A good day

Today is a good day.

I went to a meeting last night for Mothers and More. There was a speaker who talked about Autism Spectrum Disorder. VERY informative. Really important things that I came away with:
* Even though the IU told me that the earliest they would send me the Permission to evaluate form for me to sign (which starts the ball rolling because then they have 60 days to do the eval and meet with me about it) is July, a mom told me last night that if I just go to the school and just show up and ask for the form, they have to give it to me. That's really good to know!

* All of the developmental pediatricians are VERY innundated with new patients to evaluate (as is the IU). If I call every week, I will be added to a special list (probably of annoying moms who will keep pestering the doctor until they are finally given an appointment) and will be notified of cancelations.

So depending on if DN-J EVER goes down for a nap (she woke up and ate at 5 this morning, so that has kind of thrown off her whole routine), we might head out to the IU this afternoon. If that doesn't work (she just had a whole bottle and is now standing in her "new" exasaucer talking to me, not looking the least bit tired) we'll go tomorrow morning. Very excited about this new info.

I contacted a real estate agent that we worked with when buying this house about the possiblity of moving. She is going to come out next week to appraise the house (or at least look around and give us an idea of how much we should get for it) and has already sent me some info about houses in the area I was interested in. This actually looks like it might happen! My dad was out this afternoon and he was encouraging me to compare how much more it would cost overall to move compared to just expanding this house as most of the people on the street have done. I get what he's saying, but the idea of living through big construction compared to moving into a house that currently has what I want .... doesn't really compare! I actually kind of like the idea of going through all our stuff, getting rid of as much as possible, and having a fresh start at a bigger place. Kind of like the ultimate "Clean Sweep!" And no, that's not the reason I'm interested in doing this, but it is an added bonus. In any case, with the idea the real estate agent is coming out Wednesday, there are many superficial things I'd like to do to get the house more in order, like cleaning up the garden in front for more "curb appeal." My step-nephew is home from college and is going to be painting with one of those college painting businesses. He doesn't start until Monday, so I hired him to paint all the woodwork and doors downstairs. If there's time, maybe the walls as well. I had lots of colorful ideas for the house, but now I'm thinking we should do neutral stuff to make it more marketable. Hmmm....