Joel's starting pre-school!!!

Tomorrow is Joels first day of pre-school!!!   I know its been so long since Ive written.. the summer hasn't been kind to me.  Both of my kids have gotten hand foot and mouth disease.. TWICE... if your not familiar, its just AWFUL.. Joel has also gotten croup twice, Angie once.. On top of that, Ive been fighting an infection for basically the whole summer, and have been hospitalized twice to get IV antibiotics.. they couldn't figure out why it wasn't going away, so sent me to see an infectious disease specialist.. finally I got a diagnosis of lymphademia.. (my hands always swell up)  and i guess its also the reason the infection is taking so long to go away.. every time they gave me antibiotics, it didn't completely get rid of it, so it grew back worse each time..  ive been feeling so crummy.. on top of all that, my mom just got diagnosed with cancer.. thyroid cancer. shes going in for surgery next Tuesday.. to have it removed.. like i said, its been beyond crazy.   We bought a house, which is AMAZING.. unfortunately, i was in the hospital on our moving day.. so my family was stuck taking care of my kids, and moving my whole house.  Phil (the kids father) also took part in the move and thank god he was there.  after being in the hospital for 4 days, and not seeing my kids I got to go home to a brand new house.. well new to us. which was amazing.. other then the fact that i had no idea where nothing was, and a basement FULL of unmarked black trash bags.. that was Phil's idea of packing.. just throwing everything in trash bags and piling it all int he basement.  Needless to say I was beyond over whelmed.  Joel was having a REALLY hard time adjusting to the move. me disappearing for 4 days didn't help.. it was a long 2 week transition.. and Ive never seen his autism so bad... Its definitely been showing is face lately.. (his autism)  its coming out in tantrums.. and very quirky things of his are causing awful tantrum.. example.. if someone leaves our house.. he HAS to go to the window and watch them leave.. god forbid he misses it, he'll throw a fit and full blown tantrum and cry for an hour.. same thing with throwing a diaper away.. if i change him and mistakenly throw his diaper away, same fit and crying for an hour.. because HE has to throw it away... there are MANY little things like this that its becoming so hard not to set him off..I feel like I'm walking on egg shells all day.. trying to keep him happy.. because its so much better then dealing w. a tantrum.  hes getting bigger.. hes 39 inches, and 49 lbs.. so being on the other end of a full blown tantrum isn't easy at all.. he has a very hard time with transitions.. as much as i plan and try to prep him for them.. especially if its something he doesn't want to end.. hes also obsessing over random things.. right now its pickles.. everything is pickles.. he must say pickles 200000 times a day.. its better than the last obsession of "caca"  few weeks ago, everything was caca.. oi vey. anyway, the summer has just been awful and Joel did have a few weeks of the summer school program, but it was nothing close to his EI / ABA schedule and i feel like we've lost progress through all this transition.. i fell like the autism is showing now more than ever... before there were days where i felt the miss diagnosed him.. that they were wrong.. but there is no question in my mind now that they were right.. and the reason he was doing so well is because of all the services he was receiving.. the summer has been proof of that.. I'm soooooooooooooo happy hes starting school tomorrow.   we also just has his check up at children's.. to see his autism Dr.  he was bouncing off the walls and she got a good idea of what Ive been going through.. there used to be many times id be nervous that Dr's, or therapists wouldn't see what hes been doing.. because he was always hit or miss.. some days he did so amazing, and others not so much.. but lately hes been kinda the same every day.. and not in a good way.. im praying praying praying going back to school helps him.. they started him at a half day, but his Dr. wants him at a full day, so were re-doing his iep in a month.. they couldn't get a good grasp of how much help he needed. because during his evaluations, they saw 2 completely different kids.. one who needed a lot of help, and one who didn't.. so they didn't know how much services to give him.. I'm hoping once school starts he'll get back to where he was before his early intervention services ended..  The good news is.. he LOVES school.. like LOVES it.  which I'm so thankful for..makes our morning routine getting ready much easier. We're still working on potty training.. he can pee in the potty.. but refuses to poop.. and still prefers a diaper.  Ive been trying NOT to push him.. but encourage him... but i feel like its not working.. hopefully school will help w. that too.. Hes been having a hard time in crowds.. much more than before.. and anytime gets overwhelmed.. whether it be in a crowded room, or if he does something bad and I'm reprimanding him, he bangs his ears.. we had his 3rd bday the weekend before last and there were so many people here, he shut down and hid.. then refused to hit his pinata.. it was an eye opener for me.. and a reminder that my expectations need to sometimes be revised.. he wasn't unhappy... he just didn't want to do it.. IIIIII wanted him to do it.. but me trying to push him to do it didn't help him at all... hes still my sweet boy, and gives me moons of kisses every day, and says "i lub you mama" about 20x a day.   I'm still learning.. how to be the best mom I can be to him.. Its a daily struggle/challenge and also so rewarding when I get it right!   Praying things look up once hes back in school and getting more services.... tons of pics, so enjoy!