What's going on today...

So I still haven't decided what to do about the job. I had another interview on Monday. They didn't seem too interesting in me. We'll see what happens. I had a phone interview with a really great sounding job. It pays close to double what I was making and the benefits are great. I'm hoping I get a face to face interview with that one. I'm just applying to more jobs and trying to be patient!

Tyler is doing ok. Something has been bothering him since Monday. He has been really REALLY disrespectful and difficult. We try to talk to him and all he says is that it doesn't matter anyways. We're not sure what that means. We have an appointment with a psychologist next week. She's going to do comprehensive testing on him and also get him into therapy! I can't wait! And it's covered by medicaid! Thank god for medicaid... things would be much more difficult especially right now.

What to do about this job?!

So I have a job offer... a pretty good one... with a sign on bonus. The only problem is that it's 3 hours away. We knew this offer was coming and we've been casually talking about it. Now that it's here I just don't know what to do. Tyler will finish third grade at the beginning of August. The schools in Charlotte are traditional so we would wait to bring him there until he's done with 3rd grade. Fourth grade would start at the end of August. I suppose I would move there and maybe live with a roommate until Tyler is done with school. Christina would stay here. I could come home on the weekends and they could come visit me when Tyler's tracked out. I don't know if I can be by myself in a new city. I know I did it by myself when I was younger. I don't want to leave my family whom I love so much. It seems like a good offer. I'm just scared! Any advice will be greatly appreciated!!

I need to vent!!!

I am so angry!!!! Christina took Tyler down to see his mom today just for a few hours. We are NEVER letting him spend the night there again! She wanted him for the whole weekend so we had to compromise. Anyways... that's not what I'm mad about. I'm mad because when Christina went to pick him up, him and his brother were soaking wet and bawling! She asked his mom why they were wet and she said that they wanted to play in the snow so she just let them. It was snowing/ raining out and very wet!!! Who would let their kid out in that crap?! Then she asked why they were crying. She said because she told them that she had to call the cops on their dad the other night because he was so drunk and was threatening to hit her. Then she told him that she's leaving him and moving out soon. She didn't spare their feelings at all! Christina is on the way back here right now and she said he's been crying for an hour! It's so ridiculous!!! I am so pissed at her I can't even think straight! Christina is going to call her tomorrow and tell that unless she straightens up and stops telling him crap like that, she will never EVER see him again. Thank god all the paperwork is done!!! I am so tired of her crap!!!! UGGGHH!!

Oh yeah... the paperwork was finally signed by the judge last wednesday. His first day of school was Thursday. He was so nervous he looked like he was going to puke. I just wanted to squeeze him!! His teacher read everything in his file and was really prepared when he came in. The poor guy was so nervous about what to tell people when they asked how old he was. He'll be eleven on valentine's day and he's in 3rd grade. So he's about 2 years older than everyone else. The teacher looked at him and told him he didn't need to tell anyone anything. I think that made him feel better. We warned his teacher that he's really at 1st grade level in most things. After school, she told Christina that he is worse than she thought and she would have to modify his homework quite abit for him to be able to finish it. We have a lot of work to do with him. Hopefully we can get him tested for dyslexia and central auditory processing disorder soon. I'm pretty sure he has one, if not both of those.

Well, I will try to keep everyone updated.

Hello, 2008!

I am sooo happy 2007 is over! It seemed like a really crappy year. 2008 has GOT to be better! I wish everyone a happy new year!

Tyler's mother came up on Friday to pick him up for the weekend. I'm not sure what got into her, but whatever. While she was up here, we got her to sign the custody paperwork and we got it notarized. She didn't even read it... didn't even look at it! Who does that?! Even Tyler's dad, whom Tyler has only seen once in his life, is taking it to a lawyer to "understand" it better. I don't know why she still surprises me. Atleast it makes it easier for us... although not easier for him.

This weekend is hopefully going to be the last weekend he ever stays there. He now thinks his mom is cool because she lets him stay up all night and play mature rated videogames forever. How do you explain to a child that the reason she does those things is not because she cares about him, but because she doesn't care! He thinks we're mean because he has a bedtime and we make him brush his teeth. UGGHH!!

On the bright side... I had a really great interview last thursday. It was in Charlotte and they were actually trying to impress me instead of the other way around. The other great thing was the woman who runs the lab used to work for my old boss and he fired her too. :) She totally understands where I'm coming from. We had a lot in common. Also, Charlotte is only about 3 hours away from Raleigh. So I could go there and come home on the weekends until we sold our house. I would still rather find a job in Raleigh. We'll see!

Like I said, I hope everyone has a great new year!

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who has been leaving me comments! It really helps and I value your input!

We're going to put Tyler in therapy as soon as we get legal custody. Everything is in the works right now. All the paperwork is on the way to his parents to get signed. We're a little nervous because the lawyer had to say that his parents were unfit to raise him and then they have to sign that! We're hoping they won't read it all. Everything in the papers is true, but it's hard to read. I just couldn't see them NOT signing it because then he'll have to move back home. His mom is loving it without him there. She doesn't even call! UGGHH!

Another sad story about Tyler... on Christmas eve, we went to Fayetteville where Tyler's family lives. On the way down there we were telling him how much we would miss him because he wasn't spending the night with us. I mentioned that I probably wouldn't be able to sleep because I had no one to read a story to! He was being brave, as usual, and said he wouldn't miss us and his mom would read him a bedtime story. (yeah right). So the next day when we went to pick him up, he said he didn't even need a bedtime story to fall asleep at his parents house! Later, he got mad at us and mentioned that his mom said she didn't have any books and was too tired anyways to read to him! UGGGHH! It makes me so mad that he tried to get her to read him a story JUST ONE NIGHT... and she wouldn't even do it. Poor thing.

Christmas is over...

Our's was pretty good. Tyler had a meltdown the day before christmas which didn't make santa claus coming fun at all. He constantly repeated that he doesn't care if santa comes or not because he never brings anything anyways. When he woke up in the morning and saw his bike sitting by the tree he didn't think it could possibly be for him. It was sad.

Christmas at Christina's parents house was weird because we were there and Tyler's parents were there. They let him do anything he wanted to like eat 14 cookies before dinner, not finish his plate, run through the house... etc. Everytime we told him to do something he would basically laugh at us. It was very difficult. He also called his mom mommy and his dad daddy. He never does that! The poor thing... he just wanted them to pay attention to him and they still wouldn't. They could care less. I feel really sorry for him. He was surprisingly good after he spent the night at their house. We expected a crying fit to get him to leave with us. But he was ready.

I can't wait for him to start school. He's very difficult to keep happy. He has to be doing something at all times, which drives me crazy. He won't just sit and read a book or talk to us. There has to be TV, games, PS2, etc. going on. We have a lot of things we need to work on. The biggest thing is his temper tantrums. If we tell him to change his clothes, change his shoes, we're going to target, or basically anything he doesn't want to do... he'll stomp and yell and act like a 3 year old. It's obnoxious! We don't know how to react to it at the moment. After the ordeal is over we try to talk about it, but it doesn't seem like it's getting through. Should we punish him at that moment? I was thinking of stopping him in his tracks and telling him he has a do over or a 2nd try... something like that. It's hard to punish him because he doesn't know any better, but at the same time we have to correct him! I don't know! If anyone knows of any good books about parenting troubled children, let me know!

Sorry for the long post... I need to post more often.

Christmas is coming..

And everything around here is ok. Tyler has been here for a week. It's the longest we've ever had him! His personality is really coming out. There are certain things he does to get us to show him affection. He'll jump on us when he wants a hug and sticks his tongue out when he missed us. At bedtime, he swears he doesn't want a hug or kiss, then as we're walking out of the room he says, "PSYCHE!". It's very cute! He's a really good kid and we feel so much more complete with him in our house. It's pretty nice!

We are going to Christina's mom and dad's house on Christmas eve and spending the night. Hopefully Tyler won't want to spend the night with his mom. I will worry to death! He feels like ours now and it's sad that I don't want him to stay at his mom's house, but he has to sleep on the floor or couch and it's so stinky over there!

The lawyer has all the papers drawn up and his parents will be served next week. The lawyer said that once we have permanent custody, his parents will have a really hard time getting him back. They will have to totally turn around their life and show proof! If they eventually get their lives cleaned up, I would totally be ok with him going back to them. But until then, I'm happy he's here. I think what is going to happen is his mom and dad will totally forget about him and we'll end up adopting him. It's really sad, but I can see it happening.

We bought his christmas present from Santa yesterday... it's a really cool mongoose bike! He's going to die! :)

Sorry for the rambling! I'm just excited!