Summer cming to close- last gymnastics class

tonight was the last gymnastics class of the session.  I think hijo will be doing gymnastics again for the second fall session starting 25Oct, but we'll see.  He will be starting outdoor soccer in 2 weeks- please God, let the temperatures cool down!!!

Tonight was a free for all- the kids had to do warms together and then they were allowed to do whatever they wanted.

Warm ups are as follows

Stretches- to the toes, overhead and side to side

Then some butterfly wings and push downs

Then the plank and the bridge.

finally, 5 straight jumps, 5 straddle jumps and 5 tuck jumps. 

Hijo prefers jumping- on the trampoline or on the springboard- it does not matter, just long as he can jump.  I think I am going to start looking for a round trampoline like this one online for Christmas.  I should be able to find a used one on ebay.

I really don't think the smile ever left his face.  he loves gymnastics.

learning to do a back walkover (sort of).  he loved it.

JUMP!!!!!!!!!

for the last part of the evening, he pushed the backflip/front flip mat around- allteh other kids were playing in groups and he was happy to push this mat back and forth.

So that is end of gymnastics- on to school and outdoor soccer. 

Love and hugs,

Momma

Kid Birthday party and time with Hermano

even though we are dealing with the Darrell's hospitalization, life does go on.  I had scheduled Hijo's birthday parties for this weekend as he has his welcome to school picnic next weekend on this birthday.  So the kid party happened today as expected but the family party is on hold until Darrell is feeling better.

So on to the fun

 2 friends from church, 2 friends from our adoption process.  They are all friends and Hijo loves them all.  He was very happy to have many of his friends in his house.

While the the mommas sat and talked.  It was so nice to have adults to talk to.  I wish we could do this more often.

The party sequence was:

1 pm arrival of friends,

play time

cake and ice cream at 1:30

Presents

more play time

And planned  for 2:30 was the pinata- but 4 of the kids wanted to play, so the pinata was set aside and the kids played until 3 pm when the party ended.

After the party, we headed over to pick up Mam and Pap. And then we waited for Uncle Dave and the Vaca family to arrive. Hermano and his parents were scheduled to come to the family birthday party and we really wanted to see them. So they came over with a present for Hijo and we all had dinner and the boys playing.

The boys wanted the pinata, so Uncle Dave held it and the boys attacked it.

But, we had to get the baseball bat out to open it, so I knocked it down and the boys finished it off.

The boys had good play time and there was lots of sadness when it was time for everyone to go home.

It was great to see vaca daddy and Vaca Momma.  I am so grateful for Vaca Daddy's continued guidance on what to do in my garden.  We picked 6 years of corn tonight from the garden and had it for dinner.  Vaca daddy is very generous with his wisdom and his time. I am very appreciative of his experience.  It is always great to see vaca momma. I do wish we lived closer to each other so the boys could play more often, but it is a blessing to have them only 45 minutes from our house.

Love and hug,
Momma


PS- Uncle Darrell remains in ICU tonight.  They have some tests to run on him tomorrow that will determine if he can be moved to a regular room or if he has to stay in ICU longer.  He is no longer under the care of the stroke team, so that is a positive.  He is now under the care of the regular cardiac unit.

Uncle Darrell is on the way to the hospital- possible stroke-UPDATE

UPDATE: Darrell suffered a minor stoke and is in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) at the hospital.  He will be in ICU over night and then be moved to a regular room for another day.  he is doing much better, which is a testament to getting early treatment.  He had left side paralysis, but that has pretty much disapated, though the paralysis in his arm comes and goes.  Since he got the right treatment within the first 3 hours of his stroke (actually within 20 minutes) his prognosis is good. 

My mom feel apart during the day, I am falling apart now.  I assume my sister is falling apart too, as I can not reach her.  I don't think I have ever been this scared for my family ever.  Continued prayers are greatly appreciated.

uncle Darrell is on the way to the hospital due to a possible stroke.  Please pray for him and my sister and their family.


Love and hugs,
Deb

Washing machine repaired!!!!!!

Tonight was the day to finally finish repairing the washing machine.  First we had a new set up- I turned the wash machine so that Hijo could sit on the dryer and watch everything.  He decided that sitting on dryer meant that he would shine the flash light in every one's eyes.  But Mam had him well in hand and corrected that behavior quickly.

 

The repairmen at work.  My job at this point, stand there and hold the back of the wash machine away from the machine so that Pap could do the electrical work of installing the new part.  Of course, the latest style for repairmen  is slippers.   I highly recommend them for this kind of work.

At the end, I was the one on the floor putting in screws and getting the legs of the wash machine level.  Fun times.

So 2 hours total of work- a hour 2 days ago and a hour tonight, a $40.00 part and I have a working wash machine again.

One 12 year old wash machine back together and ready for action on Saturday night (yep, life is exciting here at this house).

Mam treated us to dinner tonight- Hijo had bean soup, watermelon and cherries.  I think the cherries were the hit of the meal.

We have a busy weekend.  We are celebrating hijo's birthday a week early, with 2 parties on Sunday- friend party from 1-3 and family party from 4-6.  Then next week I will do something special with Hijo on his birthday before we go to the "Welcome to Kindergarten" party at his school!!!!


Love and hugs,
Momma

Plumber Momma and helper Nene- along with Pap as supervisor

I have been a "master" locksmith in my early 20s when my niece locked her favorite baby doll in the bedroom and I unlocked the door, I have been the "master" electrician when I replaced the plug on my brand new dryer in my 30s, and now in my 40s, I am becoming "master" plumber/repair person as I fix my washer. 

 so the back story- last night as I was waiting for laundry load 5 to finish, I went down to the basement to check.  what I found was not good.  I washer filled with water - not spinning, not draining.  It took 40 minutes to hand drain the water using a cup to scoop out the water.  Then some 40 minutes on line to figure out if this was fixable by me and Pap or if I was going to have to put a washer on my list of things to save for and use the local laundromat to do laundry for the next few months.  After checking on line, I eliminated the first option of self repair at lunch today- there was no blockage in the drain line on the washer.  That left option 2- the switch was broken.  Taken apart the washer, I knew I needed help. So a call to Pap and he was on board to come over and supervise while I took the washer back off in order to get the top off to get to the switch.  My job before he arrived was to download the schematic.  Unfortunately, S.ears does not want folks to repair their own equipment, so no schematic was available on the website, the best I could do was a basic schematic of the main pieces, but no directions on how to remove the back of the washer. So it was jump in time and figure it ourselves.

I was on main duties- Pap was supposed to supervise and to a large extent that worked.  it was just at the end, that he took over.

Hijo was the chief fetcher on the job, responsible for fetching things that we needed.  He really wanted to help more and unfortunately he got trapped outside the work zone at one point and end up on the wrong side of Pap's deteriorating patience.  So off to read comic books on the steps, which made him happy and kept him out of the last 15 minutes of drama as we found the broken the switch and pulled it from the machine. Mam was in charge of large item fetching or being prepared to help out as needed, and she then became the picture taker for the repair work.

So the positives- it is a broken switch, we can replace it.  It will take a total of 2 hours including the work we have done.  I need to go pick up the part tomorrow, but for less than $40.00 I have fixed the 12 year old wash machine and have the self confidence that I could do this again.  Now the negative, Pap will take over the repair once we have the part as it is electrical work, and he is the real electrician and no way, no how he will let me connect the switch.  So I have to prepare as best as possible to ensure I do the bulk of the work and I include hijo.

On to some pictures of the last few sick days with hijo.

Picture number 1- a hijo with a fever, wearing corduroy pants in 90 F temperatures.  After this, he put on a jacket saying he was cold.  Picture 2, a tired hijo on the first day fever free.   He was still recovering and was exhausted.

Watering his plants

We did some school work and he drew a picture of me - glasses and all legs.  I love my boy.

Well, I am tired form the repair work and other things, so I am heading off to bed.

Love and hugs,

Momma

Quick update- no pictures

Hijo has been sick since Friday:
 symptoms
low grade fever- right around 100F
2 episodes of vomiting (all clear liquid)
1 episode of diarrhea

We spent 3 hours in urgent care on Sunday after he spiked a fever of 104.4 which quickly dropped back to 100F.  The doctor did a rapid streph test which came back negative.  She also looked at his ears, one was clear and one was full of wax (hijo is a wax builder).

Monday, hijo was supposed to have his last shot to start school, but due to the continuing fever we spent the morning with the doctor discussing what could be going on.  The end result was we were told to wait another day and then if he still had a fever, we could call the doctor again and discuss options.

Tuesday- hijo awoke with no fever!!!!  he stayed home another day with me because I was not sure the no fever would last.  he was feeling so good, by lunch, I asked Mam and Pap to come pick him up so I could work without my little man hanging on my arm while I was in conference calls.  he was fine watching TV while I was just working, but the moment I was on the phone, he wanted my complete and utter attention and he was determine to make sure he was heard during the calls.  One client would have been fine with listening to him, but the other client- no way.  So hijo had play time with Mam and Pap and he felt fine.

Tuesday evening: he is still not 100% better, he is still not eating as well as I would like, but he is drinking fluids and he is choosing fruits, so I really can not complain.


All day long I have been doing laundry trying to kill all the germs on his bedding, the sofa covers and in the pillows.  I am on my 5th load of laundry today and I have 2 more loads at least to do tomorrow.

So there never  was a diagnosis on what Hijo had.  I have my theories- a sinus infection, allergies are the top choices.  what this does continue to point out is that while his doctor is wonderful, the wait ans see approach when I can see hijo sick is not working for me.  I am tired of watching him suffer through illnesses and suffer through them.  so right after school starts and the doctor's offices calm down from school physicals, I am going to start interviewing a new doctor for hijo.  I am not willing to go through the school year, where I know hijo will be sick due to being around lots of kids every day and feeling like the doctor is not going to account for the emotional toll that being sick and watching him be sick is taking. 

I don't his doctor to give him an antibiotic every time he is sick, but I do expect that I am listened too.  3 days of a low grade fever is not good, 4 days is worse.  being asked to wait until day 5 before solutions would be considered is not acceptable.

So anyway.  Hijo is better and he goes back to Lulu's tomorrow.  He has 3 more weeks with her and then we will be ready for school to start.

Love and hugs,
momma