15 months

So, Piper has been dealing with ear infections for the last 3 months. We have been to the pediatrician multiple times and then went to the ENT a couple of weeks ago. He said she is a good candidate for ear surgery and have tubes put in. At that time she had an infection in her left ear and lots of fluid in both ears. Apparently the fluid was so thick he did not think it would drain on its own. We started trying alternative methods and I was giving her collodial silver minimum of 3 times a day. The silver is supposed to kill bacteria on contact so we figured it would get rid of the infection and then a daily dose to maintain immunity. Then my dear mother-in-law called about a nature path who so goes to and had mentioned to him Piper and her current dilemmas. He thought he could help so we set up an appointment to see him. Through a series of muscle tests we learned the infection was a yeast infection in her ears and each time we used the antibiotics it was feeding the yeast and thus getting worse. My poor baby has been miserable. So, on to a new regimen to fight the yeast. We cut dairy, sugar, and lots of carbs. Not that she eats that much anyway but she went back to soy milk and is taking a pro-biotic twice a day and the yeast killer 3 times a day. Her attitude is so much better but her appetite is gone. We had her 15 month checkup this morning and guess what the results were...

The pediatrician chewing us out for taking a baby to a chiropractor/Nature path. "Babies do not need adjustments"
Ear infections - GONE, little bit of fluid in the left ear. The left was the worst so we figure a few more days and it should be clear as well.
Yeast infection- working its way out of her body, pediatrician commented that it is causing the slight diaper rash. Solution, let her run around with out a diaper anytime we are outside.
Over all health- Good, he did detect a minuet heart murmur, so small it is barely noticeable, will check it again in 3 months. "Nothing to worry about"

Piper 15 month stats: "She is officially big enough to turn her around in the car seat" said the nurse. Our car seat says 22-40 pounds forward facing, 34-43 inches tall. Let me know if you think she should be turned around according to her numbers.

Weight- 20.3 lbs 12%
Height- 29 inches 12%
Head- 17 3/4 inches 27%

Are all car seats built with the same weight restrictions or is mine just for bigger toddlers?

We have almost finished another room in the basement. I with the help of my wonderful husband primered and painted it this week and we plan to get the flooring in hopefully in a couple of weeks. The day bed in Piper's room and the exercise equipment we have acquired will go in the room and the closet is going to be used for food storage. It is a good sized room and we are so excited to be getting this much closer to finishing the family room. The plan still is to have it done in time for everyone to come to our house for Christmas. so if anyone out there has no plans for Christmas let me know and we will save a bed for you :) Also, I did promise Wes that he can get a Wii when the family room is finished and the TV/entertainment center is moved down stairs. So if anyone also gets bored or is looking for some service hours also let us know we first have to move all the furniture in that room out and then start hanging sheet rock.

As for the jobs mentioned in the last post. Nothing has changed, I did get a call back from Idaho Falls High School but they filled that position with someone from within their building who also got displaced. They did say they were impressed with me and asked to keep a hold of my information if something else comes up. I thought that was at least something positive. I am still planning to work in the autism classroom and have taken and am certified in Mandt so I am prepared for the kids. I also will be working a couple of hours after school for an independent service in town going into clients homes and working on developmental therapy/sign language acquisition. Wes has put in numerous applications (don't let that information get back to his current employer) but has not had any interviews. It gets discouraging but we keep praying and working at it knowing that eventually things will work out.

Nothing personal...

So, I was told about a month ago that my position as SLP-Assistant was not continuing next year. I asked about interpreting jobs and add kinds of other positions. All I was told was to put in applications and talk to building principals because they are doing the hiring. Okay, fine I put in internal applications, regular applications, submitted resumes, I sent emails to principals and the director of student services. The responses I got back were, submit an application and you might get called for an interview.
I been to one interview at an outside service and 4 interviews inside the district. I was told about a need for an interpreter in a kindergarten class and asked about it. They are "placing" a different interpreter there. How fair is that, I have been asking about this position since I was told to start looking. I have been offered and accepted since it was the only offer, a position to work in a new autism program starting up in the fall for kindergarten and 1st grade students with mild/high functioning autism. For my career, schooling, and education this is a perfect job for me and I am excited to jump into this new opportunity. The one draw back, reason I am still looking for an additional job. The pay in this new position is a huge pay cut, literally in half from what I have earned for the past three years.
Then to top the whole experience off my co-workers daily made the comment of "What am I going to do without you next year?" I had t different evaluations this week, one today and one yesterday. Surprise, surprise, they were both fabulous reviews, everything was satisfactory. Then my supervisor has the idea to say, "Your position being dissolved had nothing to do with you or how you handled your responsibilities. It was nothing against you." How am I supposed to not take this personally when I have been in the position since they brought it into the district and now are dissolving it, leaving me without the necessary income to pay the bills. Please pardon my venting but I am still quite disturbed at how they treated me and are not listening to anyone in the Speech Pathology department when they say there is no way they can get everything done without help. Now what??? I will keep you posted.