The little Swimmer

He's come a long way from the toddler who was so terrified of a bath that the first one I gave him traumatized both of us.




I apologize for the bad quality, I'm just learning how to do this stuff!

Blogging for Books - Plain Wisdom

Previously I have reviewed books for a program called "Blogging for Books". This post is a continuation of that program and my second review. Please go to this LINK and vote for my review. It can win me prizes! On to the Review.

PLAIN WISDOM
Cindy Woodsmall & Miriam Flaud


First I would like to say this isn’t my typical genre of book to read. I don’t normally read anything very spiritual or even that much non-fiction so I am not familiar with the typical format on this kind of book so it’s possible that I am way off on my review of this book. Honestly I read the book a while back and have had a hard time really forming an opinion of the book.

Plain Wisdom is a sweet little book with each chapter having a section written by Mrs. Woodsmall and Mrs. Flaud that details how God worked in their everyday lives guided by certain principals in the Bible. In general I found the book to be well written, but it lacked continuity throughout the chapters and I felt as if I was reading a string of stories that were only slightly related to the previous chapters. I expected a book that would chronicle the differences in Mrs. Woodsmall’s modern Christian life in contrast with Mrs. Flaud’s Amish beliefs. Instead I found a book that showed that no matter how far apart Christian practices are, there are still the same guiding principals underneath all the artifice given in differing denominations.

Overall I found the book only mediocre.


I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review and it in no way colors my opinion of this material.

Pictures

Sonny Boy had a birthday too. His main present was a trip to Six Flags, but of course mom made him a cake. Not top quality but that was my first time trying that technique. Anybody have a guess as to who the figure on the cake is? It says " May the Birthday Force be With You" The kid is REALLY into Star Wars lately.

Of course you can't go camping without roasting marshmallows.

This is my new toy. Not some monster travel rig for around the country but will get us around the state and be drier and more comfortable than a tent. Cooler and warmer if we ever end up at a sight with electric.

pictures in horrible order, but I promise more to come the next time I sit down and get something up on the 'net.

I wanted to post some video, but that will have to wait. I'm too tired to fool with the computer and find my self excited I got these off of the phone.

Nope, havent dropped yet...

...but the days are getting long.

Hubby has hit the middle of his marathon training session on the east coast and I'm at the tail end of single parent for a month status. Yay.

Busy and bored all at once.

The camper finally finished. The kids and I took it for a trial run to a nearby state park last week for a couple of days before the big heat wave hit. Everything went well except for backing it into the spot and a nice guy at the next campsite took pity on me and parked the trailer for me. I did run into a spot of trouble with the tongue jack which broke on me as I was trying to hitch up at home. I did some jerry-rigging and carried some jack stands along, and used the jack out of my mini-van to get the trailer set up and leveled. A little more hassle than it normally would have been but it worked. I tell you having a camper is like sleeping at the Ritz compared to tent camping. I was even able to take something resembling a shower AND scrub the kids before bed and that was without water hookups. It rocks. The only downside I see to the whole thing is that I can almost see the gas gauge on the van drop as we go down the road.

I finally joined the new "smart phone revolution" and got a droid phone. It's cool. My favorite Ap so far is one called "Out of Milk" which keeps a grocery list and a to-do list for you. The best part of the grocery list is that it will automatically enter the item by scanning the barcode. There may be a way to share this list with hubby, we'll figure out our synching techniques with calendars and the like when he gets home.

I have cool pictures and video, but of course got to figure that out. Honestly even this post is alot for me. By the time the kids are in bed I'm wiped and stringing two sentences together is harder than algebra for a third grader.

Kids are doing well. Sonny Boy is a little stressed and believes I'm picking on him and is overly sensitive. Igor is being being defiant and testing boundries and often gets "counted down" into compliance. Makes the days long. The kids aren't really being bad, just kids. I just don't have a break and simple errands like the grocery store turn stressful as I go through as fast as possible, missing half the stuff I planned on buying and therefore requiring two or three trips a week and upping that stress factor again. You see the snowball effect happening here?

Baseball season has officially ended and football will start in a few weeks. The football league called me and moved Sonny Boy up a level as he was on the border for size and they needed space in the smaller group. I hope the kids aren't too much bigger than him, he's a little bruiser though so he probably won't notice. Baseball season didn't go too well. The team did win a few games but I think he needed a more focused coaching crew. Three of the coaches were city cops with rotating schedules so often one or more were not there for games or practices. I also think they didn't practice enough for the boys to really get the hang of the game. Some of the teams we played looked like much more experienced players than they really were. Sonny Boy declares next year he wants to play "minors" which require a try-out. I worry about this as Sonny Boy's batting skills are probably above average, his throwing and fielding skills stink. We'll see, that's in the spring, I hope he changes his mind by then. Baseball is taken WAY too seriously here and they are nursing a little league world series team along making national airtime on ESPN last year and won some big tourney that puts them on the same route again this year. Good for the kids, but I'm not really ready for that much seriousness in kid's sports, especially when my child is not the most athlectically gifted.

The painters are supposed to start on the house on Monday. I'm really stressed about this as my neighbor had a horrible experience with the last painters he hired. Of course I did not hire the same people but I don't want that slap-dash job done on my house. To add to the stress of that I have a camping trip planned with my MIL and nephew (and the kids of course) next week so I won't be here to supervise and pick at what they are doing. I know the check will not be written until I'm satisfied the job is done correctly. We did decide on a color scheme and painted a section on the street side of the house. I've had many good comments on it so I think it will look nice. It be good to leave the blue and yellow french provencial colors behind for something a little more soothing. Basically a couple hues of tan with some reddish brown accents here and there. From all I've read a little more historically accurate than the pastels that now grace the house. I'm not one of those historically accurate crazy people, but do think houses tend to look best in the color scheme that was prevalent at the time they were built. (at least on the exterior, we all agree avocado and orange shag carpet must go far far away)

Well that's about all. I'm going to play with the phone for a minute while I'm still upright and add some pics. Of course they are gonna be in crazy order and in the previous post but hey you get to see them.

Igor JUST has a funny shaped head!! Thank God.

Yeah, I know not the most flattering title to put on a blog post, but it's the best answer and quickest thing to read.

The craniofacial doctor called just about 20 minutes ago and confirmed that Igor's CT scan results were normal, he just has an unusual shaped head "like mine" he said, referring to himself. I didn't notice he had an odd head, but I guess if your a craniofacial doc you know if your head is "normal" or not. The eye doctor also pronounced that Igor does NOT have the eye bulging thing either so we have pretty much ruled out any craniostynosis diagnosis. Woo, I don't have to tell you what a relief it is to get that news.

The ruling out of the craniostynosis also puts the genetic doc's best guess at a syndrome at odds as well since that is a major marker of the his preferred guess. We still haven't done the genetic testing yet. It was not approved by our insurance as they deemed it "experimental" I contacted the genetic counselor lady and she had the doc call the insurance company who then agreed to do some of the test (probably the cheaper part) I just got that news yesterday afternoon. However with the skull issues not being a factor I don't know if the genetic doc will want to run testing in the same strain. We'll see, I have craniofacial and opthamology sending their reports on to genetics. I'm certainly not going to drive up to Milwaukee for a blood draw right away when it appears things may have changed.

Makes my mind SO much lighter. I feel like a HUGE weight has been lifted and the summer no longer has this horrible dangling nightmare hanging over it. I'm prepared for a genetic diagnosis, just not a major skull remodel surgery.

Speaking of remodel.... the camper is making headway. We have now finally sealed the leaks (we think) put the floor down and have installed a bulkhead wall that divides out some pass through storage. We cut the vinyl floor last night but could not put it in due to the fact we had to put some patching compound on a transition area to level it out and that had to dry. We also found some mildew growing under the vinyl in another area (wasn't wet, wasn't soft, old leak we are guessing that had been fixed) so that got scrubbed with some bleach water and needed to dry out. We are down to putting the furniture stuff back in and system checking everything. Just in time for Hubby to leave on his long training trip. Guess I'll take it on it's maiden camping voyage alone - that should be interesting. Here's hoping the van can tow it!

Well I suppose that's it for now. I just wanted to give an update and thank you for the prayers.

Nerves

By this time next week we'll have some sort of idea on Igor's skull issues. The waiting is the hard part, I want action. Why I can't just barge on up to Children's and put him in the machine to be scanned, have the doc look at this eyes and be done. Then I could plan. I'm a big planner. I'm not one to have every minute of the day scheduled but I do like to know roughly what's going to happen. Igor and I are alike in that matter (though he likes things timed to the nano-second) For this weekend I'm trying to not to worry and think about it. This blog post is gonna be my last worry session until we have some real news. I REFUSE TO GOOGLE!!! However my mind keeps drifting back to brain injury and while they may not be technically doing anything to his brain it is too close for comfort. I've delt with brain injuries, my mother had a stroke, and while she survived and is doing well she's not the same person I grew up with. That's my biggest fear is to have my little Igor handed back to me and not be the sweet little kid who's kisses have a daily theme.

A good distraction this week has been Emma. Emma is a friend's dark chocolate lab that has stayed with us this week. She's a good dog and likely the most calm labrador I've ever been around that wasn't 102 years old. Emma has been great with the kids, putting up with all their crazy antics with aplomb. I will say Emma comes from a household with three kids though - two of them roughly Sonny Boy's and Igor's ages so kids are old hat to her. Sonny Boy and her have really bonded and she's been sleeping in his room (and bed) every night. Gonna take me a week and a gallon of Fabreze to remove the dog smell from there - she's not dirty just doggy. Emma goes home this evening.

Work on the camper continues at full bore. We are having a hard time finding the source of the water infiltration. We fix one issue, spray down with the water hose and then find another. Ug, we've used a lot of sealant that doesn't come off your hands with anything short of a sandblaster. We have all the supports for the flooring in, insulation cut and are ready to lay the floor but just keep finding water leaks. My hopes for dragging it around Northern Wisconsin for a few weeks in late summer are slipping away.

We have finally picked out a color scheme for the house. I did paint up one window on the street side and have had compliements on it. I guess I should post a picture, but you know me and putting pictures up. I've taken the heat gun and removed paint from some of the detail work here and there. 120 years of paint build-up can kill a lot of tiny details in woodwork. I still have one section to do. I didn't really expect painters to take the time to get things as cleanly done as I have done them, much less strip to bare wood, they'll just get the loose paint.

Our new neighbors will move in this weekend. They closed on the house last week and spent last weekend pulling up old carpet and cleaning. We went over and met them and they seem like a nice young couple. No children, much to Sonny Boy's disappointment as he wanted some playmates close by. Sounds like they have big plans for the house which is nice to hear as it needs some work and a little love. They got a good deal on it, I like the lot much more than our own and wish the house would have been available when we were house shopping. I hear they are going to paint which makes me happy as there has been an epidemic of vinyl siding lately with even our next door neighbor pondering it (it would RUIN his house) so I've been trying to gently talk him out of it.

Well I suppose I need to get off the computer and do some chores. The kitchen and laundry are my never ending battles around here, but I suppose they are for everyone. Maybe I'll bake some cookies for the new neighbors?

Well at least...

Well at least we managed a scheduling miracle. Today the CT scan scheduler lady and I managed to schedule Igor's CT scan on the same day as the eye doctor appointment next week. It will be a long day hanging out in Milwaukee as there is a little bit of time between appointments, however at least it won't require driving back into town for another 15 minute appointment. Going to call the lady at the genetic clinic who is supposed to be fighting the insurance for me and see if we can get the blood draw for the genetic work-up while we are there as well then it will be three birds with one car trip.

Thankful Hubby can work from home that day and leave Sonny Boy here to hang out with his Dad (i.e. watch a lot of TV and play too much Wii) but it will beat wrangling two kids all day in a boring place. Not to mention Sonny Boy is much harder to deal with when bored.

That's about it.

Worrisome Times

I'm beginning to hate Children's hospital. It seems my interactions with that place lately have not brought good news. Every appointment brings hope that I'll be looked like some over paranoid mother and sent home. Unfortunately that hasn't happened in a long while.

This year Igor has seen orthopedics for the broken leg and to get SMO's, Opthamology for continued monitoring of vision, Cardiology which diagnosed a heart condition, Genetics which has diagnosed a connective tissue disorder with only a good guess as to the actual name - waiting on expensive genetic testing we are still waiting insurance approval on. Cranio-facial who did say there was no cleft palate (a tiny bit of good news) but there is definite craniostenosis - the sutures in the skull closing too soon - which could be putting pressure on his brain. This is forcing another trip back to Opthamology to rule out some sort of eye ball bulging (there is a fancy name for it but my brain is fried from trying to keep my head together today) if the eye-ball bulging is there he will definitely need surgery and I'll be getting a phone call in the next day or two to schedule a CT scan to see how extensive the cranio-stenosis is and see what that brings. Yay (that's supposed to be in the sarcasm font that should be existent on blogger) Send up some prayers that Igor's funny shaped head is simply funny shaped. I want an MD to say we've over reacted.

This comes on the tail end of finding out that my high school boyfriend of six years passed away on Saturday afternoon. I meandered back and forth for a day or two if I should load up the kids and drive down to Arkansas for the funeral. In the end I decided against it. It's a sad situation as it seemed he drank himself to an early grave at age 39. A wasted life. My mother attended the memorial tonight and said it was sad. Perhaps the only good thing to say is that he never had children who would have lived through the hell of an alcoholic father and the loss of him young. My mother said that somehow his family had come to the conclusion that I had been killed in an accident up here in WI and thought I'd been dead for several years. Must have been quite shocking when I friended his sister on Facebook a few months ago. Like Mark Twain said "The rumours of my death are greatly exaggerated".

Thankfully the overly stressful events of the week haven't sent my body into a tailspin. Mornings have been rough with a couple of nights bad sleep. My allergies are flaring up something horrible but eye drops and Claritin are helping to keep them in check. I've had other friends in the area complain about allergies lately too, seem to be rougher than normal this year.

We have cancelled our plans to take Sonny Boy to NYC and DC while Hubby was out east. The plane tickets are outrageous and couple that with the upcoming medical expenses and complications (which we hope we are just being too careful with) we don't want to buy non-refundable tickets. Hubby's corporate headquarters are in New Jersey so they'll be other trips to the east coast to piggy back on at another time.

In response to not taking the NYC trip we've promised Sonny Boy a long camping trip. I finally conned Hubby into letting me get a camper. The camper wasn't too old but had rotten floors but was otherwise beautiful. Hubby agreed to let me get the camper as it was cheap due to the floor issue and is working on getting the floor repaired. I'm excited to get it up and running, Hubby is charged with getting it operational by the time he leaves for his training stint. He fusses about it, but I know he really kind of likes the challenge of the project as all the house projects we've had this year have been given to contractors. Igor is excited about the camper too and keeps asking questions about where we'll all sleep and can we do XYZ and when we go camping and the like. Sonny Boy is pretty blase as he proclaims he wants some huge giant motorcoach fit for a rock star.

So there's my worries on a platter. Maybe I can sleep tonight, I don't know. Maybe I should just go take a benedryl or two and kill two birds with one stone - sleep and allergies. Looks like my summer just got interesting in a way I did not intend.

Window #1 or Window #2

You see we are painting and can't decide on a color scheme. The joy of a 120 y.o. victorian, gaudy colors and elaborate details are the norm. We've driven around town and taken pictures of the houses we like. We stopped one person in their yard and asked and was rudely told "no" we couldn't get the name of their paint colors. I've checked out books from the library and purchased from the internet. We have EIGHT quarts of paint of different hues and have layered them on the side window in a variety of contrast. Hubby doesn't like my scheme, I'm not wild about his. Neither is either one of over thrilled with our own scheme so the debate rages on.

I'm threatening to take our two favorite pallettes and paint them on two different windows on the street side of the house and mark the windows 1 and 2 and place a sign that says 'VOTE" with a magic marker attached to the sign. I mentioned this to a friend who regularly drives by my house (most everybody in this side of town drives by my house often) thought this was a grand idea. After reading all the books and staring at our patchwork mess I'm beginning to think going with the masses seems to be the easiest, we do live in a democratic society and honestly the neighbors and the passer-bys will see the paint more than we will.

Kiddo Update

As the school year draws to a close I suppose it's time to give a big update on the kid's progress through life.

Sonny Boy is doing well. Finishes 1st grade this year and has done superb. Grades couldn't be better, he has a good grasp of reading now and math skills that will soon surpass his mother's. If you ask him he will tell you he didn't learn anything new this year, that it was all stuff he learned in kindergarten, but I just think he doesn't really realize the material is progressing. He certainly wasn't learning addition and subtraction and writing little paragraphs in kindergarten. Behavior wise he's done well at school despite the ADHD. Sonny Boy's teacher says she does have to get him back on track occasionally and he does end up losing some recess time occasionally to finish his work, not because he's having a hard time with the work, just a hard time focusing. He has had to sit out a little at recess for playing too rough at times but it hasn't been anything the teacher has felt the need to let me know about and we've been in contact via e-mail several times for numerous things. A good school year, I hope 2nd grade goes as smoothly. Baseball season is in full swing. Sonny Boy is playing machine pitch and is doing well. I would say he's in the middle of the pack for skill level and he has a good understanding of the game and where the play is. He does have some wild throws occasionally but he's still getting the hang. Summer looks to be busy with VBS, scout camp, vacation, swim lessons, baseball and of course swimming as much as he can con Mom into taking him to the pool. We went the other day after school and it was like most of his 1st grade class had convened and he had a good time.

Igor is moving along quite well also. Pre-school finished up a couple of weeks ago and he's making good progress. He can identify all his letters, count reasonably well, all colors, shapes and sing several songs etc. Doing well considering he missed several weeks due to the broken leg. Next year Igor will attend preschool three mornings a week as he misses the cutoff for kindergarten by 10 days. Really I don't see this as a problem because I don't think he's ready for kindergarten, he's a little emotionally immature. Igor is now wearing SMO's full time. They seem to help his balance and stability. We will go back to the orthopedic doc in September to evaluate their effectiveness but I imagine they will be a long term addition to his wardrobe. A week ago Hubby and I took Igor to see a genetic specialist at Children's Hospital and the doc - a nice British chap - declared that Igor certainly has a connective tissue disorder. He's not totally sure of which one as there are lots. The one he did mention doesn't quite fit Igor (I think) so we are waiting on insurance approval to get expensive genetic testing done. In the meantime we will take him to see a cranio-facial specialist to see if there is anything that needs to be done with his extremely high-arched pallate as anybody with two brain cells can see that is going to be an orthodontic nightmare in a few years. Igor is going through a defiant stage and testing his boundaries lately which is getting old. He's always been a very compliant child so this is new ground with him, not new ground for us though - we've been there and done that with Sonny Boy. Patience and consistency is our mantra lately.


We grown up kiddos are getting by too. Hubby is busy with work, but it's going well. He works from home a couple of days a week now which is nice as it save a ton of money on gas. I am getting to hate the ring of his cell phone though because it does seem to ring at unfortunate times but that's the nature of the beast. I've been busy shuffling the kids to and fro, house and garden work (though the roofers have MANGLED my flowerbed) and just generally maintaining us in a somewhat clean and orderly fashion. Nothing exciting, everything exhausting. That could be a blog post title.