Week of March 27th 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 – Monday
Sunday was basically about getting ready for the week. I did grocery pickup, meal prep, and finished laundry. Got all my blog posts and social media posts scheduled for the week. In the evening, Kiko and I ended up having a long talk about Dante. I hadn’t shared my concerns about ASD with him because he hasn’t historically dealt well with me having concerns (Dante’s surgery, eye doctor, and starting therapy all involved long arguments). I have gotten into the habit of only sharing when he needs to know to avoid the stress. Well at Franky’s birthday party yesterday, Mema made a comment about Autism (questioning, because she sees what I see) and Kiko was clearly upset. But we didn’t talk about it. Well in the evening, Kiko brought up her comment. Long story short, her saying that was a gut punch for him because until that moment he had been in denial. We had a long conversation about the signs I’ve been seeing and that I’ve been seeing them since he was 6-8 months old. And I was shocked by how well Kiko took it. I never doubted his love for Dante – just his reaction to me and my concerns. But he shares them and sees what I see. And it was like a lightbulb went off for him of why I’ve been pushing therapy and these eye/ear appointments and moving to a good school district, etc. He apologized for making what was already a difficult thing for me even harder. And he wants to know EVERYTHING moving forward. I feel tremendous relief because I think my concern about Kiko blaming me or not understanding was perhaps the bigger concern. Knowing I’m not in this alone makes a huge difference.
Monday, I spent the day pretty much reorganizing my life. I have too much going on and have to find a new approach. I created a new schedule – modifying when I do some things and taking some things off the table. I’m changing up my daily BUJO a bit (part of why I love BUJO, such mid-year/mid-month/ hell mid-week or mid-day! flexibility). I also got in a great workout with my new fitness plan moving forward – Social Joy – it’s Zumba dancing, super fun and easy to do at home. It fits my current needs so well. I forgot to put my lasagna in the oven, so I’ll have to ask Kiko to put it in the oven for me tomorrow while I’m at work. This evening, I did some assessments on Dante and started a folder for keeping track of all the “ASD stuff” on my OneDrive. And my goal is to get in bed right after Dante… so in bed about 1 hour earlier and waking up about 30 minutes later. Let’s hope that gets me to 6.5 hours of sleep!
Tuesday
Busy day. But y’all most significantly, I got 7 hours and 15 minutes of sleep last night! Wow! I feel like a new person. I hope I can keep this up. I did my revised morning routine and was out the door just a few minutes after 8. When I got to work I was in 1 meeting after another. We had a lunch to welcome our new employee (started a few weeks ago, but this was the first opportunity) and then I had therapy, followed by about 1 hour of work and then I was done for the day. I went to my brothers for a couple hours and enjoyed chatting with them and playing some VR. On the way home I stopped at CVS to pick up a couple birthday cards for Kiko – 1 from me and 1 from Dante – as today is his 48th birthday. I also grabbed a slice of cheesecake factory cheesecake for us to do a candle for him. Dante was adorable and drew all over his card for Kiko <3. When I got home Kiko had made Dante dinner as usual, but he was also very tipsy! It was hilarious because he never really drinks but at work, they threw him a party and they bought him a couple big bottles of tequila. And then they spent a few hours drinking. I’m glad he had such a good time for his birthday. There were a couple videos of him having a blast with the guys too. Oh and Dante apparently said “car” at daycare today when playing with the toy motorcycle (close enough lol). Going to do my abbreviated evening routine again tonight and hopefully get to bed in time for another 7 hours of sleep!
Wednesday
So today was not how I planned, but it was good. First of all, another 7 hours sleep! Yay!!! We were out the door on time and I was to work on time. I had meetings all morning and then was busy all afternoon on a project for work. After work I went to spend some time at my brother’s and we talked a bit and then I played some VR Headset game – it was a shooting game but it was also so much movement, I swear I was sweating! So fun, I need one but I also think I wouldn’t end up having time to play so maybe it would be a waste. And maybe it would be a great workout! We had a good evening as well – I’m continuing working through the evals in the Turning Autism Around book with Dante in the evenings and I think I’m almost to the part where we get the real activities rather than evaluations. I’m determined to not skip ahead so I can be as effective as possible.
The one bad thing is that my eating is off yesterday and today. Between Kiko’s birthday and just IDK, stress? I’ve eaten a lot more junk than I have in the past couple months. So I need to get my head back on straight!!
Thursday
Ugh I’m still struggling with my eating today! I feel like when you succumb to sugar it’s so hard to get back off of it!! It’s still not way off course, just a little detour. But still, I’ve done so well for so long now, I don’t want to sabotage myself. I spent a lot of my day today getting paperwork together into one central file on our OneDrive with all of Dante’s assessments, doctor info, etc. I also ordered a bunch of stuff to setup our home therapy area which I hope to be ready to start with Dante by next week. And then I needed a break. So I started reading Cat & Bones and ended up taking the Kindle into the shower and just letting the hot water fall over me while I sat on the shower floor and read. I find HOT showers very therapeutic – it’s where I go when I need to cry or escape or don’t feel well.
I’m a little frustrated with Kiko but trying to give him space to handle the possibility of Dante being Autistic in his own way. I just feel like he’s acting like the world is over, Dante will never be happy, and he keeps asking “why?” or “what did we do wrong?” and trying to find someone/something to blame. We’re supposed to have a date night tomorrow for his birthday and I can’t get him to seriously think about what he wants to do. I told him today that I need him to snap out of it eventually. I understand how sad he is, I do. But he can’t act like this forever. Dante is perfect and I don’t want Kiko to transmit ideas that something is wrong with him just because he isn’t some societal definition of “normal.” Anyway, I’m hope that I can get that through his head. But off to bed because I like getting 7 hours of sleep lol!
Friday – Saturday
Friday went by in a bit of a blur. I spent a lot of the day on work tasks, catching up on some coding practice, and catching up on my nutrition program. Also, a lot of the supplies I ordered for Dante’s therapy (that we’ll be doing at home) arrived so I spent some time getting that area setup. I still need a shoe box and to make a bunch of photo cards with things in his life like me, Kiko, Buffy, his tablet, his elephant, etc. Hoping to get them done soon and to find a box at Target on Sunday while grocery shopping.
Friday evening Phil came over to babysit so Kiko and I could go out – date night/Kiko’s birthday. We saw a movie (The Devil You Know) – not the movie I would have picked, but it was his birthday. The theater was empty, which was nice for COVID precautions. Afterwards Zach had come over, so we all chatted a bit then they left and Dante got to bed later than normal for sure. But he also slept in – and I didn’t have bootcamp this morning, week off – so I got to sleep in a bit too. I woke up before Dante, did some reading (finished Destined for an Early Grave) and then got breakfast going. Kiko didn’t want his normal breakfast so I just made mine and Dante’s. Then I spent some time on setting up my BUJO for April, doing laundry, and meal planning for the week. Then took Dante for our normal Saturday afternoon walk to the park – he played for about 30 minutes – and then we walked back. Picked up ice cream on the way home… it was warm and it sounded good, but that’s it! No more off plan eating after today!
Dante napped when we got home and I relaxed, did some reading. I really should have done more work but I just want to relax before things get crazy with bootcamp resuming Monday. I plan to spend today with groceries, meal prep, cleaning, blogging for the week and Readalong Chat.
Blog News
Please vote for My TBR List read for April!
COYER Spring has begun, if you haven’t signed up yet, you still have time.
And, if you did Can You Read a Series in a Month in March, be sure to link up for the giveaway.
Last week on Because Reading
- [28 Mar] It’s Monday! What Berls is Reading March 28th 2022
- [29 Mar] Tell Me Something Tuesday: blog comments
- [30 Mar] Tease by Sophie Jordan ★★★★½
- [31 Mar] Did you read a series in a month?! Tell us how you did!
- [1 Apr] Alpha Night by Nalini Singh ★★★★½
- [2 Apr] #MyTBRL Choices and Linky: April 2022
- [3 Apr] Sunday Post with Berls | Week of March 27th 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.
- COYER Seasons & COYER Community 2022 –
- Winter – 22 books (final count for Winter)
- Spring – 3 books
- 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:
- Blog ahead at least 1 week. So far I haven’t missed a week!
- Keep a blogging planner. March went much better and I plan to continue with how I used it for April.
- Visit & comment on 7 posts a week. I visited only 1 day this week 🙁 but I do think I made it to 7 posts.
- Reply to comments each week. I replied to comments 3 days this week, so better but still have a few to get to.
- Review books before starting a new book/on the same day – Kinda? I started a book today without writing the review. But I’m writing it tomorrow (well today now lol)
- The Backlist Reader Challenge – 13 /50 books
- 2022 Audiobook Challenge – 28 /75 books
- 2022 Library Love Challenge – 8/24 books
- 2022 Finishing the Series Challenge – My goal is 5 series.
- In Progress:
- Mine by Cynthia Eden- read book 4 this year, still need to read 5 and 6.
- Completed:
- The Ivy Chronicles by Sophie Jordan – read books 2 and 3 this year, finishing the series.
- In Progress:
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).
With Kiko’s birthday this week I got really off track. I will say that unlike other times when I’ve gotten off track I didn’t 100% derail. So that’s good and I feel focused for the upcoming week.
Weight gain/loss for the year so far:
- +3.9 pounds Feb 1.
- -3.0 pounds March 1 (for the year, so total loss for Feb was 6.9 lbs!)
- -3.0 pounds April 1 (for the year, so no new loss in March, but no gain)
Added to My Shelf
None, but only because I have not gone through my emails. I sure I have a bunch to go through!
Well… that is a LOT! I’m glad you got to talk with Kiko about Dante, and that he’s dealing better than expected. It’s an adjustment, but with your help, I bet all will go well. You are such an amazing advocate and caregiver for Dante. I’m glad Kiko had a good birthday, too. My week was pretty low key, I ate less in preparation for Monday’s scope. I was gone all weekend with my son, visiting a couple schools so he can make his final decision for nursing school next year. He’s 99% sure where he wants to go. Now I just need him to commit!
Wow that’s so exciting! Nursing is a hard field – but (at least nowadays) there’s plenty of work and great pay. I’m sure you’ll be happy once he commits, and that decision is made. And thank you, I’m trying <3 I guess that's the best I can do!
I am glad Kiko is in a better place now in terms of helping Dante. It sounds like it hasn’t been easy for either of you. Dante is lucky to have such a strong team on his side advocating for him. I joined a wellness program the beginning of March but admit I haven’t really made any progress. It was such a hard month for me, which I know is an excuse. I am taking baby steps. I have been working on getting my steps in–although I could do better. Happy Birthday to Kiko! I hope you have a good week, Berls.
Thank you 🙂 And baby steps are the way to go! I feel like the times I’ve tried to make BIG changes are the times I’ve been most unsuccessful. Keep going, you’ve got this!
I’ve always told my married friends and family members that communication is key to having a good relationship and it’s so true. Being able to tale to each other about anything going on is really important.
It really is so important! It seems so simple, but when emotions are high, it can be challenging. I’m glad we’re able to talk through this though.
As always you have the busiest week and deal with more than any person should. I’m glad Kiko knows and will at least be more of a partner in working with Dante. I have a lot of issues for my daughter and hers are different but I feel many of the same concerns. She did not like reading in her early elementary years (had a bad teacher in 2nd grade who actually had early Alzheimers and died the next year because she got confused and drove out to Wyoming from MN until she ran out of gas and then wandered around). Other kids called her stupid because of the reading class help she got. But then she had an excellent 3rd grade teacher and was put in accelerated math in 4th grade which gave her more confidence. She’s smart but her anxiety is very high. Thanks so much for doing all the fun reading and chats with me.
I feel like this is the struggle of being a parent – no matter specifically WHAT it is, there is always something to worry about, huh? I’m glad she was able to get a better teacher and gain more confidence. Franky has always struggled with high anxiety, so I know that struggle too.
I’m loving all our buddy reads as well!