Living & Loving, Autism & Deafness
Our Journey with our loved ones and our lives
Posted 11/20/07 when this site was down.
Just playing around (and of course really didn’t have time) but did it anyway with our new video camera.
Enjoy 🙂
2020 – It looks like this was a file, at first, but it is not accessible so I just posted the YouTube video that I downloaded in 2008…
Posted 11-19 on NaBloPoMo (this site was down)
I usually post in my blog first and then copy the link here, but for some reason the blog is down. After all day not being able to access my FTP to load a pic in there – I am suspicious that something is going on with the password. Ah well – after my repeated conversations with our web server I’m sure we’ll figure it out.
Anyway – tomorrow is Chris’s birthday! 17 year ago at this time I was pretty sure I was in labor. I can’t believe it was that long ago yet I remember most every detail. I went to do some laundry at our IL’s and while I was there I started leaking. Being 25 and fairly clueless I waited a while thinking hmmm is this is it? I was pretty sure at this point (9:45 p.m. 17 years ago) that it was labor but still was terrified and didn’t want to call the hospital. At home I took a shower and ate an apple and debating going to sleep (maybe I don’t really want a baby after all?)
After finally calling the hospital and being ordered to come in — why did you wait so long? we took off to the hospital arriving at 1:30 (the time I arrived with all three kids). I sat up and rocked a lot and also lay and drifted, and had a lot of freedom in a nice birthing room and first felt heavy labor about about 5 a.m. or 6.
Christopher Owen was born at 9:04 a.m. 11/20/90 and was a sweet, happy-dispositioned child. He loved nursing and napped well.
He is still the sweetest person. He loves the simple things in life and gets happiness from his magazines, car rides, and good food.
Happy birthday Christopher!
We were up early (as always) before dawn. After the sun came up, Ryan was sitting with me. I hadn’t noticed it, but he said “Look at the snow!”
I looked outside and the grass was all covered with about 1/2″ of snow. Then he looked at me and said “Ho Ho Ho.”
Broke in the digital camera, early Christmas present for us.
Here’s a start:
Going to Erie from Dori H on Vimeo.
And by the way when I said “Open the door” I didn’t mean the car– I can see that would possibly be assumed from my statement 
All videos here – and I’m sure this is the site I’ll stick with as they loaded fairly easily (not true at my old photobucket account, not sure why…)
Hello – my daughter came home to get on her computer as usual (hers and rog’s) and it doesn’t boot, just has a flashing yellow light. eek
I read a little on the internet about this light and it doesn’t sound good. It’s a Dell Dimension 5150, I think, okay, let me get the specs — they’re below.
Anyone know what I should do next? Conveniently, it’s out of warranty.
At least we were running Mozy, but not on everything. I can restore her crucial documents on the new spanking partition of my new hard drive, at least….
Finally made appt. for the dr. for my bronchitis.
I keep thinking of canceling the appt. and then I cough more. I have long hours between coughing sometimes but when I cough again it’s often a long drawn out spell.
So I’ll let you know when I come home what they’ve said – I’ve been sick since October 29.
Chris and Colleen are now both on antibiotics for sinus infections after their bouts with this virus. And Ryan is coughing again after not coughing for 1 week so I think he’s next to go back in.
LATER –
Well, I have an antibiotic but she said to wait a few days as she’s not convinced I actually have bronchitis yet. She said this virus is bad lasts over 2 weeks, and that combined with my asthma could be why I’m still coughing. So I’m glad I went and got the antibiotic to fill if I need to.
I can’t believe how grown up they are…
Directly from my post to my transcription board 🙂
I have had to take a bit of a posting break. I’ll probably try and get back to posting regularly after Thanksgiving.
What’s keeping me so busy:
* Everyone being sick, including me, going all the way back to early October. I’ve scheduled a drs. appt. in case this cough isn’t better by then and also plan a chiropractor visit for this afternoon.
* Because of all the sick days for the kids, I had gotten so behind on my work I could do nothing else, not even sleep. I got a serious sleep deprivation there and last night actually fell asleep at 8 and got to sleep until 5 (just getting up once with my son at 11 who was still up….) sleep finally! I’m just praying I don’t get a migraine from all the sleep schedule switching.
* I also need to file and finish cleaning my office. (I did clean the desks and switched desks with my daughter over the weekend and am now proud to say I have a resting shelf for my feet to transcribe on and can even easily switch feet – yay! I’m also the proud owner of new speakers with a headphone jack, as well as the aforementioned new ergo keyboard and the new external hard drive to store my hefty space-grabbing audio on…
* I’m going to take next week off of work (probably just do British QA in the early morning) and just focus on cleaning my house well for the Thanksgiving dinner we’re having here. Then I’ll be back hard at work the next week, though I MAY schedule another few days end of next week to finish Christmas shopping and start wrapping (lest you think I’m some kind of holiday guru, we have cut WAY back this year and are only shopping for the children – our children, our relatives, and a few close friends. That greatly cuts the list down.
* And I want to try and get more rest so I can focus on getting better.
* Prayers still appreciated for our family’s health in general and for Lisa specifically.
* I haven’t started this yet, but next week I need to sit down and do tons and tons of paperwork and stuff for the kids that I’m behind on.
o I have to schedule also two sedation appts. for the boys for hearing tests they do on the brain while they’re sleeping, and for my oldest to have his blood tests he needs for his meds, and for them both to have good teeth cleaning.
o I also need to schedule Ryan’s concluding genetic tests (They probably think I forgot about them, it’s been so long).
o I also need to fill out two autism scholarship forms as we’re considering possibly trying to have them attend this autism/deafness school in Florida if there’s any way we can arrange it (probably for next year) but it will take a lot of planning and research and special miracles from the Lord. (And possibly me moving down there just over the school year – sounds very complicated but if it’s what the Lord wants for the boys it will work out – I’ll post the site soon).
I hope we have a good family gathering here on Thanksgiving – that’s the first time I’ve ever tried to have one. I need to go shopping for my turkey, etc., and plan the meal.
I also plan over the next few weeks to update all my sites for the holidays – one of my favorite things to do!!
Blessings, dori
I just called Dr. to see about going for my cough (two weeks now – I think I got sick on the 29th). I still am hmm’ing and hawing about going ($100 or more for the appt and meds) and got an appt. for Thurs. I am going to the chiro tomorrow and see what he says and if I’m still sick Thurs. I’ll go in.
Colleen is home sick and I’m taking her to dr. today at 1.
Chris and Ryan aren’t great but they did go to school. Ryan actually threw up last night but we think it was just all the mucous and that maybe he ate too many mashed potatoes and mac & cheese (we went to Mr. Chicken). 
I was going to keep him home but he was fine this morning!
He has been getting up at 3:30 every morning and it’s driving us CRAZY! I managed to keep him up until 6:30 last night but couldn’t keep him up any later. He went to bed at 5:30 the night before and I tried to get him up at 8 p.m. and couldn’t.
Chris is congested but not sneezing or coughing.
Colleen has a sore throat again.
I switched desks with Colleen yesterday and washed her desk really really good and got my stuff in there all set up for work. My foot pedal is much more comfortable on the bottom shelf of that desk. I also had to go get speakers yesterday as I’d found out my sound card wasn’t loud enough and had to proof my last job on Colleen’s computer. So I got some $20 ones at Best Buy yesterday. They’re nice!
In the late 90’s Colleen was 3 & 4, and we were very active at the Y, and she was in gymnastics, ballet, swimming, and art class. I taught at the Y – gym & swim, adventure center and babysitting room. I typed at home, too, AND in the middle for some months or so worked at a law firm. It was an insane two years or so. She had classes 2-3 days a week AND Chris had speech therapy and occupational therapy, and I also took him to the Y for play time that also really counted as therapy time for him, in the Y’s adventure center. (I’ll link to some pics of them when I’m more awake).
In about 2004 or so our schedule was insane before I almost had a heart attack (not literally, but of course who really knows?) [this was in most of the 04 year on and off after I quit “working” and thought I had to have the total soccer mom schedule AND have a better homes and gardens house (uh, yeah?)
Colleen: swimming, art, volleyball, trumpet lessons, counseling
Chris: on and off speech therapy, OT, and possibly another OT place part of that year (unless that was 05??)
Ryan: speech therapy, OT, toddler school therapy, gym and swim
Now – unfortunately we do “nothing.” I’m too tired from my life to do a thing, AND our scholarships expired for the Y. *I’ve not worked there since 01*, and now that we make more $ I cannot afford the down payments involved with the Y that they tack on to the scholarships at a higher income bracket.
BUT there’s a workout center right in our community that is free to us that I’m dying to check out (and probably “dying ” literally if I don’t).
Colleen is planning to play in the band next year – drums. I need to check out lessons. I know this will involve countless football games as a high school freshman! She was in choir last year, and band two years before that (since 5th grade). She played the trumpet.
When I was in high school I was in choir, played in the drama club events sometimes (guitar and sang), was guitar accompanyist for the choir, was in art club, on yearbook and newspaper staff, wrote books and poems, and took guitar lessons. In college I was in swing choir, took piano and voice, and just about quit writing altogether which was a shame. I then was in choir in church for about 10 years until 2001 and also played for the little kids. I started writing again in 1989.
Sports — I loved playing basketball but was never on a team. I also practiced gymnastics in my back yard, but again, never took a lesson or did anything (except participated in a cheerleading group in 6th grade for our school levy).
