degrees or writing credentials please let me know if there are any grammatical errors, etc., that need my prompt attention. I know it gets on my nerves if I see a spelling error or if words like pear and pair are used incorrectly. It takes me a good amount of time to write my Update, not just to write it, but I must go through it and proofread it as well!

I hope you are all doing well. You don’t have to email me now, just leave a comment on my Update, or about the pictures!

Question: Why do bagels have to be so bad??