Post!

Well, time to blog. Getting back into the swing of things of normal life.

Austin is really enjoying football and so far his team is 2-0. Since one of the main dudes on the team referred to as Tito failed this 6 weeks, Austin has now taken over fullback position and said he scored a TD in practice yesterday. He likes to run the ball! He did well this 6 weeks in school too. He made 2 89's and the rest were A's. Not bad for all pre AP classes. He is also playing baseball and playing catcher the entire games. Still growing taller every day.

Cameron is learning to read and seems to enjoy it. He is still having his motor tics that sometimes involve only eye blinking, but sometimes he adds a downward head nod with the eye blinks. These occur every day about every 5 minutes. I would call it severe, but we just keep hoping it will go away soon. His teacher says it's not interfering with school work so I guess we'll just let it ride! He is also taking a drama class once a week and appears to really get in the Drama mode!

Not much going on with me. Trying not to get the flu! Austin & I have had our shots, but Cameron's doc ran out of them and having a hard time finding supply! One of my students at my school in special ed died this past weekend from complications of the flu. Very sad, she was in a wheel chair and had other underlying medical issues, but she was a sweet 16 year old girl who was always smiling (although nonverbal). We had many news crews here this week. Homecoming is tonight and you should see the mums these girls wear! They are almost full-body! Huge (fake)flowers that totally cover the girls' chest and stomachs and then all these ribbons, cow bells, dangling things all the way to the floor! I've never seen such a sight! They sound like hearding cattle walking down the halls! One girl told me she paid $100 for hers which was about average! WOW!

That's all I got for now, will most more later, TTFN!

Good News!

After all the appts last Friday, Cameron is NOT having seizures. Yeah! The neurologist thinks he has motor and verbal tics that really have no one particular cause but can be as a result of a strep of some sort or heredity (don't think that's on my side) and will usually subside within 6 months. If not, we will go back and they might suggest medication. When I asked what kind of med, the doc replied 'medication similar to what we give pts with tourettes syndrome'. She didn't think it was tourettes because he didn't have enough obsessive-compulsive behaviors, echolalia, aggression, or other characteristics. So, we'll be watching for any of those for sure! I think he does have a little aggression towards me or Austin, esp when he doesn't want to do something! Hopefully that's more normal than not. He will be getting glasses, he is far-sighted, while Austin is near-sighted. Of course, they had to be different! His glasses should be ready tomorrow for us to pick up. I'll post pics when he gets them. That's about all for now, I'll post more later when I have some news-worthy news!

I'm here!

OK OK, I know it's been forever since I've blogged, I apologize. However, most of the peeps that read this blog already know most of what has been going on this summer except the most recent happenings. So, get ready for a long read. Austin had a great time at Kanakuk Kamp in July and wants to go for 2 weeks next year and we will definitely make that happen, thanks PawPaw! Austin came back from Arkansas and decided he wanted to try out for select baseball teams. He tried out for 3 different teams and was asked to play for the N. Dallas Knights and signed on with them. If you're not familiar with select teams, they have tryouts and then you pay $ (more than just rec or little league $) to play for them, if they ask you to be on the team, thanks Grammy! His first tournament is Labor Day weekend in Mansfield, TX. The field is like the major leagues - air conditioned enclosed bleachers and everything, my kind of baseball watching! School started this past Monday the 24th. Austin LOVES junior high! He says so far his (all pre-AP) classes are easy and he's already practicing football. He thinks he will be running/receiving the ball, I'll have to make sure which position/s he will play. He's the tallest guy but not the biggest by far! He has his first scrimmage on Sept 15 and then games every Tuesday after that for about 7 weeks. He has had to get new glasses since his others broke and his prescription needed to be stronger. So, I think he's set now. He's just a bunch of $ down now since Allie had to have surgery. A nightmare, I tell ya! It seems Austin left a roll of atheletic tape laying around and Allie decided to chew/eat it. Well I found this "stuff" hanging out her rear one day and decided to "help" her out by pulling on it and it kept coming out and then she started yelping and I thought "Oh my, I've pulled out her intestines!" (you can imaging the color of it but I won't get too graphic here) So we rushed her to the emergency animal hospital where they took x-rays and said she needed surgery. Not wanting to put her down, Austin said he would pay for it because I definitely couldn't and wasn't going to; yeah, $1900. So, to teach him a lesson he was required to sell something of value to him. And he did. He sold his Playstation3, all the games with it, his PSP and some games that he could find, and all of his XBOX 360 games except for 2. Although he didn't get near as much for them as they were worth, he managed to raise about $450. So, when I asked him if he had learned anything, he told me he definitely had. The love between a boy and his dog, priceless I guess!

Well, on to Cameron. He's loving Kindergarten! When he came home the 1st day, I asked him how it was and he smiled and said "It was AWESOME!" I asked him what was the best part and he replied: "Everything!" When Austin was getting his eyes tested, Cameron was partially tested as well because he has been doing some strange things with his nose/eyes lately. He started this nose twitching thing back in July and it progressively got worse and then he started another kind of twitch/tic where he would lower his eyebrows and his eyes would roll. Lately it has been eye blinking, like non-stop. I took him to see the doc and he referred us to a pediatric neurologist to see if he might be having petit-mal seizures. I had taken video into him and showed him those weird things he was doing and that is what he suggested. So, he has an appt tomorrow morning for an EEG and then a neurologist appt that afternoon. In the meantime, when his eyes were partially checked, he couldn't see very clearly out of his right eye. Dr. Calaway (mom's cousin) couldn't complete the exam but she said he definitely needs correction for the R eye. We are going Sat morning to finish the exam and try on frames for glasses. Maybe it's all in the vision, but I want to rule out seizures since I already had the appt. I'll update the blog when I know more.

As for me, all is well, with the exception of a minor female problem, but I haven't decided what to do about it yet. I've started a new school this year - high school. I've never done therapy at the secondary level, but so far, I think it is going to work out just fine. It's amazing how much you're not treated like an elementary student when you're not working at an elementary school! There are only 3,000 students here grades 9-12! This school is the biggest in the district. It's not my high school, but it's within the same district and we were rivals with this school, but I'm pretty much over the rivalry thing! My sister has moved back to Dallas and is living with us again. She is working part time and going to her meetings, counseling, and living 1 day at a time. She is doing well; plus she helps me out with the boys tremendously. She can take over when I'm about to lose it!

Oh yeah, as a last 'hoorah' for the summer I took the boys to New Braunfels TX and we went to Schlitterbaun, the biggest water park I've ever been to in my life! 2 separate parks that they shuttle you back and forth with buses, but only have to pay 1 admission - too fun, it had an uphill water coaster, tons of slides and lots of fun things! Right next to a river that was so clear you could see 6ft+ to the bottom, spring fed so it felt very cool! We stayed from open to close, still didn't get to do every ride there. But we all had a great time, I would definitely recommend going and doing the Schlitterbaun park! Also enjoyed a trip to Children's museum the day before school started. They have an exhibit all about spys and it was neat - then there was the regular children's museum stuff and Cameron had a ball - got to dig for dinosaur bones - I personally felt like we were in the movie A Night at the Museum - pretty neat, fun and educational all at the same time!

That's about all in a nutshell for now, I'll do better about posting, I promise! Pictures will come soon as I don't have them uploaded yet, but be looking!

Go All-Stars!

Austin's team has advanced to the championship! They play tomorrow night for the district title! The team has run-ruled every team so far. They are 4-0 in this tournament. So far, Austin has hit 2 home runs, 1 of those was over the fence! He's having a blast playing with this team. So hopefully they can pull the win tomorrow night. If so, then it's off to Abilene TX for sectionals July 15-20, then after that it's Waco for state and then Williamsport PN. Wow, wouldn't that be fun! I'll keep posting on the progress!

Well, it's my last day as a thirtysomething. I used to think that those actors on that show thirtysomething were OLD! Now, not so much! But, I'm looking forward to my fabulous fourties! (sort of) I hear only good things from my friends who have already jumped over into the forty decade. So we'll see!

New look

Well, the project for out front is almost complete! I couldn't find my pre picture, but it's on this blog somewhere in the pictures of the wall out front. It is now gone and new additions have been made! Check out the photos.

Austin is recovering from a bad sunburn that took an ER visit to tell us that aspirin, benadryl, aloe, and keeping it covered is the best cure. Can't wait for that bill! Seems that a pool party after ball practice turned into an expensive event. He didn't listen to his mother to apply sunscreen often and therefore had a bad reaction 2 days later which caused him tons of itching, pain and discomfort with huge tears, groaning/yelling and jerking movements that looked similar to convulsions! I thought something else was wrong with him!

Cameron on the other hand, is doing great with swimming! He can now swim by himself without any life preservers! He goes under, kicks, and swims about 6 feet unassisted, but close to the wall so that he can grab it if needed. He now loves the water! Initially, tears and fears were all around even getting near the water, now tears are there for not wanting to get out! We decided to take another 2 weeks of lessons since he is doing so good! He's also getting into photography, likes to take random pics with my phone. Check out the self portraits. That's all for now, gotta go to another swim lesson!

Williamsport anyone?

Yes, Austin made the Williamsport All-Star team! That means if his team keeps advancing, we may be going to Pennsylvania for a championship! You can watch us on ESPN! Well, we can always dream big anyway! He was very excited to make the team this year. Also Austin got an award for "best attitude" from the coaches. Each teams' coaches in the league picks 1 player to receive the award/medal. Austin got it for the Tigers. Pretty cool. He also got MVP and best slug average award from his coach. His slug average was the best in the whole LEAGUE. We had our closing ceremonies last Saturday so regular baseball season is over. His team got 2nd place for his division. I don't think I've mentioned 6th grade graduation and his awards he received. He got all A average for the year award, best boy writer of 6th grade, and awards for getting "commended" (which means getting an A on the test) on both reading and math TAKS test, which is the state assessment taken each year. He made a 100 on the math and only missed 1 on the reading. So he's getting to be a pretty fart smeller, I mean smart feller! His schedule now is going to pre AP math prep class every morning from 8-11:45 and then all-star practice every night from 8-10.

Cameron is still playing t-ball and doing pretty well. He is in his 2nd week of swim lessons. At first I thought I had spent $ for nothing because the 1st 2 days, he wouldn't even get near the water. Finally an instructor took him and made him get in and asked me to leave the area so he can gain confidence that he will be OK and can build trust, which was fine with me. So day 3 and I go into the gym to work out. I come out and he's in the water with a noodle wrapped around him swimming around and kicking like crazy. I'm not sure how they convinced him, but it worked! He is not afraid to get in as long as he has someone to hold on to or is wearing his noodle. Way to go YMCA! My friend Sean from college came to town and he does voice recordings for the cartoon Dragon Ball-Z. His friend owns a studio and I got to take the boys to let them see what a recording studio looks like. Cameron hopped right up in the chair and took off! He wore headphones so he could hear himself. They morphed his voice to sound like a munchkin and it made him laugh so hard. It was pretty funny hearing him laugh in the morphed voice! Then they morphed his voice very low and he imitated the guy saying "I'm a scary monster" It was really cool. Cameron was a real ham and started doing his own things like singing songs, playing air guitar and singing tunes, saying funny phrases, etc. They recorded it all and will send me a copy soon, I hope. I told them if they ever needed a kid to record, give me a call!

I'm staying busy trying to find cheap labor to help me re-design my front yard area. We've cut trees down, took out bushes and knocked down the huge brick wall that was blocking my dining room windows. I can see outside now! Next comes making a little patio/sitting area and planting new plants. Jose is going to help me. He's good, pretty cheap, but does not know much "Engleis" and my "Espaniol" is not that great. But we should be OK, hopefully. I'll take pics and post later of my updates. We have also switched rooms with Austin and the spare. We've painted and moved all the stuff. His former room was at least 10 degrees hotter than the rest of the house. Maybe because he has a 37" flat screen TV and XBox 360 running almost non-stop???? I have a window a/c unit in the garage that we can use, but his old windows slide left to right and the windows in the new room are normal, which will allow the window unit if needed. So, he's busy making it "teen" like.

Here's the latest weight update Cameron: 55lbs. Austin: 130 lbs 5'9" Josie: never mind!

It's getting hot down here! Leave me comments sometime, let me know what you're up to!!!

Summer's here!

We're finally out of school! Austin is officially a junior high student! UGH! He's very happy about having nothing to do for 2 1/2 months. Oh is he in for a surprise! I have many summer projects that he gets to help with! Right now we are working on strengthening his R shoulder. It seems he has a muscle tear and can't pitch for 6 weeks. He had a game last Thursday and played 1st base, since he doesn't need to throw hard and therefore catching was out. This was about the best game I have ever seen. We were ahead almost the whole game and then the other team got ahead, so the score was 9-8. We were up to bat - last inning of the game, of course. First 2 batters struck out. Austin was up to bat. No pressure. The count became full so it was so intense. On the last pitch Austin took a huge swing and............................................................................................................................................................................HIT IT OVER THE FENCE to tie the game. The crowd went wild. It was like one of those "best of game" clips that they show on ESPN or something! I think I climbed half way up the fence! Then the next 2 batters hit and we ended up winning 10-9. Hearts were definitely pumping that night. Austin told me after the game that he couldn't feel anything or hear anything as he was rounded the bases. When he got to home plate, he looked up to the sky and pushed his helmet upwards, thanking Him for the ability to make that play. Now he has to rest his shoulder. I'm not sure if that will affect his all-star nomination or not. We'll see. They had another game this past Sat and won 27-12. So their record is now 15-1. Go Tigers!

I was able to get away this weekend to Austin with my friend Norma. We stayed with my sister 1 night and then a hotel the next. We had a good time and ate some good food. A much needed break for me!

Cameron starts swim lessons today and I need to get ready to take him. So, that's all for now!