Yes, I'm posting!

Wow, it's been so long since I posted, I about forgot my password to even get into my own blog! Most of my blog readers did see us over Christmas, so it's not actually been that long ago since I informed. Anyway,
I'll try to see what I can tell you that has been going on lately in our lives.

Austin has started full swing into his second term in all pre-AP classes. He recently had to register for 8th grade classes and will again do all pre-AP, only next year he will get high school credit for math class! And he will get credit for taking a business/management class. That only means that during his senior year, he will probably only go to school for half a day, which I'm sure won't bother him at all! He began playing basketball halfway through his school's season because he asked the coach if he could be on the team. He went the first day for tryouts back in November but decided he "sucked" and didn't want to continue with tryouts. So, the coach graciously accepted him on the team and I think was happy that he got a defensive player. Austin is the tallest kid on the team and towers over all the others. He wasn't much of a scoring contributor to the team, (he averaged 2-4 pts per game) but he sure could block and play defense! He would play 2 quarters per game. His team wasn't star quality, but I think he had a good time learning about a different sport, after all, it's all about having fun, right? He is now focusing on his select baseball team as they have started practicing. Games will begin in March and we have at least 6 tournaments already on the schedule. He will be the starting catcher.

Cameron on the other hand, seems to be liking the drama part of life. He did take TaeKwonDo for about 2 months, but I don't think he was quite ready to listen and get serious about it just yet. So, we have started piano lessons. He really has an ear for music (Hmmm, don't know where he gets that?) and seems to enjoy piano. Also, apparently he is learning much more at school than I thought. Last week I received an email from his teacher explaining that Cameron had to turn his card to RED (green, yellow, orange, blue, then red) but he went from green to red, no in-between for his 'act'. Apparently he learned how to show someone he thought they were number one, using his middle finger. THEN, to top it off, he lied to his teacher and told her that "my mom said that it wasn't a bad word!" But after calling his bluff by threatening to call me and ask me if that is what I said, the teacher got him to admit that his mom didn't really say that to him, hence the turning of the card. Well, after totally being mortified and apologizing to his teacher, I was able to talk to him after school and ask him where he learned that signal. He said Lucas (another student in his class and the one who told on him) said "don't stick your middle finger up because it's a bad word" So I asked him why he did it and Cameron said "because Lucas said he wasn't going to be my friend anymore and play with me" He then asked me what bad word it was. Believe me, he now knows that it is a bad thing to do! (but he still doesn't know what word it is). So, it's been a little "dramatic" around our house!

I recently joined my high school's theater production of the Sound of Music and got to be a nun. It was so fun! There were about 15 "adult" nuns along with the other cast of high school student nuns. We had performances last Thur Fri and Sat nights. No speaking parts, just singing and being on stage for 4 different numbers. I had a blast!

Well, that about wraps up the excitement we've had these past few weeks. We are all just trying to stay well. I have some intestinal bacteria that won't go away called H-pylori and on my second round of antiobiotics (first round didn't kill it) I had an allergic reaction and had to go to the ER one night. Benedryl is my FRIEND! Now I have to see a GI doc to see if there is any other treatment regimen available since I'm allergic to the main antibiotic used to treat and apparently another string of them now too. So, hopefully there will be something available since this bacteria can lead to things such as stenosis of the esophagus or even stomach cancer if I don't get rid of it.

That is all for now, tired of typing, I'll try to post pictures when I can find my usb cord to my phone!

Make a Smilebox photobook

New addition

Just trying to post a smilebox to my blog, hoping it works. Just random picsof Cameron throughout the year.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

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!