Sunday Post with Berls | Week of March 20th 2022

Week of March 20th 2022

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kim @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.

News at Home

Sunday – Thursday

What a week! I haven’t managed to get 6.5 hours of sleep even one night this week so far. I am mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted.

I think foremost in my mind is Dante. He had his 30-month checkup Monday and when I filled out his ASQ questionnaire it was just further reinforcement that, despite the progress he’s made, he is incredibly behind. He has ear-nose-throat/audiologist next month and developmental pediatrician end of May. While there may be some surprises there, deep down I think I’m coming to grips with the incredibly strong possibility that he has ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). I also began reading a very highly regarded book called Turn Autism Around this week and though I’m only at Chapter 3, I feel like I’m reading a description of Dante in so much of what I’ve read. And I’ve seen signs – and pushed for him to get support (successfully) – since he was like 6-8 months old.

I have taught many children on the spectrum (in Kinder, when many are getting their diagnosis for the first time) and, as many of you know, my co-blogger and bestie Michelle has a son on the spectrum. So I’m far from ignorant about it and I know that early intervention is key. And I know I’m ahead of the game, because Dante’s just 2.5 years old and has already been getting therapy services for 6 months.  I know that individuals with ASD are incredible people and live very full lives. And this book I’m reading teaches a home therapy method (along with advice for choosing the professionals that will support your child). I have a lot of hope that some hard work will get Dante what he needs. All that said, I can’t pretend I’m not heartbroken that my baby has to deal with this. I’m scared for his future and what his life will look like. I can’t help but wonder where I fucked up – what skill did I not teach, what did I do/not do while pregnant, etc.? And I realize that it’s pointless and unhelpful, but I can’t help it. I love him so much and it’s so hard to think of my adorable, sweet baby having this huge thing to overcome already.

So yeah that’s where I’m at right now. On top of that, I’m in the final week of the React portion of my bootcamp. Things are finally starting to click, but it is definitely a struggle. Probably doesn’t help that I’m so distracted. I have been focusing on our project and working through the code has really helped me break down some of the confusion. But as of today, I haven’t really started on the coursework for the week (due tomorrow) so I’ll be focused on that today. I just didn’t want to add confusion on top of confusion. By focusing on the project, I can at least add some confusion on top of a shaky- but present- foundation.

The other thing I’ve been focused on this week is eliminating some bills. Inflation is kicking our ass and I just need to find a way to save some more money. I put my gym on hold, canceled audible (which I only had planned to have this long anyway because I was on a special $6/month plan that expires in April), and called our internet provider to “cancel.” I never actually intended to cancel because they are the only option here, but I knew they had a lower plan available to new subscribers only and I wanted it (not a discount, but a lower speed that is cheaper and they literally don’t make available to anyone established… dumb?!). Well in the process of canceling they offered it to me, cutting my monthly bill in half! Score! So some success this week to go with my stress/emotional turmoil.

Friday – Saturday

I cried Friday morning. A lot. I just was coming to grips with what what Dante being on the spectrum will mean. (I wrote the above Sunday – Thursday Friday morning). I called my brother, who is a very invested/involved uncle not to mention my best friend – so he knows EVERYTHING about Dante’s developmental delays thus far – and I just sobbed with him. And once I got the sobbing out and started just talking, I started to feel better. And one of my very good friends (18 year friendship) said “I love you and him. And we will be with him always. He’s going to have a full and normal life. We all come with limitations and things we are great at.” And it was everything I needed to hear to snap out of my emotions. We are not alone. Everything will be fine. And there’s nothing bad about it, because he was going to have limitations – we just have a name for his (undiagnosed, but I see and feel it). And then I spent the rest of Friday working – work and my bootcamp. I had so much to do, I had minimal time to play with Dante or relax with the family. I finished up around 10:30 and went straight to bed (and read for like 30 minutes).

Saturday Dante was up around 7:30. We did breakfast and played a bit – then I made Kiko breakfast and woke him up to watch Dante while I did my last bootcamp class for React. We have a week off and then we start React Native. Honestly, I won’t be taking much of a week off because I still have so much to figure out. React is hard and bootcamp is fast paced. None of us feel like we have a full grasp of it, honestly. I was able to buy a Udemy course that is a full bootcamp of material for $20 – and it has an 8 hour section on React, so I’ll be doing that this week, along with continuing to work on our portfolio project. We really want to get something more complete up and running so that when we do React Native we have something to work on. I’m just hopeful that the next instructor will be better and we will learn more. This instructor did improve a little from week to week though.

Saturday afternoon I did meal planning and grocery order. Then we were off to Campbell for a joint birthday party for Franky (my stepson, turning 22 April 6!), Jesus (his little brother who turned 16 this week), and Isaiah (their cousin who turns 17 tomorrow). It’s birthday season in our family — Kiko turns 48 on the 29th and Zach’s birthday is also April 6th! We had a really nice time and I had quite a bit to drink. I hadn’t planned on it but I’ve had a rough couple weeks — I’ve been tired and emotional and trying to hold so much together — so as the shots started coming, next thing I knew I was a wee-bit well, LIT. LOL but I made sure to cut the drinking by 9 and focused on water until it was time to drive home around 11. We got home around 12 and I went pretty much straight to bed (Dante was already asleep of course). I didn’t even remember to finish this post until this morning so it’s a little later than usual. Busy day ahead, but I’m hoping to get some visiting done as well.

Blog News

COYER Spring sign-ups are live! Things are a little less strict for Spring and I am (of course), in like always. Be sure to sign up!

Last week on Because Reading

• [21 Mar] It’s Monday! What Berls is Reading March 21st 2022
• [22 Mar] Tell Me Something Tuesday: choosing next reads
• [23 Mar] Wolf Rain by Nalini Singh ★★★★½
• [24 Mar] #COYER Seasons ~ Time to sign up for Spring
• [25 Mar] Mermaids and Meringue by Danielle Garrett ★★★★
• [26 Mar] Ice Planet Barbarians: The Complete Serial by Ruby Dixon ★★★★
• [27 Mar] Sunday Post with Berls | Week of March 20th 2022

Challenge update

This week I finished:

I’m participating in 7 Challenges, plus the Goodreads Challenge, this year. Here’s how I’m doing.

1. COYER Seasons & COYER Community 2022 –
   1. Winter – 21 books (final count for Winter)
2. Bookish Resolutions – This was a challenge that Michelle used to do without me and she took last year off. This year we’re bringing it back together. Details on post, but basically I’m setting 5 “bookish” goals for the year: Here are my goals:
   1. Blog ahead at least 1 week. As long as I get my blog posts for the upcoming week done today, I’ll be on track with this goal.
   2. Keep a blogging planner. I fell behind on this this week. But I plan to catch it up today.
   3. Visit & comment on 7 posts a week. I visited on 2 days this week, so I definitely made it to 7 posts. But I would have liked to do more.
   4. Reply to comments each week. Not even one comment this week. I’m sorry y’all I was on the struggle bus hard this week.
   5. Review books before starting a new book/on the same day – nope. I have two books to review right now and am in the middle of two more.
3. The Backlist Reader Challenge –  11/50 books
4. 2022 Audiobook Challenge –  26/75 books
5. 2022 Library Love Challenge –  7/24 books
6. 2022 Finishing the Series Challenge – My goal is 5 series.
   • In Progress:
     1. Mine by Cynthia Eden- read book 4 this year, still need to read 5 and 6.
   • Completed:
     1. The Ivy Chronicles by Sophie Jordan – read books 2 and 3 this year, finishing the series.

FitReaders (hosted by Jen @ That’s What I’m Talking About & Felicia The Geeky Blogger)

My big goal for 2022 is to lose weight every month. I’m not setting a specific number goal; I just need to make sure I’m going the right direction (down) every month. I will weigh in on the last (or first) day of each month only (so I don’t get too attached to the scale).

This week as part of my nutrition program I was so supposed to be doing a nutrition timing experiment, to see what works best for me. I did not do well with it, but I think I also learned that for me I need to have 3 full meals and the choice between 1-3 snacks per day. Beyond that…

My goals for this week were:

1. Eating my planned meals – I did this, with the exception of Saturday night because I had forgotten about that in my meal planning
2. Drink 100oz of water each day – Monday – Wednesday and Saturday, I did this. Thursday – Friday, I fell short.
3. Workout 2 days – it was a weak goal, but turned out being a stretch to accomplish. I made it, but barely. I’m glad I was reasonable with myself when setting the goal, looking at what I expected out of my week.
4. 6.5 hours sleep each night – I slept 6.5 hours 2 times this week (Friday night and Saturday night). I’m going to have to really work on this one.

Weight gain/loss for the year so far: I’ll be weighing on March 31st/April 1st. I will also be taking measurements.

• +3.9 pounds Feb 1.
• -3.0 pounds March 1 (for the year, so total loss for Feb was 6.9 lbs!)

I had planned to reward myself this year monthly for meeting my goals with manis (50% of goal), pedis (75% of goal in 2 separate months), and a massage (90% of goal in 4 separate months. I followed through with my mani in February but I also have come to realize that as great as those rewards would be, I can’t afford them. So instead, still in the spirit of self-care, I’m going to start taking time off work (I have a ton of sick/pto days)! 50% gets me a half day off, 75% gets me a full day off, and 90% is 1.5 days. So I scheduled a full day off in a couple weeks for my February reward and I’m so looking forward to it.

Added to My Shelf

There may be more in my email but I haven’t gone through, so I will add them next week.

How was your week? What are you Reading?

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