Holy cow, what a month.

We kicked off with a fun-filled visit from my parents. Since we were all still dealing with a cough and such, it was a fantastic distraction.

It rained almost the entire visit, but we did manage to find the best night to go to the Montgomery County Fair. Little Man got to ride several rides by himself (and with the Mister) and played a fishing game to win a prize. He had an absolute blast. He didn’t want to leave.

They even got to do the Home Depot workshop together.

As usual, the visit wasn’t long enough, but we had a nice time.

I spent the following week dealing with Tricare and trying to schedule Little Man for his first dental appointment. One place didn’t have openings until January! And nevermind, the 2 other offices that didn’t answer their phones during business hours/never called me back.

I finally received a new speech referral, and instead of following Ms. Alexis, it was for another clinic… and they couldn’t get him in to be evaluated for six months. So, I called Tricare and specifically asked for the clinic we originally wanted. They were able to get him evaluated within 2 weeks and he is back with Alexis.

We are SO pleased with the new speech clinic. It’s just all around a nicer place to be. All the staff seems happy to be there and actually cares about their work, whereas apart from the therapists themselves, everyone at the other place seemed to just be there for a job. Heck, even the new lobby is more inviting with new themes every week.

Following the luck with sorting the speech debacle, I also found a pediatric dentist right up the road from speech that accepted Tricare, and they were able to get him in within a week for his first visit.

It’s been a constant struggle with all kinds of healthcare this month. I was still coughing through mid-month and my PCM had no openings at all, so I resorted to not one, but two ER visits.

The first visit was because I started having chest pains from all the hacking. I was in and out within 2 hours with some high dose cough meds and no painkillers. The following day, I went back because the pain was getting worse. Like hurt to breathe, worse.

Turns out, I pulled a muscle in my chest wall and needed a breathing treatment, steroids, and painkillers to finally kick the cough.

As of this post, I am still on the mend. The Mister is still dealing with the brunt of it too with chest pain from coughing and his own ER visit. He’s still coughing his lungs out, too.

Thankfully, Little Man got the cough out of his system without medical intervention. He still has a runny nose here and there (thanks allergies) but he is by far the best feeling in the house. It’s been a rough one.

In the midst of all the crazy stuff, we hit another milestone.

Little Man got his big boy bed!

He picked out the banana sheets himself. His comforter has Bluey and stars on it, which he also picked out a while ago. Now, he’s all about “ickey’s club owwwse” (Mickey’s Clubhouse), but hey. Haha. Nana is sending him some Mickey sheets she picked up on the dollar auction, so he’ll be thrilled to mix and match his favorites.

I found a beautiful maple headboard at Habitat for Humanity ReStore for $20, but since I’ve been trying to heal, I haven’t had a chance to get it sanded/refinished.  So we are making due with his crib rail in the meantime.

We went to several mattess places and good grief! It’s obviously been too long since we bought one because they’re outrageously expensive now. We lucked out and got a great deal at Mattress Firm since we were the only customers to come to that location that day. We seriously saved $400 on the mattress alone. Little Man even fell asleep on it in the store and didn’t budge while we finished the paperwork for delivery.

Once we got the bed sorted, we used the Kohl’s cash Grandma Waid gave us from her visit to grab some new school clothes. He was particularly excited for the Mickey sweatshirt.

We would’ve bought it while she was visiting but our store didn’t have it in stock in his size so I had to find it on their website. He also snagged some more undies.

He’s doing great with potty training. Just a few accidents when he’s not paying attention. He’s still not great at telling us he has to go, but he has some pretty obvious tells. Lots of changes at once, but he’s doing very well!

With running around we’ve done for Little Man this month, we continued with a fresh haircut and took Roxie to the groomer for the first time.

Miss Roxie did very well with the groomer. She was timid at first (and probably a little carsick), but she didn’t panic like Indie does and definitely didn’t cause a fuss for extra charges.

As the month wound down, our schedules got busy busy busy.

On the 24th, Little Man met his preschool teacher and saw his classroom.

That weekend, we took the time to finally visit the Customs House Museum. We’ve been meaning to visit since we moved to Clarksville and just never went. We took advantage of the Blue Star Museums promotion, so admission was free for military.

They have an excellent hands-on kids’ section, which Little Man loved.

The month, unfortunately, was not without tragedy.

My Aunt Tammy passed away.

Though not totally unexpected, the news is devastating, especially for my mom. The sisters were so close. As much as my mom calls me, she called Tammy just as much plus more. They were the best of friends in addition to being sisters.

Tammy had recently been diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver and was in the hospital with an unrelated injury when she became unresponsive. My mom made the trip to Texas and was unable to make it in time to say her goodbyes.

I know it’s going to be a very difficult grieving process. I wish I could have been there to help my mom. I really hate that I’m so far away.

As the last week of the month got underway, we combated the sadness with some more milestones.

Little Man started preschool on the 29th!

He had an excellent first week and seems really happy to be there.

I hope we are able to get into a better routine as the weeks continue. With a new speech schedule and preschool, our weeks are a lot busier and it’s been difficult adjusting to the new changes.

Bedtime is a mess, but I’m hopeful it starts being less of a battle.

As September is practically here, we have a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks. We tend to start getting busiest in the fall.

Labor Day is a long weekend for us. We are thinking of going to the Butterfly Festival in Oak Grove, Kentucky. I’ll also be remembering my sweet Audie boy on what would have been his 10th birthday.

Then my Aunt Judy and Uncle Brad are coming to visit for a couple of days mid-week.

The following weekend is the Highland Games and the Trail of Tears Pow Wow (though I’m not sure we’ll attend the pow wow this year — the heat will be the deciding factor).

Then we get a little bit of time off before Barks & Brews and Oktoberfest.

Before we know it, we’ll be deep into fall and that much closer to the holidays.

Until then,

Cheers!