Second Grade here we come.... Oh and Football season is here.

I can't believe that in just a few short days it will be time for Second Grade to begin.  I am, however, very pleased that he will have the same amazing teacher from last year.  He did so well in school and I truly believe that those teachers he had last year were a huge part in his success.  They seemed to get that he needs to be challenged and that he can handle more than they think he can.  I'm glad to know that he will be able to dive right back on in to school without it being a huge ordeal.  He will have the same kids again.  The same friends and room.  I think that this year will be even better than last. 

He has done an amazing job reading.  He has managed to finish Treasure Island, Tom Sawyer and Beware of the Ninja Weenies.  All in the matter of about a month and a half.  He is reading well beyond a 2nd or even 3rd grade reading level. I am so proud of my little man.  He is still doing amazing with his math and science.  He just loves all that stuff. 

He has spent a few weekends away and got to spend some time in Seattle for a wedding with his dad and step mom.  We've been so busy with work schedules and school that we didn't have a chance to really get away this summer.  We spent a weekend in Medford, but that was under very sad circumstances. We went out to the beach and had a good time spending time with family there as well.  In the end, it's not the amount of time away it's the time spent with people you love.  It's a good time either way. 

Lastly, it's football season again.  Between practices and work, we're always somewhere.  And if I weren't busy enough I offered to keep track of all the team paperwork.  That alone is a job in itself.  Coordinating volunteer hours for parents, keeping track of kids at practice and games, checking gear, handing out all the fundraiser paperwork and envelopes, plus keeping communication up with all the parents about games, pictures, scrimmages before season and gear issues.  Sometimes I can't even think straight.  I am blessed to see my little man play every game he's playing.  I'm even more blessed that my hunny is wonderful enough to help coach.  I think he is amazing, even if those kids get outta hand from time to time.  

I'm glad to say that life is moving at a good pace and in the right direction.  I would change a few things that are going on, but those are all things that will change in time.  The one that is most bothersome... Exhaustion  I think that just comes from doing too much in too little time.  But in the end my kiddo and my family are worth it.  I wouldn't change a thing. 

quick vacation

we had a quick vacation that im glad we took. even though we didnt do anything super special, the memories made are wonderful.  we hung out at the pool, had dinner with the kiddos dad, stepmom and her family and hung out for a little while with jodi and dorian. i love times that this. i am glad to be home now though.

No words.............

I'd love to sit here and correct everything that was wrong in what was said about myself, my son, and my boyfriend, but I have what's called a life..  You know with a happy family, great friends, stable job, oh and you know the ability to see what's real and what's not.  

It wasn't exactly what I was hoping to see on my birthday of all days, but hey its alright, I got a good laugh out of it.  :)  Glad I'm done with the drama that was in my life.  Good riddance to those who aren't needed in my life.  This years gonna be even better than the last.

The lies we tell to make ourselves feel better

I have never been one to lie about what happens just to make myself feel better. I dislike those who do.  Why lie??? What do you have to gain??? How stupid do you look when the truth comes out?  I'd like to give people the benefit of doubt here and think that they would be honest about stupid things.  Then when people lie about what they do at work, home, with their kids or significant other or even just by themselves it just cements in my mind that they aren't comfortable with what they're doing/did or they think others will look down on them.  Tonight I ran across an old blog I had saved from an old friend.  In reading parts of that blog it was painfully clear that they lied.  I don't know if I should be upset over the fact that they lied about myself, my boyfriend and my son.... Or the fact that they lied to make themselves look better by comparison. If we want to get honest here, the lie that was published was over something they didn't do themselves.  Don't freaking lie about what food was brought in the house or complain about cleaning, when there were numerous occasions where they'd rather play on their computer than clean, cook, or pay attention to their own child. 

I am not going to sit here and say that my house is spotless, and right now it's not.  Unfortunately, having undergone surgery on Monday and being very limited in what I can do, not much has gotten done.  But the boys in my life are trying to get everything done and I can't fault them for that.  I won't lie when I say that there are a lot of times where we have eaten out because it was quicker.  I won't lie over the fact that, yes, we have brought in sweets and soda, but most of them weren't even fully eaten or drank before going bad.  But We have also brought in lots of healthier stuff over the last several months and its going to stay that way.  Blaming others for your own decisions that were unhealthy or downright stupid isn't cool.  The problems in my life are things that I won't blame on others.  Yes I'm a single mom, but I was married when I had him.  I don't blame anyone for the fact that his dad and I are divorced.  Things happen and we're better off now.  Yes it's hard raising a child with little help, but I wouldn't change that for anything. 

I don't sit here and blame others for the misfortune of having a child who catches everything, a mother who's disabled or even for having to help out more at a young age because of the disability.  I love my family.  I love my friends.  I have no reason to lie about anything.  If I didn't wanna clean one day, oh well.  Learn to deal with it.  Because there were more times than not that I cleaned the entire house, dishes, laundry and all.   If I want my child to follow certain rules, he'll follow them.  I take offense to the fact that it was put out there in the manner it was.  But then it just goes to show how petty and childish people can be.  I can't say that I'm surprised by what I stumbled across, but I can say that it's sad.  It just goes to show again that I shouldn't have gone out on a limb to help someone I considered family.  It just burned me in the end.  At least I can sleep well at night, knowing that I've told the truth and I'm better off. 

Goodbye 2011... Hello 2012

The last few years I've looked back on past years in a month by month break down of how things went, but this year I'm not going to do that.  2011 wasn't a horrible year, but it brought some definite hard times and low points.  It also brought some good times and great memories. I'm just going to highlight a few of each of those good and bad this time. I think it puts more into perspective for me this time around. 

So we'll start with the bad or low points of the year.  I think it's better to end on a good note. 
The major low point of the year was William's appendix and recurring illness at the end of the year.  After visiting his dad and step mom in Bend over Memorial Day weekend, he came home sick.  What we thought was just a normal viral illness and eventual stomach upset turned out to be much much more.  It landed us at Doernbecher's Children's Hospital for six days, requiring surgery, numerous tests, and an ambulance ride.  We left the hospital in much better shape than when we entered and I am now happy to say that we are completely back to normal.  The end of the year, however, brought much frustration.  October left him fighting off pneumonia, November brought strep throat, and December brought ear infections.  It just seemed like he couldn't catch a break.  That too, for now has subsided and we are hoping for a much better year health wise for him. 

My big downer has been an ongoing fight with nausea that has led to them diagnosing gallbladder issues.  2012 for me is going to start off late in January with surgery to see if it corrects the ongoing nausea issue. 

Last year also marked the loss of a friendship I had had for a long time.  One that I was hurt to lose, but am finding that things are much less stressful and drama filled without said person.  I learned the hard way what trying to help someone can do and never imagined that this person could say the things they said, do the things they did, and blow off their financial responsibilities like they did.  I do wish them well on their journey through this life.  I hope they find what they are looking for and that they and their child have what they need and want in life.  The loss of this person also affected the children involved as they've grown up together.  Maybe someday they'll wake up and see what they've lost, but until then we're moving on in life and so far so good.

 In November, we had to make the hard decision to put our cat to sleep.  She had suddenly become very jaundiced and sick.  After consulting with a veterinarian and doing what the suggested it was clear that she was having no part in what the treatment required us to do.  Force feeding a cat is a hard task, I don't care who you are.  She eventually got to the point where she just wanted to hide and was very skinny and frail no matter what we did.  It wasn't an easy decision and there were many many tears shed over it.  The person who helped us at the humane society did ease our minds.  She said after working at the numerous vet clinics and how she'd seen many cats in her condition just have their lives prolonged in ways that were not only painful (iv lines, force feedings or feeding tubes) she said it was in her best interest to be put to sleep.  Prolonging the suffering is no way for any animal or person to live.  We said our goodbyes and as I was waiting for them to bring out her towel and container William found the kittens.  We ended up adopting a sassy black and white kitty.  Her name is Astra and she is a handful.  I know it doesn't bring back Nica, but it's helped him cope with the loss of a cat who was older than he is. 

Okay enough of the depressing stuff, lets get onto the good stuff.
2011 brought some good times too,  William's 6th birthday kicked off the year on a good start.  There were lots of people there and he had a ton of fun with friends and family.  We had a good time and were thrilled to see the turnout of family and friends there to celebrate.  It meant a lot.  I couldn't believe my baby was 6 and now seven is just right around the corner. It truly is amazing how quickly time flies. 

We were able to take a couple vacations this last year.  My boyfriend and I were able to take a little vacation on our own to Vegas at the end of Feb. beginning of March.  We had a great time seeing several different shows, walking the strip, sightseeing, and just relaxing.  I sure missed my kiddo though and even though we had fun I was very happy to get home at the end of the week.  I've never left him with anyone longer than just a couple days, so a week was a long time.  We talked everyday and I know he was good for grandma and grandpa,but I still missed him tons.  


Our second vacation came just a few weeks after he got out of the hospital.  We traveled down to California again.  We visited several family and friends.  We went to the beach, park and just hung out.  We also saw Transformers 3 and went to a fair while we were there.  William had a blast and made a couple new friends.  We can't wait to get back, but hopefully soon some of them will be able to visit us.  We had quite a good time even though we drove and it was a very long drive.  


Outside of the holidays, which were amazing, the end of the year brought first grade and football.  William has an amazing first grade teacher who he really likes and enjoys learning all sorts of things from.  He has made several friends and I'm proud to say is at a third grade reading level.  During their reading time they go to different classrooms he is in a room with all kids who are at a third grade reading level, whether they are third graders or younger.  It's great!  I love that he's gotten so smart and is such a great reader.  Football started right before school did and he had a blast.  It was great and we all had a good time.  There were lots of games and his team managed to win all but 3 during the season.  They were able to play in the playoff games at Reeser Stadium in Corvallis and they all earned medals and trophies.  We look forward to playing again this next season.  


Well that's the best and the worst from this last year.  I certainly hope that 2012 brings more good than bad.  That we all find happiness, love, prosperity, health, and most of all the ability to be content with our life and those in it. So goodbye 2011... Hello 2012. 

Summer Vacation, Football and First Grade

A lot has happened since our 6 day stay at Doernbecher's. We hoped for a quick recovery, but we weren't released until Wednesday morning. He had a few complications that we were saddened to see him go through, but he is now all healed up and I couldn't be happier. It's a relief to have great doctors and nurses taking care your child, but it's even more of a relief to be home and to be able to move on with normal life. William has since leaving the hospital we've done quite a few things. The first thing we did after he got the OK from the surgeon to resume normal activities was our vacation. We spent a week in California. William had a few new experiences and got to meet a bunch of new people. We spent the first days of our vacation with Ron's parents. William also got to go into a Bass Pro Shop for the first time since we don't have them up here. He loved it! We spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday with Frank and his family. William and Braden became friends fast and we had a lot of fun. We spent time at the park, dinner out with another friend of Ron's and then the beach on Wednesday. Monday while we were there Ron went to check on his mom and we finally got to meet her. She even gave William a ukulele. We spent Thursday and Friday at his parents house. Thursday we took William to go see Transformers 3 (3D). He loved that too. As he said it was the best one so far. Friday we all went to one of the many fairs that were going on that day. We had a great time. William really enjoyed going around on the golf cart at the house and looking for the deer that were out on the golf courses. We drove to Medford on Saturday. It was a long drive, but we spent that evening with Ron's grandparents.
After vacation there were a few small events that were pretty exciting, grandma's birthday, 4th of July, our very first sunburn, and dad's wedding. While he enjoyed all of those, but the sunburn, the most exciting thing after vacation for him was football starting. We missed football certification because he was down at his dads wedding, but we did make up certification a week later. Outside of the enormous line and having to wait for helmets because they ran out of small helmets it wasn't too bad. The weather was at least cooperative and not overly hot. We started practice just a couple days later. Practices to begin with were 5 days a week. We've since dropped those to two days a week with games on Wednesdays since school started. It was rough going and still is with a few kids. They just don't wanna listen to what the coach wants them to do all the time, but they have gotten pretty darn good. William was the first child to have a position assigned to them. He is center (the person who hikes the ball to the quarterback). They have now assigned offensive positions to all the kids on the team. He is part of the white offensive line. He has done amazing. He has already informed us that he wants to play next year. They are the Huskies. They have been part of a lot of fun things so far this season. They had a PPK kick off weekend at Silverton HS and had an opportunity to play a short game there. They were invited to come down on the field at the high school game back on 09-23-11 and have their names announced there as well. They were all super excited about that. They won their first two games, tied the 3rd, but unfortunately lost the 4th. We've been very lucky to learn that in November they will be able to play at Reser Stadium in Corvallis. They get to play 3 games down on the field and will have their names announced. He is super excited for that. I'm just super happy that he's loving the sport, making lots of new friends (he's friends with all of them), and learning lots of new skills. Ok, I have to admit I love seeing him in the uniform too... He's just too cute!

He started First grade on 09-07-11. He already knew several kids going into his first day in Mr. Taylor's class. We had heard nothing, but good things about him. So far I'd have to say we really like it. He's doing well in there and he loves having a male teacher. William's got a pretty packed schedule for the day, but the part that takes up the biggest chunk of time is the reading groups. They spend about an hour and a half in reading groups every morning. They have several smaller spurts of math throughout the day, but the reading is a big deal. We recently got a notice back regarding their evaluation of him for where he should be and we were very pleasantly surprised to find out that he is reading at a second grade level. They have started him off at level 2.1 of the program which is the first half of their second grade program and they are reading chapter books or small novels. I am very proud of him. They haven't sent home much homework yet, but we are working with him on numerous things. They have sent home vocabulary and words to watch for. He is good about finding those and reading for 20 minutes every night. He also has been very honest about what he needs to be doing and I haven't had to do much interrogating to get information about his day. The best part of this school year is that even though Austin isn't in his class his best buddy is back in school with him. Austin suddenly moved away last year right before William ended up in the hospital and in August we drove by the park and saw him. We surprised William by taking him up there and we learned that he was going to be back for school. He was beyond excited.

I can't wait to see where the rest of this year goes. I'm glad to say that we're happy, healthy (keeping my fingers crossed that continues), and super busy. I hope that it just keeps getting better from here.

Who Really Needs an Appendix Anyways??

Not William.... Or at least that's what William's body thought. My sweet little guy left me Saturday feeling great... More than great... Excited to go visit his dad. When he got back Monday though, it was clear, there was something wrong. I got home from work and when I gave him a hug he was burning up. I took his temperature and he was at 101. He was fatigued and quiet but doing ok. Tuesday he stayed home from school even though his temperature was normal. He was complaining of a sore throat and given the fever the night before we kept him home. We weren't taking any risks. He was able to go to school Wednesday. He did complain part way through school that his tummy hurt. But given that it was so close to lunch, his teacher figured it was due to him being hungry. He went home and I got a phone call at 5:45 pm that he was vomiting and complaining of stomach pain. It all sounds so innocent. Probably the flu, right?? Nope. By the time I got him at 6:30 PM he had vomited again and was in a lot of pain. He ate three bites of applesauce and had a few drinks of water. He went to bed and fell asleep before 8. I called the advice nurse and given his symptoms and low grade fever she felt it might be flu like too. She gave us a few things to try and said to call back if symptoms got worse or the fever got higher. He woke up at 10:30 PM screaming and crying. His stomach hurt. We tried a few things to get him comfy and got him back in bed. He had a low grade fever 99 degrees or so. He went back to bed and t 5:30 AM he woke up crying again. In pain again. This time we did the same things, but I gave him Tylenol and checked his temp. This time he was at 101. He went back to bed. He woke up not long after at 7:15 having the same issue. I rechecked his temp, again it was at 101. He layed on the couch with me. I called the doctor's office and they had an appointment for him at 11:40 AM. He fell back asleep and we got him up just after 9 AM. He ate some applesauce and we headed to the dr.

His doctor immediately saw that something was wrong. He had some tests run. When the results came in the dr wasn't happy. Given his temperature, his stomach pain, and a very high white blood cell count they immediately gave him an IV with fluids, referred on to a surgeon and an ambulance to Doernbecher's Children's Hospital for further testing/treatment. We had an ultrasound done and it didn't show anything. After being given some options and him being on some pain medication to keep him comfortable, we opted to do a CT scan. The CT scan showed that his appendix was in bad shape. It also was sitting behind the bladder, which was why his pain wasn't located where they typically see it. We were then moved to a room they had on hold for him since 6 PM. He was started on antibiotics and we were told they would contact us about surgery. He continued on pain medications and something for nausea. His temperature continued to go up and down all day/night. He had an up and down night with sleep and restlessness. At 4 AM the surgeon came into the room and got us all set for surgery. He had surgery at 7:30 AM.

We were moved from his room down to Pre-OP at 7. He went in and at just after 9 AM, the surgeon came and notified us of how the surgery went. We weren't expecting to hear that it had ruptured. They had to clean him out pretty good. We will be at the hospital for at least 3 days and he will be on antibiotics, pain meds, tylenol, and IV fluids for a while. Right now... He's sleeping peacefully in his room. I am thankful for the quick work of his pediatrician at Kaiser and the great staff we've had here at OHSU. It's made it somewhat more tolerable than it could have been. We're hoping for a good speedy recovery so we can get him home where he's even more comfortable.

This all changed so quick. I don't think I'll ever look at those set of symptoms the same way again. I know when there's something wrong with him. This pain wasn't like other pains before. This pain had him in tears, vomiting, barely walking, and very very very uncomfortable. I feel horrible for my baby. I wish he never had to go through this pain. Hopefully we'll never have to go through this type of thing with anyone else we're close to again. It's been scary. It's been emotional. It's been a rollercoaster of emotions. The more time we're here the more I long for home. Hopefully soon we'll be there.. I know there's a doggie at home that his missing her kiddo.