More pix from October...

Life doesn't stop just because your plate seems too full...

 Middle school means projects...Murph and Photosynthesis...great effort - last minute, of course...our son is a true procrastinator and unless pushed, a bit too happy with "good enough", but once he puts his mind to something - he is a very creative young man!

The finished project...how it will survive in his athletics locker until second period is anybody's guess!

 Monday Night football post game coach talk...another Huskies victory!

 Tuesday night Volleyball - siblings are welcome and encouraged to help out!

 Karly likes to visit mom at Bishop Davies too!

 My silly friend Theresa telling a story about a Y member at a much-needed girls lunch

 Saturday morning Stingers Volleyball - won one, lost two

 A reluctant Sophie, posing with her brother!

 Jerseys and jeans instead of dress clothes - Hallelujah!  Murph was in his glory!

 Tuesday evening volleyball coaching...

 Volleyball picture day...we were late...we put on white knee pads instead of black knee pads and had to run back home so she looked spectacular...and she did!

 Saturday afternoon baseball tournament

 Ted E's for lunch/dinner after the game - Peyton and Laurel being Peyton and Laurel!

 Saturday shopping = her first flat iron...how can she be so grown up already???

 Fabulous!

Brothers from different mothers...between baseball games, Playstation 2 baseball games!

First Volleyball Game - Go STINGERS!

Stingers Volleyball...Game 1

 Coach Keeley and Coach Lynn getting the girls prepared for their very first game...about half of our girls (Peyton included) have never played a real game before...there were some nerves!

 Ready to start..."Peyton-at-the-Net", ready to return!

 Peyton's first in-a-game overhand serve - she rocked it!  4 points in a row!

 Ready to return serve...you know, if the serve makes it over the net!

 I got it!  Mine!

 Stingers WIN - "good game", "good game", "good game"...

 9/10 girls volleyball still has snacks...I miss snacks in Keaton's sports...heck, Keaton misses snacks in Keaton's sports!  anyway, Coach Keeley is clearly pleased!  Yay Stingers!!!

ONE, TWO, THREE....STINGERS!!!!

How did we manage to keep up???

October 2012

Throughout mom's pneumonia and recovery - nothing else stopped or even slowed down...thanks to my brilliant idea that since they did away with C atheletics at Hillwood, and after seeing the enormity of the other boys at the Central High School football camp, and therefore assuming Murph would probably not make the team...we signed him up for a Select Fall League with the Dallas Patriots.  Brilliant!  Of course he made the team, of course she decided to play volleyball with Gracie, of course she accepted Mrs. Evans reading challenge...so here we are, heading from Bishop Davies, to a Patriots game, reading...multitasking at 9!  I'm sure there is a 'car picnic' is in her future...my made-up, trying-to-make-eating-lunchables-in-the-car name for most of our meals!

 Peyton and Laurel on the hi-tech playground equipment before an early Saturday game

 Heyyyyyy Batta, batta, batta....

 SWING!  (result:  a double!)

 Like I said - B-Team football - every Monday night at 5:00

 Complete with cheerleaders...we're HMS (clap, clap), we're blue and gold (clap, clap), we're HMS (clap, clap), we're blue and gold (clap, clap)

 the glamorous non-car-picnic dinner of choice...Kraft Mac & Cheese!  She's the expert!

 Tuesday nights...volleyball.  Peyton's very first practice with "the Stingers" - and her very first attempt at a serve!  She ended up pretty solid at the overhand serve, but this is where she started.

 Look at that technique!

 A bright spot in all the craziness...gas under $3.00 a gallon...and let me tell you, I am putting some miles on the Kia trying to keep everyone happy and where they need to be!

 Second volleyball practice - at Alliance Park - this will become the classic "Peyton-at-the Net" stance for all practices and games!  I got in there and helped...my shoulders hurt for 2 days afterward...but we had so much fun!  It was a perfect fall day...this is why you live in Texas!

 Now I know why Coach Keeley stressed serving so much - getting it back over the net proved to be our biggest obstacle until about half way through the season...she could hit it, but it usually flew back over her head.

 "All the other kids are wearing black and red or gray...."...Murph's second "game day dress clothes"  So Handsome!

 post game stinky boys - but they won, so what's a little stink between teammates?!

 Mom on the road to recovery...

 Peyton loved the mechanical bed...up feet, down feet, up head, down head, up both, down both...yikes

 Murph had to get his turn too!

 5:30am - Peyton manning the packet pick up table at the Trinity Trot

 Annual Mother/Daughter Volunteer Morning at the Trinity Trot - Starbucks, a few hours of packet pick up, cute run shirts, home by 10:00am!

 3rd Volleyball practice - got to use Fossil Hill Middle - MUCH better than Eagle Ridge and we had the gym all to ourselves...AND we're seeing progress!

 Coach Womble tossing balls to the girls...I took a break from running all over the gym to "fetch" the balls to take this picture!  I may not be a coach, but I can shag balls with the best of them!

Notice a theme?  The classic at the net stance at its finest!

Believe it or not, throughout all this, we had some fun, we made lots of memories, we learned that responsibility is a drag sometimes, but you really feel great when you do what you know you need to do...and we got to eat 'way more fast food than I am comfortable with...and the kids LOVED that!

September 2011, DP (during pneumonia)

Of course there aren't any pix of the emergency room or ICU (although the family with the daughter who "took too much Tylenol" was photo-worth!  It was like those Only At Wal-Mart photos your friends and acquaintances send you)  I know it's wrong to look and judge, but what path takes you to those public clothing, conversation, body art, dental and parenting choices???

Anyway, mom made it out of ICU stable physically and unstable mentally - her memory took a big hit, up to the 4th floor.  I can't imagine what it takes to work in the medical industry - unless you are a doctor and then I'm sure money and the whole god-complex thing play a part (and YES, I understand that some just want to save lives and make a difference and make the world a better place), but nursing and aides is a whole-nother thing.  BUT - if you choose it, you should do it to the best of your ability.  I am the family member dreaded by hospital staff the world over...I am like a bulldozer, a pit bull and a written down list of all conversations/promises/plans...and I will find the time to monitor, even when I don't have the time to monitor!

Mom was at North Hills Hospital and we had some great nurses - Dana, Lauren, Judy, Mahesh (although he took some training!).  Great aides as well - it's been so long, sadly, I don't remember all the names...except one...Keyron (pronounce Key - Run)... what a rare and magnificent human being and he made sure mom was well taken care of - even when he wasn't assigned to her room/hall.

Odds of running into this young man again are slim, but he made such an impact on me and my family and he went above and beyond the call of duty...I am sure I abused his kindness in my need to make sure mom was okay AND keep my job AND take care of the kids AND make sure Peyton started volleyball and Keaton made it to baseball and football (practice at 6:45 am!!!) AND get branches comfortable with starting their budgets AND stay positive for mom AND act like nothing was wrong at work...because let's face it - right now they could care less!  Anyway, I thank God for Keyron and the perfect storm that made him mom's aide on that 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th and last day!

 The giant Mom Note became kind of urban legend on the 4th floor.  Mom was so confused and so scared and when mom is scared it comes out as nasty.  Mahesh was bit scared of Peg and the physical therapist manifested herself as a kidnapper to mom...so many stories, so much drama, so heart-wrenching...but it's over...but I loved this picture of the evolving note...getting paper at the hospital is like pulling teeth, so I just had to make due!  This one is on one of the place mats they serve the bland, unseasoned, beige lunch plate on!

Mom's first day in rehab...back to Bishop Davies...please let there be major reform and resources in skilled nursing care before I need to go there!  I learned so much about O2/blood oxygenation levels during this 6 week stint - I really could get a job there!  Let's see, I had the Executive Director hiding from me, the doctor annoyed, got one particulary lazy,arrogant nurse fired, got the Dept of Aging and Disability all up in Bishop Davies business, went through 2 social workers in 5 weeks, had a nervous breakdown when I thought they lost mom, put an extra 100 miles a week on my car with all the back and forth trips, heard mom cuss like a sailor at shower time, finally got her to wear her new clothes from last Christmas, became an expert at denture maintenance, and discovered just how dependant my mom is on me.  Tried to protect the kids from as much of it as I could, tried not to abuse Patrick's time if I didn't have to and found strength to dig my heels in to make those people do their job even when I was so tired I really wanted to just pray and give up...cried and cried and cried and took enough Ibuprophen and half-Tylenol pms to keep at least one CVS in business.  AND only missed 1 day of work, 0 volleyball practices, 0 baseball games or practices, 0 football games (and still made it out to mom's after every one of them), didn't screw up any reports, miss any deadlines or kill anyone...I AM my mother's daughter!

September 2012 BP (before pneumonia)

I cannot tell (or type) a lie...it's been so long since I have had time to spend on the blog, but I have all these magnificent pix of the kids and our life and I just have to capture them!

Some nights when the stars and planets are aligned and nobody's fighting and the Algebra homework isn't too hard - Peyton and I play "let's make a new outfit" before bedtime!  It saves Patrick time and trouble in the morning, it makes me feel better that the clothes I have spent good money on aren't sitting in the bottom of a drawer or at the back of the closet because the other stuff is what they're used to and it's so much fun to watch her find herself through 9-year-old fashionista!  I must admit, this screams me at 26 and it was pretty much her idea top to bottom...I pushed for the puffy vest - just 'cuz it's so adorable!

When in Arlington...you must visit the Social Bakehouse Cafe - the best black and whites (they're really yellow butter cake with milk chocolate buttercream - not a traditional black and white) I have found without driving to Weatherford!  I schedule my trips to the Arlington Y corporate offices around traffic and finding 15 minutes to jump over and grab a family treat...aren't they delightful looking?  YUM!

It had to happen, right???  Our first broken window...a baseball, of course!  Murph overthrew Patrick and CRASH!!!  a smashed back kitchen window!  Total accident, but he felt so badly.  And Sophie wanted to be all in the middle of things...and she wasn't wearing her doggy shoes, so she had to be put in the house...YIKES, she doesn't like that!

The obvious benefit of breaking your first window as a 12-year-old boy...a lesson in the limitless potential of duck tape!  Larry Comer would be proud!  And Tim the Toolman, and my daddy, and millions of males the world over!

Almost finished...a cardboard box panel, duck tape, a broom, a dustpan, a call to the window pane guy...really???  $160.00????  expensive lesson, but a classic boymom memory!

Clearly, I've lived here long enough to be just Texas enough to take and post this picture...it's RAIN!  You probably can't tell that it's raining, but I know, I remember, I sat out on the back porch for over an hour basking in it!  It's been the hottest, driest, hottest...did I mention hottest???...summer in history and this was a blessing and my favorite kind of morning...good hot coffee, no one else up in the house, dog not interested in coming out, no tv, no magazine, no neighborhood noise or action...just me and the rain!

 It's a horrible picture, I am so bummed!, but it's the only one I have...mom getting serenaded by the Elvis guy at Meadowlakes...he was hip/gospel Elvis, not chart-topping/hound dog Elvis, but the ladies LOVED him!!!!

 Well, maybe not ALL the ladies...Peyton was fascinated, but did NOT want him coming too close!  She love the spotlight when it's her idea...not Elvis's!

 Murph found the vibrating barcolounger in the lobby after the show...totally out, in public...I can't even sleep on a plane...at night, but my son can sleep in a busy lobby with all the lights on and women screaming for Elvis!

 Peyton had to try too...but she just giggled at the whole vibrating thing..silly chair!

 And finally - she got up the nerve to go say hello to the Elvis-man and get her picture taken...I am so proud of her when she gets past something she is nervous about.  The seniors at Meadowlakes love my kids!

This is a photo just for me!  This is evidence of my commitment to cardio - if even one half of what they say is true and cardio is one of the best ways to fight or delay Alzheimer's ...then cardio it is...no matter how chewed up my feet are from the hill or the treadmill or the elliptical or the walks...tape, flip-flops and some good songs on my shuffle!  Here's to 10 extra years of short-term memory!!!

Wow.......................

November 20, 2011

Where have the past 2 months gone?  Actually, I know where...to mom, to work, to the kids, to the house, to mom, to mom some more....On September 19, not 12 hours after mom left our house and was fine, she was SICK!  Nanette called, I was already at work, I naively thought she couldn't be that bad - probably a cold - since I had just seen her.  I got to Meadowlakes at 8:30 and she was so out of it.  I will spare you the details, but it was clearly more than a cold! 
10:45a - Dr. Bahtia
11:15a - Emergency Room
3:00p - 4th floor hospital room - admitted
5:40p - went to meet family for dinner
7:00p - call from hospital - moved to ICU
midnight - really scared

She was in ICU for about 2.5 days.  Moved back to the 4th floor - there for another 5 days.  Total chaos trying to make sure she was cared for properly, that I understood all that was going on - static, oxygenation levels, irregular heart rhythm, BIG memory hit, re-learning how to walk, making her do for herself instead of doing it for her, keeping track of the staff (we do NOT like Kim, the evil social worker!), trying to keep up with work....yikes.  It was a full 8 days!

And then...

Back to Bishop Davies for rehab, physical, occupational and speech therapy....not again!  That took up another 6 weeks - they really aren't very good at what they do.  Terrible communication skills, lots of staff with apathetic attitudes, a little too comfortable with something outside the truth, and I think they actually tried to scare me into signing all of mom's assets over to them to admit her to a Medicaid bed....and I nearly bought into it.  They had me convinced that if I tried to take her back to Meadowlakes without 24 hour care, I was basically signing her death sentence.

She has been back at her home for 2 weeks now and she is thriving.  It's more work than it used to be, but she is happy (content is the word she uses!) and I think she is as safe as anyone who is 84, has Alzheimer's and bad balance and bad osteoporosis can be.  We are back to a semi-normal routine.  My piece has increased, but I think that's what you sign up for when you choose to be an active part of your family.

I am going to try and find a few minutes over this Thanksgiving week to post up all the pictures I took while blogging was on hold - and I still remembered to take pictures! and then get back on track so my beautiful children will have these written memories of all the special things they did over the years.

L