tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32111083397572774202024-03-21T06:52:25.233-07:00This Domestic ChurchThe Spano family domestic church; where we live and learn our Catholic faith. Life is crazy, God is great, counting our blessings every day.
Jeanine Spanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08339859644540303205noreply@blogger.comBlogger285125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3211108339757277420.post-26919928613143070082019-09-03T09:13:00.006-07:002019-09-03T09:13:59.028-07:00Oh....Hi! Wow, talk about neglecting the blog. I haven't updated since last Lent. And, oh my! So much has happened since then!!<br />
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So, first some pictures of these crazy growing boys!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dinner out with Beth Anne and Tom - Christopher is hiding both from the rain and the people</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another night out with Beth Anne and Tome</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Started school nice and early this year...read on to find out why!</td></tr>
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So in April we found out that we are expecting Spano baby #4, who will make his/her appearance around Christmas time this year! We are so excited!!</div>
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This summer I took a 2 week road trip just me and the boys. We drove from Colorado to St. Augustine Florida to visit my friend Beth Anne and see the area. I went there for her wedding a couple years ago and just loved it. This wasn't actually as bad as I'm sure you're thinking it must have been. The boys did relatively well on the drives and loved the hotel stays. Jason was able to work long hours and clean the basement area so well that now we can use the office as a school room! We did find out that while Christopher can handle heat in Lamar, CO just fine...he did not enjoy, nor appreciate, the humidity down south. It was so bad that when we tried to go to the beach the first day in Florida, he flipped out and screamed "no Christopher outside! Christopher car!" So, lesson learned. If we did anything like this again, I think it would be better to do it in the fall. Maybe. Who knows with him!</div>
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When we got back from the trip we took a few days rest and started school up, because when I was pregnant with Benedict we ended up taking about 18 weeks off because I couldn't do any upright sitting to teach them without massive contractions. I wanted to be ahead of the game somewhat. So far I'm not on bed rest (Woohoo!!), I'm contracting some so I take it as easy as I can, but we usually manage to get school done at the very least. We're almost done with the first quarter and I'm trying to figure out if I want to take a little break, or go straight into the next one. I'll probably make that decision next week. </div>
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As I mentioned, I'm not on bed rest (I'd already been transported once with Benedict at this point) and I'm not on insulin yet (had started insulin by now with Benedict), so the pregnancy seems to be going slightly smoother so far. I'm on a pretty strict gestational diabetes diet, my after meal sugars are great but my fasting sugars are creeping up. I see the doctor on Friday to see what he wants to do about that. </div>
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I think we'll leave it here for now. I have high hopes to blog more frequently and I have some ideas in the brain! </div>
<br />Jeanine Spanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08339859644540303205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3211108339757277420.post-81912590690304917572019-04-09T10:32:00.001-07:002019-04-09T10:32:51.268-07:00A Lenten UpdateI had big plans this Lent to focus a bit on my blog, but it's been a long time since I've done an update. Sigh, that's how it is sometimes right? I mean, I'm at home all day long, it seems like it should be easy to pop over to my blog and blast out an update. Oh well, it is what it is. 😊<br />
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So, how is your Lent going? Fruitful I hope. This Lent has been fruitful and humbling for me. I planned to go to Daily Mass and thought all along that it's been my laziness keeping me from it. The first week the baby got sick. The second week The big boys got sick. The next week I was so tired from being up so much with the baby. I made it a couple days each week and I'm considering that good. That's the humbling part. Even when we are at our best, trying our hardest, sometimes it's not about us. Sometimes we need to remember to live our vocations and that might mean that focusing at Mass is harder because you're trying to keep one child from "punching" out at everything annoying him (the piano, the lights, noisy kids, the priest not being the one he wants). Sometimes living my vocation at this season in my life looks a lot like laziness, it FEELS that way to me, but at the same time I'm feeding a baby at night, or keeping everyone else from catching whatever he has.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The puncher contemplating life--or at least trying to figure out if I'll let him jump down</td></tr>
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This Lent has also been fruitful because some of the things I've managed to keep up with nearly 100%. I've done spiritual reading every night but 2 since the beginning of Lent. I'm proud of that because it's often where I struggle the most. There have been many parts that I've read that have really spoken to me and I'm thankful that I've managed to keep up with it. I've also managed to not play my Switch (except for Sundays-don't judge me! 😝) and that has helped me to stay a bit more focused on living in the moment during the day. I've actually managed NOT to just fill that time with other meaningless things and have been more present with the boys, including bike rides, park play time and outside playing. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Happy Birthday to me! I got a new bike that is electric assist and it makes pulling this train much easier!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_P39ftkqCQ2Kc9KCKh9uGjqpqVS-pdEGBIRFT2JjPM6rmv0SGW5Uz_H4Sq2oRthxd-DqI0z6gKbZ8ZKFxxjXBp5cd45YJQTfnDW09NIcjOEh-2E6r1vtxfh7n9YgyvuxLFUmjniLu_14/s320/IMG_20190402_123856.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="240" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes Benedict is wearing a large pull up over his clothes...is that weird?</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_P39ftkqCQ2Kc9KCKh9uGjqpqVS-pdEGBIRFT2JjPM6rmv0SGW5Uz_H4Sq2oRthxd-DqI0z6gKbZ8ZKFxxjXBp5cd45YJQTfnDW09NIcjOEh-2E6r1vtxfh7n9YgyvuxLFUmjniLu_14/s1600/IMG_20190402_123856.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_P39ftkqCQ2Kc9KCKh9uGjqpqVS-pdEGBIRFT2JjPM6rmv0SGW5Uz_H4Sq2oRthxd-DqI0z6gKbZ8ZKFxxjXBp5cd45YJQTfnDW09NIcjOEh-2E6r1vtxfh7n9YgyvuxLFUmjniLu_14/s1600/IMG_20190402_123856.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfOup_qmeRemlhJUAOHaQE0hTeSXQGQPco0kvpe97v08U5ojmPpWi4_BLhCiYsB4CNi0LEhgG7XbbdbcZMYMMFfgTCoruibFwWvtWs-Sp_3GZ_hYQbflmD7gsY5ZwYV7aOJu_3Gq2zPTU/s1600/IMG_20190404_183225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfOup_qmeRemlhJUAOHaQE0hTeSXQGQPco0kvpe97v08U5ojmPpWi4_BLhCiYsB4CNi0LEhgG7XbbdbcZMYMMFfgTCoruibFwWvtWs-Sp_3GZ_hYQbflmD7gsY5ZwYV7aOJu_3Gq2zPTU/s320/IMG_20190404_183225.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I think this is actually Jason's picture but that's because I can't manage to touch my phone when we're outside usually because this child is FAST and also fearless! </td></tr>
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So, how has your Lent been? Fruitful I hope!</div>
Jeanine Spanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08339859644540303205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3211108339757277420.post-4275173555293836262019-03-04T15:00:00.000-07:002019-03-04T15:00:02.639-07:00It's Almost Lent!This weeks starts Lent! I'm very excited this year for some reason. Dominic is doing kind of an enforced fasting/sacrifice, and by default Christopher is as well. Dominic can understand why he's being asked to sacrifice (he definitely doesn't like it, but he understands!), but Christopher doesn't. I wonder if that means that his sacrifice is more meaningful. Who knows! Anyway, the boys (and also by default-me) are giving up electronics before school is done. We used to always do this anyway, but when I was not getting much sleep I was letting the boys do that so that I could sleep in. Yes, yes, bad momming I know. So, we are getting back to that; in addition we will not have electronics for any meals any more. We do well with dinner, but if we are having lunch at home I often let them eat with their devices, but I'm going to stop that. I'm hoping that at the end of Lent we are better positioned to continue both of those habits.<br />
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Since fasting and abstaining is not technically required for the boys (though they abstain when we do anyway, I do enough double cooking, I'm not adding extra for that), I'm going to try to get Dominic to do a small fast weekly. On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday these will be bigger, but on Fridays I'm thinking it will be something like only eating main meals, no snacks/dessert. I'm trying to guide him without forcing, but I know that he does need the specific direction as well.<br />
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Jason ordered this <a href="https://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-all-year-compendium-liturgical-living-real-life-i126875/?sku=1043383&utm_source=google&utm_medium=products&mrkgcl=254&mrkgadid=3272735237&aid=3317&product_id=1043383&adpos=1o1&creative=247388888131&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=Cj0KCQiAtbnjBRDBARIsAO3zDl8jh5IGaxwHi065rQNCxn-JaqKIHkLC_cWBLikfb-RdCutDcmh6TJQaAn8NEALw_wcB">book</a>, and it's been kind of fun to go through her list of Lenten sacrifice suggestions. I'll be real, some are weirdly intense, and some don't seem intense at all. For example, one that is listed as an advanced sacrifice is to not use your dishwasher, we don't have one anyway; but another one the beginning suggestion is not eating out and the advanced is growing your own food. Ummm, that takes way more planning than I've ever given Lent and I've been known to start thinking about Lent during ADVENT. I mean for real, that would require living in the right place and A LOT of pre-planning. There are some really good suggestions though, and I'm pretty excited to go through the rest of the year with her.<br />
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We are very excited that the first Sunday in Lent we will be attending Low Mass at an FSSP parish in Denver. It is 3 hours away, but we are feeling a calling to a more traditional Mass. Bonus is that there is no music at low Mass, so hopefully Christopher will approve! :)<br />
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That's it for now! I plan to post some recipes during Lent and some other things about our Lenten sacrifices and how things are going. I will also hopefully be able to post some pictures next week from the FSSP parish we attend!Jeanine Spanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08339859644540303205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3211108339757277420.post-50786941881218860532019-02-21T14:51:00.002-07:002019-02-21T14:51:35.346-07:00UpdatesI was doing so well with my blog posts, I need to schedule time to get one in! Which seems crazy but the truth is I just forget.<br />
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We are just ending week 25 in our homeschool, and prior to this week I've always written out my lesson plans in a notebook or planner. Jason gave me a hard time about not being techy despite having all the technology easily available, so this week I started scanning in the lesson plans to a Google drive file and then scrolling through on computer. This is actually incredibly handy. I can do just the daily portion of the lesson plan (in case this is confusing; Seton provides lesson plans for each course your child is enrolled in, but they come all together. They also offer a way to print out daily or weekly lesson plans but it's not easy to transfer them to another file type and it's a waste of printing), and then I can add several pages. For Dominic this is really great because he does have several lessons, for Christopher I can add a comment and list out his lessons that aren't included in the lesson plans because they are part of his special ed program. We decided not to continue with Time4Learning, not because it wasn't a good program, but because it was a huge fight for Christopher. I'm hoping to get to the city maybe this weekend and get some more workbooks because oddly that seems to be what he does better.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Benedict is ready to have his own desk and important things to do!<br /><div style="text-align: left;">
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I have decided to start Weight Watchers (WW now) again; it seems like I've started and stopped a million different things, Weight Watchers included, but in some ways this feels different. I'm feeling really hopeless with regards to my weight and I need to make some serious changes. Especially because Jason promised me I could order <a href="https://www.eshakti.com/shop/Dresses/Bicycle-heart-embellished-poplin-dress-CL0063316">this</a> dress if I drop 25lbs and I desperately want it (with sleeves and past my knees though)! And I really want to be bike riding ready by Spring. I'd like to get a recumbent bike, possibly a tandem one to ride with Dominic, but at my weight it's hard to justify such an expensive purchase if it's at all possible that I could break it. So, wish me luck!<div>
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<a href="https://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-all-year-compendium-liturgical-living-real-life-i126875/?sku=1043383&utm_medium=products&mrkgcl=254&mrkgadid=3272735237&device=c&aid=3317&creative=247388888131&utm_source=google&gclid=Cj0KCQiAtbnjBRDBARIsAO3zDl8jh5IGaxwHi065rQNCxn-JaqKIHkLC_cWBLikfb-RdCutDcmh6TJQaAn8NEALw_wcB&network=g&adpos=1o1&matchtype=&product_id=1043383">This</a> book is coming to us, Jason doesn't remember if he ordered it or not, but he got a notification that it's on its way so someone did. I'm actually kind of excited because it looks like it will be really good. We are always looking for ways to live more liturgically in our home. I've been trying to have the boys do saint coloring pages and reading to them about the saint as they do, and I think that's been one good way.</div>
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Well, that's all the updates for right now! Hopefully I get a schedule going for writing out blog posts! </div>
Jeanine Spanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08339859644540303205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3211108339757277420.post-10274492174660339072019-02-11T14:29:00.003-07:002019-02-11T14:29:53.936-07:00Finding the Right BalanceWe've been happily using <a href="http://www.setonhome.org/">Seton</a> for our Catholic homeschool since Dominic was in pre-school. I do kind of geek out and look at various different programs, but all in all I'm content with what we're doing. I love that everything has the quiet background of our Catholic faith; Dominic's English lessons frequently have stories about saints and his math has beautiful artwork on the pages. Christopher's lessons are a bit different because we are doing special ed for him and he's not using all of the same lessons from Seton. But, there is still that quiet background of faith in most of his stuff.<br />
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However, lately I've noticed that Christopher is mostly just watching. I don't have the knowledge to know how to make sure that he's getting everything. He is tested in spelling and phonics, but he is not tested in math or language arts. He does exceptionally well at spelling and phonics and is a really good little reader! On top of that, he's actually only doing 30-45 min of lessons. Then the rest of the day is filled with too much screen time (I know, I know, I'm terrible!). So, I wanted to add something, but there's a reason that I don't design our curriculum. A friend of mine had used <a href="https://www.time4learning.com/home-2/">Time4Learning</a> for a bit last year and thought that it was pretty good. It was actually also listed in an article i read about good online homeschools for autistic kids so I thought it would be interesting to try.<br />
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We are not changing from Seton. We've added this to our day. I'm not super worried about a schedule with it, so if we finish by the end of the year that's great, if not, that's also okay because this is in addition to what we're doing with Seton. We've been doing it for a week and we do "computer school" in the afternoons and it's a little bit of a fight with Christopher, but I'm sticking with it because it's a good addition for us. Wish us luck!<br />
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**here's a few unrelated photos because we have cute kids!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8-IGHjtCpzroQWRtpCNQoa8_pIkvro-USOTIqOAw0diF6aLJqc4TZTxxEUPnkRYDBxGLaD-oaZS9qxkoEiR4HOYa8cYlcaasEG6xX3rbNKdZfzf90_mXa14vUr9oyEu40fkKa3E-Hhz0/s1600/IMG_20190115_130252.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8-IGHjtCpzroQWRtpCNQoa8_pIkvro-USOTIqOAw0diF6aLJqc4TZTxxEUPnkRYDBxGLaD-oaZS9qxkoEiR4HOYa8cYlcaasEG6xX3rbNKdZfzf90_mXa14vUr9oyEu40fkKa3E-Hhz0/s320/IMG_20190115_130252.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We're getting to where everyone loves the library!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYE8vy7TzKWc2vOdZi_PhiAHgiH8d2WPTZCwCzDzNbXxhGWY_CCW1QBZEkP2DMWy78aeDDKJQhyphenhyphenQJk4DfDLjEdAP-kgakOD6_a-HotKnNOe7G28txqC5FHDT12HBbLAqR91n6rj_dQPb4/s1600/20190208_223713-COLLAGE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYE8vy7TzKWc2vOdZi_PhiAHgiH8d2WPTZCwCzDzNbXxhGWY_CCW1QBZEkP2DMWy78aeDDKJQhyphenhyphenQJk4DfDLjEdAP-kgakOD6_a-HotKnNOe7G28txqC5FHDT12HBbLAqR91n6rj_dQPb4/s320/20190208_223713-COLLAGE.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is Dominic when he was 2 I think? Jason found the picture and it reminded him of the inkling girl's face when she loses! So funny!</td></tr>
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<br />Jeanine Spanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08339859644540303205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3211108339757277420.post-1790857461848719702019-01-23T11:41:00.000-07:002019-01-23T11:41:34.554-07:00The Sometimes Housekeeper I am a terrible housekeeper, like really bad. It's weird because I have distinct memories of rules for keeping my room clean as well as Saturdays spent cleaning house. And yet, the sad truth is that I'm a slob. Poor Jason! His borderline OCD has caused him to have to let a lot go in our house to deal with my shortcomings. The problem is that I let things go too long (lazy) and then the idea of getting things back to where they need to be is so overwhelming that I can't begin and then it gets worse and it is a terrible cycle.<br />
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I have frequently relied on Jason to help with things, which he is awesome he totally is always willing to do anything I ask of him. Even cleaning bathrooms!!! Well, in doing some spiritual reflection (weird right?), I began to realize that my laziness and my inability to complete these tasks MOST of the time was in fact a spiritual problem. My vocation is as a wife and mom. My primary concern is of course raising good, holy children. But, caring for my home is definitely an important part of this. Caring for our home in a way that provides a safe, relaxing environment is important for us. Not just because nobody wants to be in a messy home, but also because it allows Jason to have that relaxation time that he needs to do the spiritual care of himself that he needs. It all intersects and it's all equally important.<br />
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So, I set myself some calendar reminders and gave it a start this week. Jason cleaned the living room really well a few weeks ago and we've been doing a pretty good job of keeping it mostly clean. We have the boys help do a clean up at night before our family Rosary. I cleaned up the kitchen including sweeping and mopping this past weekend and am determined to keep it this clean. It's very convenient to have be able to have Benedict wander the kitchen just a bit while I'm cooking or doing the dishes. You would not believe how convenient! So, I have 2 days a week where I'm going to sweep and mop the kitchen, 1 day for the living room, 1 day for picking up and vaccuming the bedrooms and schoolroom, and 1 day for bathrooms. Laundry interspersed throughout with school every morning. It's a lot, but actually it's not. It only took me about 15 minutes to sweep and mop the kitchen yesterday afternoon because I'd just done it. I anticipate the bedrooms will take a bit longer to do this afternoon but only because it's been so long since they've been cleaned really well. <br />
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It's not perfect, but it's a definite start!<br />
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Now for some unrelated photos! 😊<br />
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Jeanine Spanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08339859644540303205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3211108339757277420.post-60380066287965360612019-01-16T15:46:00.001-07:002019-01-16T15:46:21.237-07:00Homeschool LifeI wanted to chat about where the boys are with school. Last year we actually took about 18 weeks off during my bed rest. Even though Jason moved a desk into the bedroom and would bring the school books in so I could plan, just sitting that much upright was too hard for me. So they didn't get much of vacation for the summer, I think we took a month off or something. So we have Dominic in 2nd grade this year and Christopher in 1st grade.<br />
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As you can see a little in this picture and a little bit more in the next, I use the wipe off board to use as a calendar. I write the day and the Litrugical time of year. I think that's super cool, and gets them used to it. We start the school day off with Dominic reading the day and then we say a prayer.<br />
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<a href="http://bethannesbest.com/">Beth Anne</a> has that printable Liturgical calendar available on her website, I recommend you head over and check it out. She also gave me a link to print out the calendar like what we get from the church. That's nice because we can keep it easy to read and up close. </div>
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After praying together, we have a few lessons we do together. We do an art lesson once a week, it's slightly painful because the boys are not art kids. They don't like drawing or coloring or anything like that. Also, I am a terrible artist. 😐</div>
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I've been impressed with the change in Dominic, from not wanting to do it at all to being willing to at least TRY, which is all that I ask of him. The one on the board is mine, and then the one with the chalice that is very clear is what I started for Christopher then he added the rest. </div>
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<a href="http://www.setonbooks.com/viewone.php?ToView=P-RL02-21">Religion</a> is mostly just Christopher barely listening, but Dominic is really engaged. The 2nd grade book is set up very cool because it's like the lesson with a few questions to reiterate things. Then the next day it repeats the prior days lesson in a super short version, and adds to it. There are 4 days of lessons with Fridays free or for review. </div>
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Then Christopher has Phonics/Reading, Language Arts, Math, Spelling, and Social Studies. With his special needs counselor we added <a href="https://www.lwtears.com/hwt">Handwriting Without Tears</a> which might work for some kids, but for some reason it is a serious misnomer for us. So instead I have done a combination of printing out some handwriting sheets as well as using his spelling for writing. </div>
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Dominic's list of lessons is a bit longer; he has English, Phonics, Reading, Handwriting, Math, Science/History (every other week), and Spelling. Sometimes I even feel like a real teacher with writing on the board and things. </div>
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It's been super fun to see what the boys are good at and what they enjoy. For example, usually for Christopher's spelling tests, he will just tell me the spelling. I mean, sure, he's saying something like "no S no A no T" but he still spelled 'sat' so it's a win. But last week...last week he wanted to spell the words with writing them himself. 😭</div>
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He needed help with writing the 'e' and he has a weird habit right now of turning letters into 'H'. So like you can see on number 3 it was 'this' but after writing it he changed the 'i' into an 'H'. He's silly. Number 6 was 'wine' and he did that without any help at all. It was just such a huge change from anything before. </div>
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One other thing that I really love about <a href="http://www.setonhome.org/">Seton</a> is that there is religion in everything. Here is some of Dominic's English which is actually the best example. He was learning adjectives, but it tells the story of Tarcisius. He's also learned about Joan of Arc, and most recently St. Bruno. And that's just because of assignments with a story throughout each assignment. </div>
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All in all our lessons seem to be going well and I'm excited to continue on!</div>
Jeanine Spanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08339859644540303205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3211108339757277420.post-78515785762823377602019-01-14T14:20:00.001-07:002019-01-14T18:43:00.772-07:00Christopher's ProgressConsidering that I haven't updated anything about Christopher in FOUR years, things will be really big here! Christopher has done so much in the last few years that in some ways he seems like a completely different kiddo. In other ways he is still very much the same!<br />
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First and foremost, Christopher speaks. He can't necessarily carry on a conversation with you if you are not interested in what he wants to talk about, but he can and does definitely verbalize things. I would say that for necessary communication we're at about an 80% give or take. When he is really upset/bothered by something he cannot always tell you what is going on. For instance, he really doesn't like the bells being used during the consecration at daily Mass. Instead of saying something like "I don't like the bells" or even "no bells" for a while he would say "punch/kick/hit Olivia" who is one of our friends' daughters and she is really a great kiddo who was altar serving at daily Mass for a bit. He really likes Olivia, she's one of his favorite friends, but he couldn't figure out how to articulate that the bells were bothering him so instead he blamed the person who was making the noise.<br />
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Something else that has been amazing is to see how he is with Benedict. We were really worried about how he would handle a crying baby, something that we couldn't control the sound with. But, it was actually not something to be too worried about; initially he was really upset but then we just put Benedict in his lap and suddenly he was "Christopher's baby" and Christopher was holding him often. Funny thing though, he had to pull his pant legs up!</div>
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And then we have him and Dominic. They have moved into a really typical brother relationship which is super cool and super annoying simultaneously. Most often if he's annoyed with Dominic it's for pretty normal reasons and he reacts in that normal way. Interestingly, when we were going through the really rough stage with Christopher, Dominic could sense when it was an autistic meltdown and would just sit there and take it. Now we have to remind him when Christopher is having a hard time because he's autistic and when he's just being a bratty little brother. But they are still best friends and do really play together these days!</div>
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Currently we don't have Christopher in any therapies, I took a course called <a href="http://www.hanen.org/Programs/For-Parents/More-Than-Words.aspx">More Than Words</a> with his speech therapist that got him his "talker" or communication device. It was amazing and I'm actually planning on doing a refresher course and going through some of the lessons to work on specific things that he's struggling with. We attempted to restart OT and Speech when Benedict was about 4 months old but it was just too hard for me because it was an hour away. And, with his progress it seemed to be more than what we needed at the time. Speaking of his communication device, he still uses it, but it's often to learn new words or work on sentences. He's started using the keyboard to type out the words if they aren't in his dictionary on there. Because, OH YEAH HE CAN READ!!! That came as a shock as we'd never worked with him on it specifically but suddenly we realized he was reading signs. He can read all the words to me when he does his phonics in school as well as reading his spelling words. Seton helped us to set up a modified course for him with different courses than what Dominic used when that seemed appropriate. Primarily English and Math right now. We are having him sit in on Dominic's religion lesson and then we were gifted a set of these <a href="https://www.loyolapress.com/products/special-needs/adaptive-learning/adaptive-reconciliation-kit">1st Reconciliation</a> and <a href="https://www.loyolapress.com/products/special-needs/adaptive-learning/adaptive-first-eucharist-preparation-kit">1st Communion</a> sets by Beth Anne. It was an amazing thing and he can often be talked to about his behavior with words from the 1st Reconciliation kit including "is this a bad choice?" Which he will often reply to with "No bad choice Christopher! Sad Jesus!" while sobbing, and really, does it get more pure than that?</div>
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All in all Christopher has made really awesome progress. He even does things sometimes specifically to get a reaction from you and joke/play with you. Of course, then it becomes a script and deviation is not allowed, but you know...baby steps! 😁</div>
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Jeanine Spanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08339859644540303205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3211108339757277420.post-16437221455319214682019-01-08T13:49:00.000-07:002019-01-08T13:49:52.007-07:00The Long Awaited Pregnancy<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/19737479/?claim=fey8qrvh6n6">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a><br />
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In early 2017 I started seeing a doctor who put me on some weight loss medicine and metformin in order to help me lose weight and because he thought I was likely suffering from PCOS. I don't agree with this diagnosis necessarily and I also don't want to go back to using that medicine. In April I went to visit my friend <a href="http://bethannesbest.com/">Beth Anne</a> for her wedding! We "met" on Twitter and have been close for like 6 years already! That's crazy! Anyway her wedding was amazing and I loved getting to be a part of that!<br />
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I was being a bit of a tourist and one of the places I visited was the Mission Grounds with the <a href="https://missionandshrine.org/">Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche </a> I said a lot of special prayers for pregnancy and birth. As well for all the mothers I know!</div>
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I also met one of Beth Anne's friends who promised to pray for me at the Mission as well. After that we had a <a href="https://www.treasuresofthechurch.com/">relics tour</a> visit our parish and I was able to visit and touch many of the relics. Specifically I touched my rosaries to St. Philomena who is a patroness of infertility. There was even pieces of the True Cross and I was able to be near them and pray very specifically for the intention of my infertility and for the acceptance of God's will. Wouldn't you know it? That month I got pregnant!</div>
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In the summer I had a decent pregnancy, just fatigue and nausea and nothing too crazy. I even went to a concert of my favorite band, with a shirt that my awesome husband made for me!</div>
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At about 23 weeks, as I mentioned yesterday, I started to really struggle in the pregnancy. I went for contractions that were stopped with meds on the OB unit. That started my bed rest. It was pretty modified at first, I just didn't do too much extra stuff, but still drove myself around and did school with the boys among other things. Pretty soon though, the contractions were getting really bad and that resulted in a trip to the OB unit which ended with a flight for life to Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs. They thought my water had broken so they didn't have much choice but to get me out of there. Thankfully my water hadn't broken and about this time the doctors agreed that being less mobile was better for me. Even though bed rest isn't typically suggested for pre-term labor anymore, that's what everyone decided was the best for us considering that I'm so far from a hospital that could help if labor was imminent. And although the contractions weren't changing my cervix yet, there was no way to know when/if that would happen. About this time I also switched doctors. For many reasons that I'm not sure I'm interested in getting into here, but I started seeing a doctor an hour away. So that meant that when I was contracting I had to go to the hospital an hour away too. It was tough. My gestational diabetes became tough to control. I think by the end of the pregnancy I was on close to 100 units of insulin a day! That's a LOT! I was so tired of the finger pricks and the injections by the end of the pregnancy. It's interesting to me that a woman can be growing an entire human being in her body and still feel that she's failing because things aren't going perfectly. I don't know if that's a natural tendency or if it's societal or what. But I can tell you that I definitely struggled with feeling like I wasn't "woman enough". </div>
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After my blood sugars started going really crazy (I started crashing in the middle of the night), and pre-eclampsia reared it's ugly head (had it with Christopher as well), we decided on delivering at 37 weeks. Pregnancies can be difficult for a lot of reasons. I seemed to have several of those reasons. It was scary to think that if I had to be hospitalized Jason would have to either go on leave or work from home or we'd have to look at getting someone to help with the boys. That is a really scary thing to look at. We had a lot of people offer to help where they could which was amazing. My local friends arranged a meal train and we had a full home cooked meal once a week (Jason also cooked every day!), that was fun! But, Christopher, while he's doing so much better, he's still difficult. His communication is definitely lacking in that he won't necessarily answer specific questions and he's still not potty trained (there will be more on this in my update about him specifically), so that's a lot for other people to handle. Thankfully the doctor let me come home after prescribing extra at home meds to slow down contractions where necessary. </div>
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Benedict is such a joy and blessing in our family. We are all loving having him around and can't wait to see his personality develop more and more. He's starting to walk and he talks a ton (not really saying real words, but he's still talking!), and he's just a blast! It's funny to us how different and yet similar he looks to his brothers. I'll leave off this already long post with one last picture, a collage of all 3 boys about the same age!</div>
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Jeanine Spanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08339859644540303205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3211108339757277420.post-9073529853957309492019-01-07T15:11:00.002-07:002019-01-07T15:11:31.192-07:00Coming BackWell hello there in the blogging world! 👋 If you follow me and forgot about it because it's been TWO YEARS since my last post...um..hi! A lot has happened in the Spano world and I'm hoping to give an overview here and then post more frequently in the future and that will include more specific updates. I'm looking to use this space to talk about what it's like to be a stay at home who is terrible at keeping house; being a special needs mom; being a mom of boys (there's a new one! Pictures will be in this post!); being a chronic dieter, and someone who desperately wants to get healthy (but also loves brownies); and most especially what it's like in This Domestic Church. Homeschooling, teaching the Faith, LIVING the Faith, going to Church, and everything else that springs to mind when you hear about a domestic church.<br />
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So, some updates. As mentioned above, we have a new baby! In May of 2017 I found out that I was pregnant! About 6 years of trying, and then it happened. My pregnancy was kind of rough, despite having been the healthiest, and in the best shape prior. I had gestational diabetes that required ever increasing levels of insulin. I went into pre-term labor again, just as I had with Christopher the first time at 23 weeks I think. After that was modified to complete bed rest. I had two transfers to the bigger hospital in Colorado Springs and two overnight stays locally. Finally at week 36 my sugars were crazy, and I had developed pre-eclampsia. So, we scheduled my c-section for 37 weeks. We ended up having the c-section at Colorado Springs because they were a bit concerned that the baby's sugar would be uncontrollable which would involve a transfer from here and I would be separated. It's a good thing we did, there were some issues with the c-section itself (it was so painful that I actually asked for pain medicine during it!), and there were blood sugar issues with the baby. And the baby, oh the sweet baby! Benedict Luke was born on January 14th and he has been such a joy and blessing to all of us! Christopher loves him and frequently tries to pick him up! Dominic thinks he's hilarious and cute even if he is also very drooly.<br />
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Christopher is doing amazingly well, there will be a post all to Christopher and his accomplishments. But he has lots of words and uses them most of the time without having to use his communication device. He does still use it but it's more for learning new words and how to say certain things. It's really been amazing! He's doing 1st grade work in homeschool with some modifications that Seton helped us to come up with. </div>
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Dominic is becoming quite the gamer and he got his own Nintendo Switch for Christmas (also kind of a gift for mom so I don't have to share anymore 😉). He is doing really well with his 2nd grade work with a few modifications regarding how much he has to write. He has a fantastic imagination and I'm really working to be able to foster that in a way that will be fun and not tedious for him.</div>
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And with that I think I'll end this overly long post. There are plans for more specific posts to address some of the specific things I want to talk about soon like Christopher, homeschool, and wellness/fitness. </div>
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Here goes nothin'! Hope to see you back here and commenting! 😀</div>
Jeanine Spanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08339859644540303205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3211108339757277420.post-8961880511895932892016-03-10T10:24:00.000-07:002016-03-10T10:27:16.591-07:00#40LentPrompts - Week 5I have some new things I've been wanting to post about, relating to my weight loss and most especially about the boys' progress - Dominic in school and Christopher's therapies. Hopefully I'll do a 7 quick takes link up tomorrow!<br />
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<b>23. How did the first part of Lent go for you? </b>Wait, what? Lent is HALF over?! Yikes, that has gone fast. This Lent has been fruitful in ways that I didn't plan for, and of course I've failed in some of my Lenten promises. I wanted to make Daily Mass a regular part of our day during Lent, but I've definitely not hit that desire. I decided this morning that I think we should focus on a couple days a week for daily Mass. Maybe focus on Monday and Wednesday, and depending on how Christopher is doing possibly Friday evening before the soup supper. We've just thrown everything at him lately and it's a lot. He now has therapy 4 days a week, and we're kind of asking more of him. It's not just all play, but play based learning, which is super awesome, but I'm also pushing him more than I ever have. I'll definitely post more about this later, but it's caused our Lent to be fruitful in ways we didn't plan. Dominic is having to suffer a bit in that life is so focused on Christopher right now, and that's never easy; we're trying to make time for it to be all about Dominic sometimes, but that is hard as anyone with more than one child knows. This is not specific to a special needs kid, but is something that all families with more than one child has to learn. It's also been a struggle for me. Honestly, it's much easier to stay with what is comfortable; but I'm trying to liken what I'm dealing with to Christ in the desert. It would have been much easier for Him to be comfortable too, for him to give into temptation and turn those rocks into loaves. That's what I tell myself in moments of clarity, looking back at the difficulties...in the moment I'm usually like "ugh, why am I doing this, it's much easier to laze about and let Christopher play with his square all day!"<br />
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Check out <a href="http://bethannesbest.com/40lentprompts-link-up-week-5/">Beth Anne's page</a> and spread the blog love!Jeanine Spanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08339859644540303205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3211108339757277420.post-80260127385613580742016-03-04T09:06:00.002-07:002016-03-04T09:06:36.224-07:00#40LentPrompts - Week 4No, you didn't misread that, I missed last week. It was such a crazy week that I didn't manage to do any blogging. Then all this week, I kept thinking of doing it and posting it late, but it just didn't happen.<br />
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<b>20. Did you attend Stations of the Cross this Lent? </b>Yes, actually, Dominic and I have been twice. Our Parish does a Friday evening Mass at 5:30, then a soup supper, then Stations of the Cross. I tried meeting Jason there at 6pm after he went to Mass with the boys the first week, but Christopher was really not having it. That was just too much a change of routine for him. So instead now the boys and I meet Jason there after he goes to Mass, and Dominic and I stay for the soup supper and the Stations. It's been really great; I'm not sure how much is seeping in for Dominic, but I've been noticing that he picks things up without my actually forcing it on him. I don't make him stand and kneel at appropriate times, but I do make sure he is quiet.<br />
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<b>21. How has your prayer life changed this Lent?</b> Well, it hasn't much, honestly. I'm making an effort to say my daily prayers, but I wouldn't say I'm winning at that necessarily. I have noticed that we are doing better with our family Rosary, so that is a blessing. We do two decades with the boys, and then Jason and I finish. We are finally in a really good routine with that and the boys expect it in the evening. We have changed our homeschooling with Dominic to Seton, and I've noticed that since there is more a focus on the faith life in his lessons, I'm getting more Bible reading in, and I'm saying more prayers with Dominic. Just last week, we had to discuss sin and confession, and being sorry for our sins and we added a new simple act of contrition to his night time prayers and he has taken to it very well. The book suggested a <i>slightly</i><b style="font-style: italic;"> </b>truncated Act of Contrition similar to what you say after confession, but I knew Dominic would never be able to remember that so I made one up. "Dear God, I'm sorry for my sins, please help me to be a good boy." It's really adorable to hear him say it and I think he's proud of it, because if you start to say it with him he'll say "no, just Dominic" or "my turn".<br />
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Go check out <a href="http://bethannesbest.com/40lentprompts-link-week-4/">Beth Anne's post</a> to see other Lenten posts and those other people who didn't slack last week! I know I'm going to!!Jeanine Spanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08339859644540303205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3211108339757277420.post-34470845684557258382016-02-18T10:27:00.001-07:002016-02-18T10:27:23.673-07:00#40LentPrompts - Week 2I'm a little more on top of things this week since here I am doing my second Lenten link up this week!<br />
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<b>6. What are your favorite Lent or Easter Books? </b>I'm going to cheat a little, this is actually a booklet. We love the <a href="http://bookstore.magnificat.net/booklets/lenten-companion-2016.html">Magnificat Lenten</a> and Advent companions, and we usually get the Kindle version because it is easier for us and we can share it easier. It not only offers a reflection based on the readings, but it also offers some small penance for each day. It's wonderful! I heard this year that they actually have an app, but it's only available on i-devices, so that's a no for us. ;-)<br />
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<b>9. What almsgivings are you doing this Lent? </b>We picked up a rice bowl from church and we are focusing on having Dominic put the change that would normally go into his piggy bank in there. We explain to him that other kids are hungry and not able to have enough to eat, and that this money will help them to be able to buy food. He acted really sad when we told him not all kids get to eat whenever they are hungry, and he's overall very sensitive so I think it touched him a bit.<br />
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<b>10. Share this weeks Lenten meal. </b>This is kind of another cheat. :) We are trying to make it a point to go to our Parish's Friday services that include daily Mass, then a soup supper, and then Stations of the Cross. Last week Jason went to Mass and the boys and I met him for supper, but Christopher couldn't handle Stations so we ended up leaving after the 3rd station. This week, we might let Jason do Mass and then Dominic and I can stay for the soup supper and stations, and Jason can get Christopher out of there. Neither of them eats soup anyway. ;-) So every week a different group volunteers to provide the soup and crackers and bread. Last week I had this awesome chili cheesy potato soup and the rolls they had were amazing. My group isn't volunteering until March 4th and I'm still debating between a cream of broccoli soup and this amazing tomato basil soup with ricotta dumplings that I had when I went out of town with a friend.<br />
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So, that's all I'm talking about today, go check out <a href="http://bethannesbest.com/40lentprompts-link-week-2/">Beth Anne's</a> blog and share some blog love for the other people linking up!Jeanine Spanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08339859644540303205noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3211108339757277420.post-85247196840075300382016-02-16T08:29:00.000-07:002016-02-16T08:29:52.694-07:00#40LentPrompts- Link-Up Week 1As I mentioned in my last post, I'm going to be linking up with Beth Anne again during Lent. She gives some great prompts that really make me want to write! Just what I need!<br />
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I'm going to do a couple this week, I might not do one for every day of the weeks, I might pick and choose. This week, I couldn't decide so I decided to do multiple ones!<br />
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<b>1. Ash Wednesday - </b>So on Ash Wednesday this year, Christopher woke up coughing so hard that he was gagging. I knew that one of us would have to stay home with him, and Jason volunteered. That meant that I got to focus more completely on the Mass and it was a lovely start to my Lenten season.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I was too busy trying to make sure I got my Ashes in the picture, that I didn't worry about smiling much ;-)<br /></td></tr>
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<b>2. What are you doing for Lent?</b> I went back and forth about whether or not to share what I'm giving up and promising to do, but in the end, I'm going to share just so I have a bit of accountability. So, something that I really struggle with is moderation. In food, this means that I often glut; eating past the feeling of fullness because I'm enjoying the food so much, and eating often. But I also lack moderation in other areas. If I start watching videos online of shows that I enjoy, I can easily get caught up in that and ignore most everything else. No, that doesn't mean the boys don't eat or get clean, but it has meant in the past that they also spend a lot of the day engaging in video stimulation instead of getting out and playing or playing inside. It has also meant that I've neglected some household duties. You might be thinking, well then, just don't watch videos-read a book, listen to a podcast, even an audio book. But, my lack of moderation extends there as well. So, for Lent this year I decided to give up some media consumption. I'm trying not to listen to new books, reading only at bedtime, no online videos (not even cooking ones boo hoo!), and only one podcast episode at a given time. I'm also adding in spiritual reading throughout the week, and daily Mass. We've been attending daily Mass as a family since Jason went back to working at 8AM, but if he can't go for some reason I've been allowing myself the leisure of laziness. But not this Lent! I'm going to try to take the boys by myself...tomorrow is the first time this will happen, so say a prayer for me. I've also decided (a little late) to fast on Fridays. If you're wondering if my media fasting extends to social media, it does not. I find that I'm not so entranced by Twitter and G+ that I neglect other things. That seems to be a facebook specific problem, and as I'm not on facebook anymore, I don't have this struggle right now.<div>
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Check out <a href="http://bethannesbest.com/40lentprompts-link-week-1/">Beth Anne's</a> site to see who else linked up, and join if you'd like! </div>
Jeanine Spanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08339859644540303205noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3211108339757277420.post-36139894609268706592016-02-09T14:37:00.000-07:002016-02-09T14:37:53.814-07:00I Love Food...and Other Weight Related ProblemsWow, I haven't even posted since Advent! Good thing <a href="http://bethannesbest.com/40-lent-prompts-week-1/">Beth Anne</a> is doing another link-up, this one for Lent, so I can be a bit accountable for blog posts.<br />
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So, my weight. Man have I been struggling since the last time I posted, so much so in fact that I'm not even going to go back to look up those posts. I'll start with where I've been lately. I hit a heck of a plateau at around <b>264 </b>with my weight going up sometimes to <b>268</b>. At <b>269</b> I made a decision, backed by Jason, to give Nutrisystem a try. I know many people think that it is a bad idea because it does not necessarily teach you how to prepare your own food. That could be argued, based on the program you choose, but that's not the reason I'm writing this blog. Personally, I found it to be exactly what I needed. I struggle with moderation in many things, and food is where this most often manifests for me. I often snack when I'm not hungry, and I frequently continue eating past the point of feeling full because I love food so much. I'll be posting a bit more about this later this week when I weigh in on one of the Lent writing prompts, so I won't delve too deep now. But, suffice it to say, learning what an appropriate amount of food is, was incredibly important for me.<br />
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So I lost weight very fast at first and then it tapered off to about ~1/2 lb-1 lb a week. I had a couple weeks that I took off, thinking I was ready, and I gained back 3 pounds. I shortly thereafter reordered my meals and I'm back on track again. I know that my long term goal is to not always eat prepared meals, so I'm thinking of postponing my next order to see how I can do on my own.<br />
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And now to the numbers. I'm going to go ahead and give my measurements here too, as it helps to give an overall idea of how things are going.<br />
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<b>Pre-Nutrisystem Now</b></div>
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<b>Weight: 269 248.8</b></div>
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<b>Neck: 15.75 14.75 </b></div>
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<b>Chest: 43.5 39.75</b></div>
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<b>Waist: 43 38</b></div>
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<b>Hips: 53.5 49</b></div>
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<b>Thigh: 27.5 25</b></div>
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<b>Calf: 19.5 17.75</b></div>
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<b>Bicep: 14.75 13.5</b></div>
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*Don't mind my horrible lining up there...I should have inserted a table or something, I just don't know how. </div>
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This is actually the first time I've seen those measurements lined up besides my weight. That is some impressive loss in inches also! I have much to be proud of here, and still a long way to go. When I got my most recent shipment from Nutrisystem I saw that they changed (or I missed it before) some suggestions, and if you have more than 100lbs to lose, they have you add in a bit more food. It hit me just before I started this round, that I don't. I no longer have over 100lbs to lose. That is a huge milestone for me, it has felt like I had over 100lbs to lose for so long. I'm also light enough to jump on the trampoline now, and I'm sure many other things with a 250lb weight limit. That has seemed so insurmountable for so long, that it seems surreal to be less than that now. </div>
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So, that's where I am. I do still have a long way to go, but I wanted to take a minute to express that I'm genuinely proud of myself. I'm working hard, and it's paying off. Continued prayers requested that his weight loss jump starts better health that ends our secondary infertility. </div>
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Jeanine Spanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08339859644540303205noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3211108339757277420.post-57692265228768988942015-12-23T09:59:00.000-07:002015-12-23T09:59:53.155-07:00Advent Post #4Oh wow! It's not only the last week of Advent, but it's only TWO days from Christmas! How exciting! I'm linking up with <a href="http://bethannesbest.com/fourth-week-advent-writing-prompts/">Beth Anne</a> again this week, and so excited, I think she's going to do a Lent link-up too. Lots of fun, with great ideas on what to write about.<br />
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I'm going to write about a couple of the prompts, because I couldn't decide. :)<br />
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<b>Share your favorite Christmas foods and sweets: </b>we don't have any real traditions regarding our dinner/lunch, I'd love to start some but it's hard with Christopher's strange tastes. I remember when my brother's ex-wife called my mom asking for a recipe for Blinna pancakes which are a German version of crepes, much thicker and with yeast. They are delicious. My brother apparently told his wife that it was a tradition that we always had those for Christmas morning, and he wanted to do the same for their kids. My mom, was like "um what? Who does that much work on Christmas?!" Ha! So, we didn't have any breakfast traditions, but I remember it was usually small. Our little Spano family does have a breakfast tradition for Christmas morning, I've made it at least the last three years and plan to make them this year. My homemade cinnamon rolls, with Jason making hand whipped buttercream frosting. This is something that everyone eats! We have done various things for Christmas dinner, but this year I'm making steak, with crescent rolls, and chocolate cobbler for dessert. I'm allowing myself to cheat on Christmas from my nutrisystem plan, but even though I've been planning on this cheat all month, I have finally settled on something not so bad.<br />
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<b>Reflect on how prayerful your Advent was or wasn't: </b>We actually did a great job as a family this Advent. We lit our Advent wreath nearly every evening and prayed one decade of the Rosary with the boys, then Jason and I would finish the Rosary and do the Advent reading from the <a href="http://bookstore.magnificat.net/advent-companion-2263.html">Magnificat </a> Advent Companion. We didn't do it every night, but pretty close. That's impressive for us, as we often find it hard to keep that routine, hopefully this is something that we will can continue.Jeanine Spanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08339859644540303205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3211108339757277420.post-25059343955747123022015-12-17T10:54:00.000-07:002015-12-17T10:54:08.562-07:00Advent Post #3Here I am, linking up again with Beth Anne. It's been my best way to make sure I actually do a blog posts, I should link up every day with someone different!<br />
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I am going to share about some of the cool Christmas experiences we are doing this year. Christopher is a part of an agency in town that helped us get his medicaid up and running, and we attended the Christmas party a few weeks ago. The really great thing was that there were no "looks" when Christopher got upset; and actually, he handled it really well and didn't even get upset. There was food, Santa, presents, and Bingo. It was a fun night!<br />
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This past weekend we took the boys to our local "Enchanted Forest" which is a park in town that has Santa's workshop as well as a train that rides all around the park stopping at different games. It was extremely cold, but the boys loved it! Dominic participated in the games and saw Santa, and Christopher was happy to ride the train the whole time with daddy. The only down side is that now whenever we go by that area in town, Christopher points that way wanting to go ride the train again.<br />
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It's hard to keep these kinds of things fun, and still honor Advent and the waiting. So we talk a lot about how we are "waiting" for it to be Jesus' birthday. I made our own Advent calendar, where Dominic is moving the lamb each day until it gets to Jesus' birthday, which he seems to really be enjoying.<br />
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<br />Jeanine Spanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08339859644540303205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3211108339757277420.post-30424807330095190142015-12-10T08:00:00.000-07:002015-12-10T13:16:29.004-07:00Advent Week #2I'm linking up with Beth Anne again this week to talk about Advent. I love these writing prompts because then I don't have to think of anything myself. ;-)<br />
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I'm going to talk about our St. Nicholas traditions, or more accurately, what I hope to make our traditions into. This year was really the first year that anything made a connection for Dominic I think. We put their shoes out the night before, and checked them first thing in the morning. I know we did this last year as well, but I don't think anything made a connection. We tried to talk about Saint Nicholas, but he had a hard time differentiating between him and Santa Claus. He kept saying it's "Sainta claus's birthday!" Part of this is because I haven't been able to add saints into much of our religious education; I'd say that this is likely because I struggle to think of specific saints' feast days. I have tried to do something on the boys' name saints' feast days, but I find it hard to think of. Perhaps this is because I'm a convert, and while I totally understand and appreciate the celebration of saints' feast days, it's still a little foreign to me and is definitely not a big part of my faith. I also find it difficult, because most of what you see to do with kids is coloring pictures or something and our boys are not into coloring. I keep thinking that eventually I'll find the best way to introduce saints to the boys. Perhaps that is what Saint Nicholas' feast day can be for us. A small introduction.<br />
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This year I did chocolate coins for Dominic and daddy and a few Oreos for Christopher, along with a slinky for each boy. Nothing big, but something that will stand out as exciting. Well, I thought it would, but apparently it has been so long since Christopher had Oreos that he wasn't excited by them anymore. He did finally eat one part of a cookie a couple days later. That's a win! ;-)Jeanine Spanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08339859644540303205noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3211108339757277420.post-54884970194940666592015-12-03T09:59:00.000-07:002015-12-03T09:59:43.230-07:00First Week of Advent Link Up<span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm linking up with <a href="http://bethannesbest.com/">Beth Anne</a> this week, and hopefully will be able to remember to link up each week. She gives some writing prompts at the beginning of the week, and then you can link up later in the week. If you're struggling to get back into blogging (like I am!) then this is a great way to do it. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1b1b1b; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What does Advent mean to you?</span></span><br />
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I know that a lot of converts feel a special closeness to Lent and Easter because that is often when converts are welcomed into the Church, and I feel like that makes sense, and love Lent and Easter. But, I was baptized in September, so I don't have that same connection. Instead, as a convert, I was able to witness Advent and Christmas in a special way my first year as a Catholic. I started coming to Mass during the Easter season prior, so I had yet to witness the taking away of the Gloria. I remember that it confused me and struck me particularly. Jason told me that Advent is a time for preparation for the coming of the Lord, and the Gloria would come back at the Midnight(ish) Mass on Christmas Eve. I went to my first penance service during that Advent, and was amazed to see so many people wanting to clean their souls before the coming of the Lord. I had a copy of the <a href="http://bookstore.magnificat.net/advent-companion-2231.html">Magnificat's Advent Companion</a>, and enjoyed the little reflections and the daily prayer that helped me reflect on what the waiting was all about.<br />
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To me Advent will always remind me of those times when we are quiet, where we wait in anticipation for the birth of the Christ Child, in full joy marveling at His Glory.<br />
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<br />Jeanine Spanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08339859644540303205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3211108339757277420.post-78966150388016710912015-11-30T11:29:00.000-07:002015-11-30T11:29:10.481-07:00School Daze<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqP7u5A9P0WV5tztWGWINR8vWFrslosxgR8_lEkLNVHJLJ6_tkX8GfWQZvHDJ7IJdAoUX_EUTq3jNiUKkHKxqdLvQcgq5DwFUlnHWEyBLBchLhihWAqx322OlN4ZpkHJeynD6Zusie8hU/s1600/IMG_20151130_111755.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqP7u5A9P0WV5tztWGWINR8vWFrslosxgR8_lEkLNVHJLJ6_tkX8GfWQZvHDJ7IJdAoUX_EUTq3jNiUKkHKxqdLvQcgq5DwFUlnHWEyBLBchLhihWAqx322OlN4ZpkHJeynD6Zusie8hU/s320/IMG_20151130_111755.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Monetessori type activity. Dominic did very well with this, but got bored quickly<br /></td></tr>
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Ah homeschooling has been a difficult task for us this year. We started the year with online public school, but found it to be a very difficult task for us. It was very rigid, and there was A LOT of work every day, the phonics lesson alone was an hour and there were days when he had to do two lessons in one day. It definitely didn't feel flexible, and it started to be such a fight just to get Dominic to sit with me and do anything. That is not what I want school to be like for us.<br />
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Then we tried some unschooling, but it switched quickly into laziness and we accomplished very little. I decided that this was unlikely to make anyone successful. We had purchased a preschool/kindergarten set of curricula from Catholic Heritage Curricula and I decided to give that a try again. It is sort of workbook-ish, but it is such a small amount of work that, so far, it has gone well. Also, this adds religion in, which is definitely a big part of why we want to homeschool anyway, and I've been impressed with Dominic's knowledge and how quickly he has caught on to new concepts.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTRPTWKpRuE1qdLosaiNIP55Ts8vPe9tl_y6xn8mfDKBui4QaZLAhR2s81ztmtzMNMiCgkDpHHa29xB7_vcNKdBAe8F4kCpd411b5RZFSdTOEnU3Eh1lZY4IWqsBGkrBkbaklVABPmG5Q/s1600/IMG_20151130_111801.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTRPTWKpRuE1qdLosaiNIP55Ts8vPe9tl_y6xn8mfDKBui4QaZLAhR2s81ztmtzMNMiCgkDpHHa29xB7_vcNKdBAe8F4kCpd411b5RZFSdTOEnU3Eh1lZY4IWqsBGkrBkbaklVABPmG5Q/s320/IMG_20151130_111801.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was an attempt at an art project. We used sponge cut into a heart shape and dipped in green. Dominic was not impressed<br /><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMtMIMsWhvD_UOj0SgrRHqK8cdURPuaGl3BYOhXE3yBUtI5iutzRohdRrev_UmdmuuGZE8AAokOCPfQEsV8P2QC41-qsirUzZFJTPL4gG1OaljmdCazMR5RG8ncIwTr4H-bxT8waC5iiI/s1600/IMG_20151130_111741.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMtMIMsWhvD_UOj0SgrRHqK8cdURPuaGl3BYOhXE3yBUtI5iutzRohdRrev_UmdmuuGZE8AAokOCPfQEsV8P2QC41-qsirUzZFJTPL4gG1OaljmdCazMR5RG8ncIwTr4H-bxT8waC5iiI/s320/IMG_20151130_111741.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He has a difficult time with scissors, he refuses to let me help him hold them with one hand, but I'm trying to let him cut it anyway. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDpDMjSCOVUSnQG4fsvFCqJDx7kxNDIlu1SmBnVtPq4jfaYF7GJ-IRNbxpf9L2q5FGAElsCEEhfZN-PyJLi6zZED0Z7yIBp1FtvzfxSv3hRVloS3-IHC8prVh4GQrKaAGIUHVmMY3GugQ/s1600/IMG_20151130_111730.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDpDMjSCOVUSnQG4fsvFCqJDx7kxNDIlu1SmBnVtPq4jfaYF7GJ-IRNbxpf9L2q5FGAElsCEEhfZN-PyJLi6zZED0Z7yIBp1FtvzfxSv3hRVloS3-IHC8prVh4GQrKaAGIUHVmMY3GugQ/s320/IMG_20151130_111730.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He does a very good job of gluing though. ;-)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiANqYs4Y5ecdLSvKuJBIZmKSEQe1UCEZXR2-Bf0APtEqrpNxzCKT8bVFyYmyPGy_kKgWPP46xX_Py66GmCENpKzoJG-3vJELTKO2B-yPNx1xLIAJEmWvQ3I-b_ERD4uZOMS1bEWqvS6yQ/s1600/IMG_20151130_111714.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiANqYs4Y5ecdLSvKuJBIZmKSEQe1UCEZXR2-Bf0APtEqrpNxzCKT8bVFyYmyPGy_kKgWPP46xX_Py66GmCENpKzoJG-3vJELTKO2B-yPNx1xLIAJEmWvQ3I-b_ERD4uZOMS1bEWqvS6yQ/s320/IMG_20151130_111714.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I really like the picture of the number displayed on a hand, he's able to know those on site, which makes him feel better</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZJ7ABG2VIlifqycI3hruqHGDYLQKY6WuRriBFs1yw9-YFPTSCnRo_4oN6N6g8PKQ1E-7PyzIVeBhYSXcGiRTRIFoWMQH6bgbXVQO87a-leKmNOM1BpofPr6IJBDTAGeMTwS0SaFxM9qg/s1600/IMG_20151130_111706.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZJ7ABG2VIlifqycI3hruqHGDYLQKY6WuRriBFs1yw9-YFPTSCnRo_4oN6N6g8PKQ1E-7PyzIVeBhYSXcGiRTRIFoWMQH6bgbXVQO87a-leKmNOM1BpofPr6IJBDTAGeMTwS0SaFxM9qg/s320/IMG_20151130_111706.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dominic doesn't like to color, but he does enjoy telling me what color to do<br /></td></tr>
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<br /><br />Jeanine Spanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08339859644540303205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3211108339757277420.post-74880308335217170392015-11-06T12:13:00.002-07:002015-11-06T12:13:47.738-07:00Speech and Occupational Therapy - Oh My!!Christopher has Medicaid! He has started OT and SLP! He is making progress!! Hooray!<br />
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**yes, I do know that I haven't posted here in a <b>really</b> long time. I have been thinking and thinking of blog posts, of wanting to get back into it, but for various reasons just haven't gotten to it. So here I am, making an attempt.**<br />
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So, after a long, painful application process; Christopher's Medicaid became active in September and we wasted no time in getting some therapies started. He is doing exceptionally well with OT and moderately well with Speech.<br />
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We are getting some great techniques to help calm him down when he's upset. Specifically <a href="http://www.nationalautismresources.com/wilbarger-protocol.html">brushing</a>. We aren't doing the whole protocol, but we are definitely finding that it helps calm him down when it's necessary. Even Dominic has gotten in on it.<br />
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We've started using his headphones at Mass and have really seen some improvement in his behavior and emotions there. Even other people have noticed and mentioned to Jason one Sunday.<br />
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He has recently been really preferring Jason to me, so much so that he not only rejects me when Jason is home, but he often doesn't want any comfort from me during the day. This has been...emotional for me. It's been a little rough. I think that there is something that he needs, that I'm not giving him, and because of the lack of communication, he can't tell me. When Jason is home, he's so happy that he doesn't need whatever it is he does during the day. That's my completely unprofessional opinion. ;-)<br />
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We played with play-doh earlier this week and Christopher amazed me. He normally just tears the play-doh into tiny and tinier pieces. This makes him happy, he enjoys it, so it's still a win. But the other day, he did this:<br />
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He figured out how to work that and just kept making a snake, then putting it back in and making another. He was intent. And happy. We played a long time. So now our play-doh is in one bucket: </div>
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<br />Jeanine Spanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08339859644540303205noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3211108339757277420.post-75157501741597712862015-06-09T13:39:00.000-07:002015-06-09T13:39:01.112-07:00Oh--Ahem--A Blog!Ahhh it has been much longer than I would have liked since my last blog post. I have much that I want to write about, and I've just been thinking "I'll do a blog post about that soon", and I have yet to do any. So this is going to be a bit of mashup of all that has been happening in the months since my last post.<br />
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We are still nowhere with getting Christopher coverage to start therapy. I thought that maybe things were looking up as the person from Southeastern Developmental Services (which is our local service that helps people with special needs, from children to adults) brought some paperwork for us to do and she made it sound like we would get funding soon. However, things piled up on her plate and it's been about a month since I saw her last. But, she has scheduled an appointment with me for Friday to bring the end of the paperwork and hopefully I'll have a time frame on when coverage might start. At one of the other nearby hospitals (sorry PMC) the speech therapist has a connection with a group that does scholarships to provide speech therapy for those whose insurance doesn't cover it, and I'm looking into that as well. I have to just finish that paperwork and send it off, I've been delaying on that simply because I'll have to pay for the evaluation and that's kind of pricey.<br />
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In the meantime, I'm working on being better at working with him. It is hard to remain focused and limit screen time. These pictures show some of our activities when I'm trying to keep him away from his device.<br />
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Dominic is set to start Kindergarten with Colorado Prep Academy through K12 online schools. I'm really excited for this because I feel like it will give us the best of both homeschooling and public school. The person who helped me register said that for Kindergarten it is 80% offline and 20% online; they sometimes have video chats with their teacher one on one and sometimes all the students video chat together. I'm very excited to see how this works. Dominic is a little young for our district's standards (he turns 5 in August) but we're going to give it a try. If he has to repeat next year then he does, it isn't something I'm going to stress about right now. Of course, having public school allows for us to have an IEP for Christopher next year and therapy services normally provided in school. I'm stoked about this for sure. It's hard for me to imagine either boy actually learning and doing school work, but I think they'll do well.<br />
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I have some plans for an update post about my weight loss, but I need to do some research about where I was the last time I posted. I have many posts in my mind, and I'm hopeful that I'll start posting regularly again!</div>
<br />Jeanine Spanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08339859644540303205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3211108339757277420.post-61619747857865988592015-03-31T15:45:00.001-07:002015-03-31T15:45:58.180-07:00A Lenten Update<p dir="ltr">What? Just because it's, Holy week doesn't mean I can't do an update. Right?</p>
<p dir="ltr">This Lent I had big plans that included Daily Mass, Weekly Adoration, and of course my regular sacrifice. However, we didn't make Daily Mass at all and only once to Adoration. I'm inclined to let this really get me down, but I'm not going to. I managed to do my sacrifice (which was fasting every Friday) and even managed to keep up on my daily prayers for the most part. That is a win in my book!</p>
<p dir="ltr">As we go into this week, I find myself more focused on the Passion of Our Lord. As I look at the struggles that I face I'm really trying to place them at His feet, and remember His cross was greater and it was FOR ME. What better reminder is there that these struggles are not harder than anyone else's and I'm not alone in them. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Have a Blessed Holy Week! <br></p>
<p dir="ltr">**pictures are unrelated evidence of the joys of being a little boy in the <u>spring</u></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3wXqb82ckNeoxLqf0ijeGbIBvE1EIRxj-9TsnE77w_FEoW80BmrrYTuYG6M2hpPQ7NTPdNBF1V7T13OR-v33QjSMCUciTmtGFOoI8X0jatPYia2UY8ASeohiAq5XNXPMg0Z484o3GsZI/s1600/20150331_104718.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3wXqb82ckNeoxLqf0ijeGbIBvE1EIRxj-9TsnE77w_FEoW80BmrrYTuYG6M2hpPQ7NTPdNBF1V7T13OR-v33QjSMCUciTmtGFOoI8X0jatPYia2UY8ASeohiAq5XNXPMg0Z484o3GsZI/s640/20150331_104718.jpg"> </a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-CweoRgQ6-WSv0VdY8UCjbMztcp3gKC2DOQxJfAuF8Dl-4DNoR9R5JVmtqVtktlKHrOVH8UE_hCejIJQ7iGZ2wHMTKI3THbiQbveRPTEwJJgeVz2iVJyU6h0SX-Sevgvy-TFrtHeYQwU/s1600/20150331_104655.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-CweoRgQ6-WSv0VdY8UCjbMztcp3gKC2DOQxJfAuF8Dl-4DNoR9R5JVmtqVtktlKHrOVH8UE_hCejIJQ7iGZ2wHMTKI3THbiQbveRPTEwJJgeVz2iVJyU6h0SX-Sevgvy-TFrtHeYQwU/s640/20150331_104655.jpg"> </a> </div>Jeanine Spanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08339859644540303205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3211108339757277420.post-75062205037867203532015-02-11T15:47:00.001-07:002015-02-11T15:47:24.076-07:00Weightloss UpdateOh goodness, it's been a long time since I've done a weightoss update. I'll be really honest, it's because I've been in this awful plateau and I've been kind of depressed about it.<br />
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For a while I wasn't eating right and not exercising in the way that I should. Thankfully I only went up about 2 pounds. Frustrating, but manageable for sure.<br />
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So, it was time to really do something more serious. I rejoined Weight Watchers and I started my daily run again. I also joined the local <a href="http://www.curves.com/">Curves </a>because I got a notice in the mail that said they were going to be open 24/7. Basically she has a key lock on the door and you can go in whenever you want. It's totally worth the monthly fee.<br />
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Now for numbers. The last time I did a weightloss post (August-yikes!) I was <b>267 </b>pounds. This week when I did my Weight Watchers weigh-in I was at <b>264.1 </b>pounds. That is a very good start. We'll see how this week goes.<br />
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Obviously, this weightloss journey is actually about more than just weight. I want to get stronger, and be able to do more with my family. Yesterday I did my run and then we went hiking at Picketwire canyon. We had planned to do the 5 miles until the dinosaur tracks, but the boys just couldn't handle it. They were so tired. We really need to build up their endurance I think. So, more hiking trips are in our future! ;-) Jeanine Spanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08339859644540303205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3211108339757277420.post-90244777785207494452015-01-28T14:32:00.003-07:002015-01-28T14:32:33.542-07:00New Year Questions<a href="http://bethannesbest.com/new-year-questions/">Beth Anne</a> tagged me in this fun post! I'm not going to tag people, because I don't know that many bloggers! OK...here we go!!<br />
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<img alt="http://cdn.bethannesbest.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/blogger-image-2068966156.jpg" class="decoded" src="http://cdn.bethannesbest.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/blogger-image-2068966156.jpg" /><br />
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<span class="s1"><b>Four names that people call me:</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">1. Jeanine</span></div>
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<span class="s1">2. Momma</span></div>
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<span class="s1">3. Wife</span></div>
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<span class="s1">4. Mrs. Spano</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="s1"> </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>Four jobs I have had:</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">1. Physical Therapist Assistant</span></div>
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<span class="s1">2. Accounts Payable Clerk</span></div>
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<span class="s1">3. R</span><span class="s1"><span class="s1"></span>ehab Aide</span></div>
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<span class="s1">4. Shoe Sales-person</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>Four movies I have seen more than once:</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">1. Princess Bride</span></div>
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<span class="s1">2. Tangled</span></div>
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<span class="s1">3.</span><span class="s1"> MegaMind</span></div>
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<span class="s1">4. LOTR</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>Four books I’d recommend: </b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">1. Wheel of Time series</span></div>
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<span class="s1">2. Redemption of Althalus</span></div>
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<span class="s1">3. Navarre Study Bible<a href="http://amzn.to/15KtOaD"><br /></a></span></div>
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<span class="s1">4. The Count of Monte Cristo</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>Four Places I’ve Lived:</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">1. Evans, CO</span></div>
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<span class="s1">2. Lamar, CO</span></div>
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<span class="s1">3. Garden City, KS</span></div>
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<span class="s1">4. Las Animas, CO</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>Four Places I Have Been:</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">1. Rome, Italy<a href="http://bethannesbest.com/greece-recap-santorini/" target="_blank" title="Greece Recap: Santorini"> </a></span></div>
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<span class="s1">2. Florence, Italy </span></div>
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<span class="s1">3. New York City, NY<a href="http://bethannesbest.com/pilgrimage-to-lisieux/" target="_blank" title="Pilgrimage to Lisieux, France"> </a></span></div>
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<span class="s1">4. Chicago, IL </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>Four Places I Would Rather Be Right Now:</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">1. Asleep</span></div>
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<span class="s1">2. Rome, Italy</span></div>
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<span class="s1">3. Anywhere where we could all be together as a family without my husband being stressed about work.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">4. Disneyland</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>Four Things I Don’t Eat:</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">1. Mushrooms</span></div>
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<span class="s1">2. Olives</span></div>
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<span class="s1">3. Most fishy fishes</span></div>
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<span class="s1">4. Cashews</span></div>
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<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"><b>Four of My Favorite Foods:</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">1. Anything Mexican</span></div>
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<span class="s1">2. Steak </span></div>
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<span class="s1">3. Baked potatoes<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=chow+fun&biw=1348&bih=685&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=FfXHVP2fB8qVNufZgugH&sqi=2&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ"> </a></span></div>
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<span class="s1">4. Bacon</span></div>
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<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"><b>Four Things I’m Looking Forward to This Year:</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">1. Starting Christopher's speech and occupational therapy</span></div>
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<span class="s1">2. Vacation!</span></div>
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<span class="s1">3. Losing weight/getting healthy (if I say it enough it might be true right!)<a href="http://bethannesbest.com/new-year-questions/encounterstl.org"><br /></a></span></div>
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<span class="s1">4. Doing school with the boys</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>Four Things I’m Saying:</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">1. "'Your turn bud!' Mater I can't I don't even have a horn' 'baby' 'I'm not a baby'"</span></div>
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<span class="s1">2. Please don't step on your brother's head (to either boy at various times)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">3. What does an elephant say?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">4. Lord, please help me be a better mother</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>Four People I’m tagging:</b></span></div>
Skipping!!!<br />
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That was fun!<br />
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I have lots of posts in my brain, that I hope to get down some time soon. Jeanine Spanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08339859644540303205noreply@blogger.com5