rain on tulips

Look! Two times this week! A record for the year!

Went to the massage therapy guy yesterday; left feeling much much better. Today, not so much. But that is normal. I usually have a couple of days of ache and pain after the fact, then things are much improved for a few days, then worsen again before I go back the following week. Sleeping last night was horrid, tho; back kept twinging, and going numb in a couple spots. Blech.

I’ve been working on finishing up second socks that are on needles. Finished up my green broken chocolate bar socks, finished my aqua trilobite socks, and ripped back and am finishing up my evergreen lotus socks. Need to find the other skein of pink tulip yarn to finish the foot of the socks I’m knitting for GC, and a new knit-along is starting on the Hazel Knits group on Ravelry for shawls out of the HK yarns. Trying to decide what yarn and pattern I would like to use for that, as well.

Today has started off slow; but I’m enjoying the overcast and threat of sprinkles! I know people in this area have been complaining about the “June-uary” weather we’ve been having, but I for one enjoy cooler, wetter weather around my birthday! I think someday I’ll spend my birthday in the southern hemisphere, just to get winter for my birthday! LOL

We’re supposed to be on our way driving boys out to WashJam. But we aren’t. I got hit with some mean (though short-lived) food-poisoning something last night, and this morning I feel as though I’ve been run over, then they backed up and ran over me again, by a very large truck. Fuul stayed up with me (yes, I’m very thankful!), but then he stayed up the rest of the night playing XBox.

I need a shower. We really ought to be moving. I want to lay in bed and play with my new phone (I did figure out how to email/text myself the mp3 I wanted to use as a ringtone yesterday, but there’s so many more things to do with it!) and knit Fuul’s second sock (that’s been on hold forever) so I’ll be ready to knit my new hoodie when the yarn arrives today or Monday.

And I need to buy diapers today. That one is an absolute must. And I guess getting boys out to WashJam, too. Maybe I should see about hitting the shower and see where things go from there.

I swear it ought to be midmorning now, but its after four.

I’ve gotten up and showered and cleaned the kitchen (mostly) and helped clean up the family room and run two loads of laundry (wet scouting 50-mile-hike ooginess — *shudder*).

I’ve sent one kid off to an all-day playdate with a friend and walked to the grocery store with the others for milk and tomato sauce and soda and corn chips.

I’ve put chicken chili in the crockpot and cajoled kids to do their jobs before they play xbox.

I’ve worked on cleaning my bedroom in 5-minute stints — so as not to get overwhelmed — and changed diapers and swept floors.

I’ve signed up to be a contributing writer to a newsletter for parents of kids with 1p36 Deletion Syndrome and thought some about what I should work on for my first article, then I signed up for a knit-a-long to work on a sweater that I’ve had the pattern and yarn for for more than a year.

Yet I feel like the day should be just starting. I feel like there should be hours and hours ahead of me.

I feel like I need a nap!

The heat wave has broken.

And I ought to be up and packing to go to a funeral.

I’m a little scared. I’m going away for four days with my parents to my great-grandma’s funeral, and I’m leaving Fuul at home with all the kids. I know the kids will be ok, but the makeup work on my job when I get home may just do me in!

Hoping to use the knitting time to make up for the chaos that will await my return.

The last day of school finally ground down today… amidst the first rain we’ve seen in more than a month! Its cold, grey, rainy, and the kids have been home for hours playing board games, guitars, computers, and there’s a pot of soup on the stove for dinner. I’m missing my nap time — think I can convince them all to lay down for an hour this afternoon? — and any hopes of attending the neighborhood end-of-school pool party are kind of being dashed by the rain.

On the other hand, the cool weather has me thinking I’m cold, I should knit a sweater (because that would happen fast enough to alleviate the cold, right?)

As the summer is gearing up, we’re happy to report that the compound bow Fuul got me for our anniversary is seeing lots of use at the local shooting range (can you say “family pass”), the neighborhood pool is heated, and JS is spending more and more time here at home, even if most of that time is spent glued to video games and guitars. (They’re all turning into teenagers, I suppose).

DA’s musical television debut should air this evening on the news; I have both the six and eleven o’clock episodes scheduled to record, and I keep checking online to see when they put the longer version up so I can share it with everyone.

DA and AE are in the living room re-jiggering “Hoist the Colours” for guitar; I think they want to take it to the next open mic night at the local coffee house.

My yard is overgrown; the brambles have started shooting out of the ivy and I’m not sure how to get them out without killing off the ivy too. And I need to do some tree and bush trimming and clean out the gutters. Woohoo.

EK’s talking is taking off… only none of us can understand 95% of what she’s saying, so I need to find her a new speech therapist for summer, to take advantage of the explosion. But its so exciting to see her making the effort!

We finally reverted this week and got a ‘landline’ phone, because the kids were running up my cell phone bills. (They keep asking me how they charge for the phone if it isn’t by the minute! Poor kids have no idea how landlines work!)

OK. Going to go check on the soup and see if it isn’t time to eat something warm and do some knitting in this chilly grey weather (here in the middle of June!). Hope you all are having a spectacular summer!

Moving: Still unpacking. Found more things (like the lids to the tupperware and my skein-winder). Still missing some things (like the camera case and the attachments to the vacuum).

School: Have settled the kids into school routines. State testing last week. Last quarter started. On the downslope to summer. Making new friends.

New Neighborhood: lots of nice neighbors. Short driving distance to shopping and fast food and library. Walking distance to the park and pool.

New house: big. Still filled with boxes. Slowly settling in. Nothing on the walls as of yet (maybe I’ve been trained by rental not to put anything up? Need to break that habit). Nice backyard and deck. Sunny days its been getting some use. Need to get some new latches for the gates to keep little ones a little better contained when we’re out there.

Easter: Neighborhood egg hunt; everyone found something, so success. Easter bunny found everyone: card games, watches, magnetic drawing boards, Easter clothes, and the requisite candy. Much sugar rush and happiness ensued.

Knitting: finished first Cherub sock and started the second. Finished Laminaria Lace Shawl. Started Liesl sweater in Hazel Knits Lively DK yarn in Jay Blue. Pictures to come soon.

Much more going on, but thats a snapshot… more soon….

The house-buying is moving forward; signing scheduled for next Friday. My shoulder is feeling better; still have a few days left of a prescription anti-inflammatory for tendonitis for a pulled tendon. Packing/cleaning/dumpstering is going but much more slowly than I had hoped. CC’s preschool evaluations are finished; waiting to hear if he’ll qualify to start preschool at EK’s school. EK’s been down with a cold, missed some school; she seems pretty much back to herself today, so I’ll send her back to school tomorrow. The other kids are busy with school and church and getting excited about moving. DA keeps reminding me that he hasn’t gotten to see the new house at all yet. Maybe he’ll just be surprised!? He performed with the orchestra last night during the sixth grade orientation at the Junior High, and was excited when he got home because his solo worked out well, and he was congratulated by his teacher. He’s really loving the opportunity to play guitar in the orchestra! I’ve been knitting — finished a pair of socks for Fuul, a pair of fingerless gloves for me, and I’m working on a cropped cardigan and a lace shawl right now; mostly the knitting is reserved for late-night, after the kids are in bed unwinding. Oh, and my swap package from TN finally arrived… filled with some great yarn, a pretty pink knit shawlette, stuff for the kids, hot cocoa, some great candies, a cool pen, and a fancy journal! Once I’m through with the moving, I’ll have to get busy using all that stuff! I did something to my left knee yesterday, and now there’s a tendon or something underneath my kneecap that HURTS and keeps popping whenever I straighten or bend it, and so that’s slowing me down, too. Because I needed something else in my path.

Ten more minutes to browse my email, then I’ve got to suck up the pain and get moving on the day. Laundry and cleaning and packing and some grocery shopping await, plus all the regular activities that happen around here. I’m gonna need a vacation when all of this is over!

So, I signed up for a custom, music-based sock yarn club, because who doesn’t need more sock yarn, and better yet, sock yarn based on music and bands and … yeah!

The club is Rock Your Socks Off, and Danido is offering the first 25 spaces at a discounted rate! Woohoo!

There are also opportunities still to make suggestions about bands and colorways, and to win free yarn! And who isn’t up for that!? Go! Look! Sign up! (Drop my name! I could win more goodies, too! LOL)

(I’ve purchased some of her yarns before, and can attest to the quality; can’t wait to see what she comes up with for the music-inspired stuff. Its all going to be surprises!)

• The fevers and strep throat that wasn’t strep throat but sure felt like it and kept a couple of kids out of school for a couple of days. Still lingering, but not nearly so bad.
• The amazing concert with the amazing band (and the pretty good opening bands, too) that played all kinds of great songs we knew and songs we want to know and brought in a guest guitarist and yes, I got the t-shirt!
• Got snow, but they didn’t cancel school and I had to navigate icy roads in a high school parking lot with teenage drivers — twice.
• Total non-readiness for Christmas.
• Had a snow day today, and here we are at 4:30pm, still waiting for the snow to fall. Meanwhile, all the snow on the lawn has melted. Go figure.

Many more things have hit my head as “I should blog this” moments, and then immediatly slipped through the sieve that is my brain this month… still knitting on the commission sweater, still acclimating to the migraine meds, still wishing I could sleep in more…

EK had a sedated BAER (ABR) hearing test and an MRI on Friday – took MUCH longer than they had said at the outset, but doesn’t it always? And, they forgot to call me back when she came out to recovery, as well, so by the time I called and got back there with her, she was eating her second popsicle and watching Curious George on television.

We got the results of her BAER/ABR immediately (they did that test first): her hearing is good in her right ear, and less good but still good in her left. So, that was good to hear. There is still the question of whether the ‘clearinghouse’ processing part of her brain is dealing with the sounds correctly, but at least we know that the sounds are going in correctly. And, that the ‘echo’ effect that they usually don’t see in kids who have tubes like EK was present as well, so that’s good. We’ll still continue behavioural hearing tests every 6-9 months, but for now we got good news.

This evening, though, we got a call from EK’s ped that she got the report on the MRI, and that EK has a syrinx from t6 through t12. We have a referral to see a neurologist (or to make an appointment to see a neurologist) and find out whats next. I know that in many cases its nothing, and nothing to do, and nothing to worry about. So I’m trying not to worry about it. But in the meantime, I’m worrying about it, and all the possibilities, and … yeah.

To ward off the worries, I’m making lots of progress on the sweater-for-commission that I’m working on for Christmas for a woman at church; working my way up the fronts toward the shoulders now.

Yesterday I wrote up a master list of the things I want to have for Thanksgiving, and found recipes for the few salads and the praline yams that I love and printed them off. Then I divided the list into “Things to fix on Wednesday” and “Things to fix on Thursday”. Winds up that neither day is going to be too overwhelming, and I managed to do pretty well in my impromptu shopping trip yesterday. I only need to pick up a pie (everyone is still conflicted as to which kind), a bag of ice (our ice maker died this week, and Fuul is having withdrawals!), bananas, and cinnamon rolls (Fuul decided that its a new tradition in his mouth to have cinnamon rolls for Thanksgiving — weird boy!)

So. Today shouldn’t be too bad, and its possible that Fuul will actually not work today… he’s been marked as being on vacation the past four work days on my calendar, only you wouldn’t know it based on the 24-hour days he’s been pulling. He came home last night at 7:30 and said he was done until after Thanksgiving, then sat at his computer and argued with ‘idiots’ (his word) until after midnight on email. Yeah. Sounds a lot like vacation time to me. And there is still the question of whether or not they are going to reimburse him for the vacation time he’s not going to be able to take before the end of the year because they keep wanting him to work. (Yes, this is a sore spot for me).

OK. Enough. He’s off work today, I’m off to run kids to school, and then we’re going to bake cookies and rolls and make jello salads and watch movies and knit. Because its vacation time and I can. So there!

_{*I can hear the line in my head. I’m certain its from a movie or something. 10 points to whoever can remind me what its from! LOL}

Still here, still kicking, still busy. Last weekend, when it was sunny here (rare recently between record-rain-dumping storms) we went down to the pier and wandered, saw a lot of shops, went to the Aquarium (got a year/family pass!), and ate at a nice seafood restaurant — yummm… crab and shrimp and fish……

So. Us.

The kids have just finished up the first quarter of school; mostly good grades (would be better if they would follow through turning in finished items, or writing down assignments to be done before they were late). But nothing can’t be corrected with a little focused work.

DA is doing his 30 required hours of community service helping Devin and his family — daily living skills, homework, etc. He’s got the best of both worlds, there. He’s also very into writing music right now, and has been invited by the choir teacher at the Junior High to compose something for the choir to perform.

JS is still staying with my cousin, doing alright in school, but butting heads with the study hall teacher who doesn’t help him study because she doesn’t understand what he’s doing, even though its pretty basic middle school math. He’s looking forward to being back in school up here next semester.

AE is excelling her her school, and has been on several field trips. They’ve been to see a ballet version of “Dracula”, and went to the Aquarium the other day. She loves her art class and the guitar circle group that meets once a week after school. She rides the city bus home from school every afternoon; Fuul still isn’t quite sure about this one.

DS is doing well in school, though I think it has more to do with getting to play football with his friends than actually being at school. He’s even been teaching GC how to play so she can get in on the action.

GC loves 2nd grade, and claims to be her teacher’s favorite. How could she not be? She’s been to a couple of birthday parties, and had playdates and gone to movies with a friend from church. I think she has a busier social life than her teenage siblings!

EK is doing really well in school. All of her teachers have started learning sign language this year, and her communication skills have taken off as a result. She’s trying to talk, as well, making sounds or word approximations with each of her signs, which is great forward progress. She recognizes her name, and will even try to write it, telling us whch letter she’s writing as she gets to it. She knows most of her uppercase letters, and many of her lowercase letters. Looking at improving her numbers and counting next. (And how on eart did we get to her fourth birthday coming up on Monday???)

CC is busy busy busy all the time! That “I Don’t Have An Off Button” tshirt I got him is very accurate! He goes goes goes all day, and is trying to give up his naps as well. He gets PT/OT at home twice a month, where we work on him maintaing positions without motion — a real challenge for him! –; and he goes to a feeding group once a week, where they work on expanding what picky eaters will accept, and help kids who stuff their mouths (ie: CC) to learn to moderate. Its fun, and I think we both learn a lot in both places.

Fuul is working too much and too many hours, as usual, which wears him out but gets lots done at work. His bosses love it; his family less. He’s gotten to play his guitars some, and his boss bought a guitar recently, so I’m hopeful that he will have more opportunities soon.

I’m taking the new migraine meds. The side effects are lessening, but I expect them to pick up again when I up the dose again tomorrow. But, the migraine intensity is lessening exponentially, if not the frequency. I have hope! I’m working on a sweater on commission for a lady at church for her daughter for Christmas; its going well, and she loved how it looked when she stopped by to see it last night. Finally, I’m going in for PRK (a type of Lasik) tomorrow morning, but shhhh, don’t tell me — I’m not thinking about it so I don’t worry!

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Notes. It was finally cold enough to feel right going to look at pumpkins. We came home with lots. EK loved it. CC was fascinated with the pumpkins. DS and GC swapped which one they wanted about ten times. Lots of fun feeding goats, looking at alpacas, and poking at the chickens. CC was amused by the tractor cutout. EK liked the little pumpkins/gourds near the checkout area. I took advantage of the fall light and the pumpkins to get Fuul to take a few pictures of my newest finished sweater (Mariah, in Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, Pampas Heather colorway), finished just in time for our cold snap! JS is still staying with my cousin; I hope they make it to a pumpkin patch and bring along a camera, as well!

Day five of seven that have been plagued with migraine. Have meds. Relieve the migraine. About the next day its back again.

Upped my anxiety meds; days are getting shorter, anxiety goes up. Looked into light replacement lamps; cost so much.

Devin is home. Still in lots of pain; still needs help with everything. Is good that his mom can sleep in her own bed, and he gets to see friends. I got to see him on Saturday with DA, and he manages to smile and make jokes on occasion; it will be better.

CC graduated from speech; he is within normal ranges, tho most people (including family) can’t understand him. He qualified for PT/OT and feeding therapy. That should start up in the next few weeks.

EK has started to talk; mostly the ends of words, but we are starting to be able to tell what she is saying. Its exciting to hear, after four years of waiting. She’s also started using three and four word sign sentences, expressing bigger ideas.

Am hoping to look into Lasik surgery for me for Christmas — before that, preferably. I’m getting frustrated more and more waking up and not being able to see. I decided that sacrificing my close-up vision will be worth it; its going on its own as it is, so I’d just be hastening the process.

I’ve been knitting lots. Socks for mom (they are on hold because I flubbed the lace, and I can’t figure out where it went wrong). A couple of lace projects. Started some new socks. Finished one sweater, one is waiting on seaming and button bands/buttons, and one is waiting to finish drying so I can buy a zipper for it and sew it in. Made a hat for DS. Socks for AE’s birthday went over well, socks for GC were happily accepted. Finally cool enough some days to wear my own wool socks.

Have no energy. Psyched myself up to clean the front entry/closet, and nearly had to pry myself off the floor to finish, I was so worn out. The floor still needs vacuuming, but it will have to wait. My will can no longer push my flesh off the couch. Maybe in another hour?

Not sleeping well. Fall asleep alright if its late and I’m tired, but if I wake during the night or early in the morning, I can’t fall back asleep for all the junk running through my head.

Fuul interviewed for a new group at his company yesterday; said it went well, and they didn’t ask him any questions he didn’t know the answers to! Now the hard part will come in having to decide if he wants to leave his group to accept a position in a new one; change is scary.

Lots of school; lots of homework; lots of busy; less time and energy in the day. But what else is new?

AE has had a cough for most of a month, and her ears have started bothering her. Took her to the dr yesterday, with a diagnosis of “Sinus infection seeping into her ears, chest congestion, but probably not pneumonia yet.” Probably not. Nothing like getting good news, huh? She’s on antibiotics for the next 10 days.

I finally got fed up enough with six migraines a month to head in to the dr and get something for them; have some lovely samples of Zomig on hand now, and just in time, because I needed it yesterday.

Fuul is still tweaking the dosage on his adderall for work; got new instructions for that.

Fuul also saw a new dentist yesterday, who is finally willing to work with us in stages to get his teeth taken care of after five years in his splint. His first ‘real’ appointment is Monday, and they’re going to give him Valium for that. Can’t be all bad, huh? (Best part? They’re going to work with us on the cost, instead of asking us to pay $30,000 up front like the last dentist he saw! Ack!)

I’m heading over the bridge this afternoon with EK for an echocardiogram. Her last sleep study in July showed that her obstructive apnea is getting worse, and we’re still trying to figure out how to take the bottles away and get her to use her bipap machine regularly. In the meantime, we have an oxygen compression unit here, that she will sometimes wear for a couple of hours. The echo is to check for pulminary hypertension as a result of decreased oxygenation while she sleeps. Her last echo was all good. Any good thoughts would be appreciated!

And finally, though he’s not in our family, Devin is doing ok, I think. He was scheduled to have surgery on one of his feet on Tuesday; I’ve not heard anything since then, but assume he’s still doing better. Out of ICU, off the breathing tube; a few friends have been by to visit him, and we’re trying to figure out when would be a good time for DA to go by. (I’m knitting Devin a penguin, and am down to just some finishing touches now, so hopefully it will be ready to go with DA when he heads over there).

So. Medical update in a nutshell.