Pet Peeves- The Workplace

Since I love doing my pet peeves posts (say that three times fast) and was particularly annoyed at work this weekend I thought it would be a great time to do a pet peeves in the workplace post. Some of these are general peeves that most can relate to others are more specific to the type of job (apartment leasing). Feel free to leave your workplace peeves in the comments below. If you want to say what type of job you have if you have specific peeves that will be great too.

1. Pulling on the door knob and knocking to get in before we are opened. You are not special enough to get to come in early. Go away.

2. Calling back five seconds after the first time. If I didn't answer the phone it's because I am with someone at the moment. Please wait at least five minutes to call back or just leave a message.

3. Coming in five minutes before it is time to close to sign your lease, get keys, etc. This takes at least fifteen minutes to do. Thank you, you have now made me late.

4. If you come in five minutes before it is time to close to sign your lease, get keys, etc. please do not take your wonderful time to read every single word of your lease and ask me 50 million questions before signing it. This will take at least thirty minutes. Thank you, you have now made me extra late.

5. People who come in five minutes before closing time and say, "I am so sorry. I know you are about to close but..." If you know we are about to close, DON'T COME IN. You are worse than the people who just don't care.

6. Residents who come in and ask me to look up directions to 500 different places when you could have done it on the resident computer and then proceed to FALL ASLEEP in the chair while you are waiting. Yes this did happen this weekend.

Hope you enjoyed! And like I said please feel free to leave your workplace peeves in the comments.

ABC's

Did you guys know my Belli is a genius? If you didn't know it before, now you do...



And don't you dare tell me those aren't the cutest pigtails you have ever seen! Or that that wasn't the cutest, redneckest (if that is a word) "W" you have ever heard!

And don't you love when she gets done saying her ABC's and she says, "All done taking picture." She is so stinking cute!

Ok, I will quit bragging on my child now!

Wait, one more thing. She can also count to twenty-ten (aka thirty).

Ok, ok. I'm done now!

Five Question Friday

I cannot believe it is Friday already!  Where does the time go?  Here is it...Mama M's Five Question Friday, Belli style.

1.  What is the one thing you reach for the most in one day?
Whatever my mommy tells me I can't play with.  That's what I reach for the most in one day.

2.  What is the farthest you have been away from home?
Shriner's Hospital in Greenville, SC

3.  What kind of cell phone do you have?  Love it or hate it?
I do not have a cell phone.  I am only allowed to use my Fisher Price rotary phone.

4.  Coke or Pepsi?
Coke.  Everyone is always drinking Coke and I want some sooo bad.  Even when mommy is drinking some clear stuff out of the glass bottle with a long neck I still think it is Coke and I want some!

5.  If you could go back and change anything about your wedding day what would it be?
Oh is only I could foresee the future and knew the answer to this question.  Then I would make sure it didn't happen!

 

Alphabitty Moments- F

I have been thinking very hard since last week what I was going to use for "F" for my Alphabitty Moments (by MamaBear).  I was still thinking about it at about 2 o'clock today and had just decided I was going to skip it for now and come back later, when it hit me.  Instead of using an object or a specific thing why not use a concept?  What is something that has been so important in Isabelle's childhood.  Something that we always look forward to?  Well that, of course, would be the FUTURE.  Isabelle's physical development has always been slow going and we are constantly waiting for the future when she will hit her next milestone.  And while I do not like to wish her childhood away I do find myself looking forward to the future a lot when she will be able to do more things.  So....

 F is for Future...

This is the first picture I have of Isabelle holding her head up on her own.  She was 5 1/2 months old.

This is the first picture I have of Isabelle sitting up on her own.  As you can see I still had pillows around at this point because she was still not very good at it.  She was 10 months old.

This is the first picture I have of Isabelle standing.  She has to be holding something and she cannot get into standing on her own.  She also cannot stand without her AFO's yet.  She was 15 months old in this picture.

 

And this next picture...Well this is our future.  This sweet, precious, amazingly wonderful little girl named Addison was born just two weeks after Isabelle.  Also, with Larsen's Syndrome.  I met her mom, Julie, over the internet through an online message board for people with Larsen's Syndrome.  We keep in contact regularly to celebrate the joys of our girls accomplishments and to compare notes on how they are doing.  It is so nice to have someone to talk with about all of the issues that come with LS but it is even nicer to have someone with a child who is almost the exact age as your own.  I got on Facebook the other day and to my surprise I found this picture...

 

Little Addison at a little over two years old, is finally able to stand independently.  We are so incredibly proud of this accomplishment and look at Addison as our future.  I know that once Isabelle gets her halo off she will grow leaps and bounds with the physical development.  So congrats Addie!!!  And we are certainly looking forward to our FUTURE!

How God Chooses Mothers for Special Needs Children

Someone showed me this story a while back when Belli was younger.  I have not been able to find it since then because I could not remember what it was called or who it was by.  It was posted recently in an online forum I go to sometimes that talks about a wide range of topics.  I wanted to post it here mainly because I want to save it and not lose it again but also because I just really like it.  People often ask me how I handle having a child with a disability and I think this story pretty much sums it up. 

God Chooses Mom for Disabled Child 

Written by Erma Bombeck Published in the Today Newspaper Sept. 4th, 1993

Most women become mothers by accident, some by choice, a few by social pressures, and a couple by habit. This year, nearly 100,000 women will become mothers of handicapped children.

Did you ever wonder how mothers of handicapped children are chosen? Somehow I visualize God hovering over Earth selecting his instruments forpropagation with great care and deliberation. As he observes, he instructs his angels to make notes in a giant ledger.

"Armstrong, Beth; son; patron saint, Matthew.

"Forrest, Marjorie; daughter; patron saint, Cecelia.

"Rudledge, Carrie; twins; patron saint.... give her Gerard. He's used to profanity.

" Finally, he passes a name to an angel and smiles, "Give her a handicapped child." 

The angel is curious. "Why this one, God? She's so happy."

"Exactly," smiles God. "Could I give a handicapped child a mother who does not know laughter? That would be cruel." 

"But has she patience?" asks the angel. 

"I don't want her to have too much patience or she will drown in a sea of self-pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wears off, she'll handle it." 

"I watched her today. She has that feeling of self and independence. She'll have to teach the child to live in her world and that's not going to be easy." 

"But, Lord, I don't think she even believes in you." 

God smiles. "No matter. I can fix that. This one is perfect. She has just enough selfishness." The angel gasps, "Selfishness? Is that a virtue?" 

God nods. "If she can't separate herself from the child occasionally, she'll never survive. Yes, there is a woman I will bless with a child less then perfect. She doesn't realize it yet, but she is to be envied. She will never take for granted a spoken word. She will never consider a step ordinary. When her child says "Momma" for the first time, she will be present at a miracle and know it! When she describes a tree or a sunset to her blind child, she will see it as few people ever see my creations." "I will permit her to see clearly the things I see---ignorance, cruelty, prejudice--- and allow her to rise above them. She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life because she is doing my work as surely as she is here by my side." 

"And what about her patron saint?" asks the angel, his pen poised in midair.

God smiles.  "A mirror will suffice."

Five Question Friday

It's time again for Mama M's Five Question Friday.  I look forward to this every week because it gives me chance to learn more about Belli.  Since I give answers that I think she would give it helps me to think about her and learn thing's about her I may not have though of.  So here goes...

1.  What is your favorite ABBA songs?
A-B-B-A?  Geez you adults don't even know your ABC's.

2.  The thing you love most about the fall?
The cool air.  I almost always have some sort of cast or neck brace on (and this year a halo and vest lined with fake wool) and they can get really hot.  That cool air keeps me from sweating so much.

3.  What store would you love to spend your heart's desire?  Money is no object.
I would buy every pair of BabyLegs every made.  Ok that's not true...that just what mommy told me to say.  I would spend it in Toys-R-Us to buy Sesame Street movies.

4.  What is your favorite snack food?
I heart Goldfish.

5.  What was your first car?
Last Christmas I got my very own ice cream truck.  It plays music and has bars around it so I don't fall out.  I'm not allowed to use my cell phone while I'm driving though.

Alphabitty Moments D & E

So I got a little behind on my Alphabitty Moments (hosted by MamaBear) with all of the studying I was doing for the GRE (which I did GREAT on by the way).  So I am going to do both D and E today so I can catch up.

D is for Doctors...

Starting when Isabelle was one week old we went to see her ortho every week for nine weeks to get recasted with the intent of correcting her knees and feet.  After that we went at least once a month up until her surgery in February 2008.  Then it changed to every three months, then six months, and now we don't have to go back until August 2010.  Woohoo!  I wish I could say the same for her neuro.  Isabelle started seeing a neurosurgeon at four months old.  She had her first MRI at that time and then every three months after that she alternated between x-rays and MRIs until June 25, 2009 when we got the so dreaded news of the necessary spinal fusion.  We have become GREAT friends with her neurosurgeon now.  We will probably be seeing him once a month for the next few months.  Isabelle also sees a GI every six months for constipation and reflux.  Luckily she rarely gets sick so we have managed to only see the pediatrician for just well baby check up with the exception of maybe two or three times.  I am so hoping that these doctors visits that have become such a huge part of her childhood will not follow her into adulthood. 


E is for Elmo...









What else would E stand for?  Isabelle has a minor unGodly obsession with Elmo and the rest of the Sesame Street characters.  While this is a big step up from watching Baby Einstein movies I am looking forward to the day when she starts to get interested in Disney movies so I can actually sit down and watch one with her and not have a headache from the annoying voice from Elmo.  Although I do not necessarily wish that time to come soon.

Well there you go.  Those are Isabelle's Alphabitty Moments.  Also, I added Blanky for letter B in the first Alphabitty Moments post because her blanky is oh so very important!  Next week is F and I have not a clue what I am going to use so feel free to make suggestion!