Last night...

Last night of mids is tonight. Woo Hoo. We were at my dads yesterday for a nice visit. It was quiet....and cool....and we took Lucy for a walk. Sam was feeling ok at that moment. It's an hour to hour thing. We might go to Greenfield Village today. It's just beautiful out. I sent an email to Sam's endo. She weighed herself today, down to 79.6 lbs after weighing 86 a few weeks ago or a month ago. I have no idea why she's losing weight again. Dr Sood said she is very complicated. He's right. He usually is.

Alec is eating bacon and cereal right now. He just woke up, it's noon. I had to wake him up. School starts in 4 days. He's been going to sleep late, so we'll fix that this weekend. Ok, I'll update tomorrow. Oh, Shawn is doing ok, might be going home today. And her best friend, a dispatch supervisor for another dept, is also a good friend of mine. She runs the auto show thing every year. She has thyroid cancer but it's very treatable. Bad things come in 3's. OY

Shawn

This is us at our favorite restaurant, Xochimilco's in Detroit. They have great Mexican food. I have been going there since I was married to Cait and Nik's dad. (Yes I'm a two time marriage loser). I asked the kids to pose for a picture. This is the reaction I always get. Sam doesn't mind, Nik hates it and Caitlin kind of co-operates.

My friend Shawn had a meningioma removed today. It's "benign" but we all know there's no such thing as a benign brain tumor. They got 85-90 % out. Hopefully it won't grow back and they won't have to do radiation. Her son said she's doing ok, Sam and I might go visit her on Wednesday. Alec has an appointment with his psychologist tomorrow. His anxiety has gone into hyperdrive. Since he doesn't really have food anxiety anymore (well it's a lot less), his anxiety in other areas has increased. Apparently he has to maintain a certain level of anxiety for his comfort. I really don't understand it but it makes sense. She said she's just going to focus on his anxiety for now, since it's really interfering with his day to day life. He had a complete meltdown at the Tigers game we went to about a month ago. He was shaking, sweating, crying. He thought we were going to get mugged, he thought the stadium was going to fall down, he thought we'd get hit by baseballs, he thought it was going to storm, he thought Chris and DJ were going to fall over the edge of the stadium. He got thru it but it was horrible. We're going to a day game in September, courtesy of our friend Zoe, and he said that will be fine. The game last month was a night game.

I'm tired today, but only have 1 more night to go on mids. HOORAY!!!!

Midnights

This is Sam getting ready for one of the dozens of x-rays she's had this year. Dozens. Several dozen. How many x-rays can a kid get before you start to worry? Several dozen I think.

She's still not feeling well. Tomorrow neurosurg is going to discuss her amongst themselves and then call us. She has orientation for high school on Tuesday morning. She doesn't want to miss that. I called her when I woke up this afternoon and her voice was about 3 octaves higher than normal, which is how she sounds when she's not feeling well. Oh well, we'll know more tomorrow I guess.

Alec is doing well. He's about 74 lbs. Sam's down to 82. She was 86 about a month ago. Caitlin told me last night she had good news for me but I never got to hear it because Redford blew up and we were busy all night. Nik called today because he has a freckle in his belly button he never noticed before. So he called me to ask me if it's always been there. Kind of a weird conversation, because he can't see it. So his girlfriend had to describe it to me. He was born with a large birthmark on his stomach, it was shaped like a heart. But they removed it when he was younger, due to the size and the possibility it could turn into cancer. So he's a bit freaked by the new one. And he doesn't have health insurance right now.

2 more nights on mids. Last night made me realize I'm really going to miss these guys. and girl. We had a lot of fun even through the stupidity. Days will be fun too. It's much busier and time goes by faster. Plus it's a normal sleep schedule. I'm looking forward to it. The bosses are good (like on mids). Chris is going to Boston for 4 days, so I took Wednesday night off, we are going to have a fun week. It's supposed to be cooler. That is good. Ok, I'm going to try and go back to sleep for a few hours. I'll update again tomorrow.

My head hurts

Doesn't Caitlin look peaceful???? She and Alec are just the cutest sleepers. They look like babies. Samantha is usually clenching her forehead or getting up to go to the bathroom, when I look at her at night. Her DI kicks in and she has to go to the bathroom a lot. But Caitlin and Alec sleep like babies. Nikolaas sleeps like he's under anesthesia. He's always been difficult to wake up. He sleeps like the dead.

We are going to see Nik tomorrow and go to lunch with him. I'm excited, so is Sam. Alec is a little nervous about lunch but I think he'll be fine once he gets there.

I worked last night, came home today, faced and solved my latest crisis, picked up the kids, went back to bed, got up because the nurse was here to weigh Alec and then went to work for 6 hours of overtime. Now I'm headachy and tired but not really ready to go to bed. I'm going to have some ice cream I think. It's so fricking humid today, it's a nightmare. Tomorrow is going to be worse. Then it's supposed to let up a bit. Ok, I'm off....

Tuesday

Crappy, Shitty, Crappy day. Kids are fine. I'm not. I'm sure I'll be fine with a day off of work.

This is Alec and Sam when Alec was in the hospital. That's my dad in the background. He's old. Hahahaha He loves it when I remind him. Ok, I'm going to work. I'm sure it'll be great.

Rainy Monday

Sam, as Hermione Granger, casting her spell over the world. It's been raining for 2 days. Which is good. But the roads are all flooded. Sam saw Dr Sood today, he thinks her headaches are just plain old migraines. She thinks it's her shunt. I am torn. On one hand, it's her headache, I should trust that she knows what she's talking about. On the other hand, Dr Sood is an excellent excellent neurosurgeon and I should trust that he knows what he's talking about. I'm going to increase her Topamax and see if that helps.

I just love this picture. It's Sam feeling good. Right now she has the "no one is listening to me" look on her face. I hate that face. But not too much I can do at this point. Alec is still sleeping and it's 11:30. He's turning into a teenager before my very eyes. OY.

Caitlin is doing well, coming to some realizations that I pointed out months ago. It's fun watching her try to figure out what I've already told her. Well, maybe not fun....Interesting. Nik is doing well, he's trying to figure out some stuff for himself. Being legally blind is really cramping his style I think. My kids are great. I'm so lucky.

Survivors!!

Look at these 3 survivors!!! Alec, Lizzie and Sammi. This was taken the last day at Camp Sunshine and for some reason this is the only picture we took! What were we thinking? Lizzie is just the most polite person I've ever met in my life. I have a feeling if I met her sisters and brother, they'd be the same way. She and Sam have a lot of the same issues, hormonal and social. They are buddies.

Sunset

Last night the sunset was gorgeous. The sun was huge. This isn't it. This is from 2 months ago up north, over the water. I wish I lived by the water. Someday I will, somehow.

Picked up Sam today, she's still feeling cruddy. We see her neurosurgeon on Monday. She's not hopeful he'll be able to help.

Alec ate about 1250 calories at my house today. He's supposed to eat about 2000 a day. That's a lot for a kid. But he's well on his way today.

Caitlin called me yesterday, she was cracking up up, talking about the guy that hit her with his car because he was on his cell phone (which is illegal in Chicago anyway) and not paying attention. Then I reminded her that I ran over her foot one morning after working mids and I was very tired and in a hurry. Not sure if she felt better or not but that inattentive man was not the first person to hit her with a car. That was her mother.

Haven't talked to Nik. I'm sure he's fine. Ok Bye all, off to work I go, to slug it out with Charlie.

Alec is home!!!

We got home earlier today, I took a nap and we are getting ready to eat dinner. Doesn't he look great? This was a few months ago but he is awesome. Alec I love you so much.

We have had a lot of long good talks. Sometimes they're difficult but it's good for us to talk. I told him he makes me a better mom. And it's true. Today his psychologist told me I'm the strongest mom she's ever known. I think that's awesome, I hope it's true. I try.

Monday

It's so nice out today,not too hot not humid...just right. Going to cut the grass in a little while. For some reason my idiot neighbor insists on parking her car in front of my house. Something about the tree in her front yard hosts a bunch of birds that like to poo on her car. Well, sorry that's not my problem. So I have to look at her crappy van sitting in front of my house all day and all night. I asked her last week to move it so I can cut my grass and now I have to ask her again. This is the same neighbor that burns wood in their BBQ 24 hours a day and all the smoke blows in my house. So they already irritate me. I know, in the big scheme of things, this is not a big deal but it's really annoying. If I just go out and cut the grass, I'll probably do damage to her car. And that's nothing I need to deal with.

Ok on to important things. Alec probably coming home today or tomorrow. He's been kind of focusing on a few different foods and I know they want him to eat different things so I guess we'll be working on that. Sam is at Ruthie's (I think she wants to move there) and is having a ball, says she's feeling ok, but having intermittent dizziness. I take them to the reg docs on Wednesday for check ups. Alec has to go under general anesthesia on Friday to get his teeth cleaned. He absolute freaks out at the dentist and needs to have them cleaned really well so it'll be much easier this way. Caitlin is all settled in at her new house.....Nikolaas is busy working....Life is life.....

Today

Had to work last night. Alec is coming home for 2 meals a day now. He's doing great. Chris is falling off the deep end. Lying, not working, drinking...Great.. He has the kids this weekend. At least today he went to his moms so I don't have to worry about him over there. He's absolutely useless. And he'll never admit it.

Sam is still feeling like crap. I haven't heard from Caitlin in a few days, Nik called the other night to talk to his momma. I love that.