Austin’s EKG came back normal. So he is released to play soccer. He was just experiencing some severe asthma attacks. So he has an inhaler that he has to use half an hour before any physical activity. And he also will need to keep that with him just in case that doesn’t work.
As for Lauren, she will have another ultrasound on the ovarian cyst on Friday afternoon.
With missed alarms, sluggish days, and many delays.
My Monday started out with me completely missing the alarm. Austin has to be at the weight room by 5 a.m. The alarm goes off at 4:30 so we have plenty of time to get him up and going. He has Osgood-Schlatter Disease and it takes him a lot longer to get moving than the other kiddos. Well, I woke up this morning around 5:10 a.m. to Matty yelling, “Mom, Mom.” I had turned off the alarm in my sleep and just kept on sleeping. Argh! Matty was yelling, “Mom,” to wake me up. So Austin missed weight room this morning. 
Even with that adrenaline rush I was still very sluggish this morning. Part of it was because I was bummed that my work out plan just isn’t going to work. I want to do a walk/run in the mornings but no one can/wants to go with me. My dogs aren’t as fierce as they should be and I’m scared to go by myself. I’m only a wee thing. It’s not hard to pick me up off the street and run with me. So I’m trying to figure out a different kind of plan which will probably involve the treadmill (blah!).
I did finally get up and get moving. Today I have to turn in library books and send back movies. So I was running around gathering all that stuff after I got ready for work. Then, I couldn’t find my van keys. Lauren had left them in the back of the van when she was trying to figure out how to turn the seat backwards on the 4th of July. Thankfully, the commute to work was uneventful!
Once I got to work the drama began again. I had to reschedule the kids’ doc appts for tomorrow because I can’t afford it this week. Well, it is now August 25!! Matty is due for a shot before school so I don’t know how that is going to work, and at the moment I don’t really care. School starts here around August 17 so it will be after that day. When I register him I’ll see about a grace period.
Then our doctor called with information on Lauren and Austin. Austin’s stress test came back fine but they are still waiting on the EKG. Lauren, on the other hand, got her anxiety meds doubled and they want to run another ultrasound on the cyst.
And I won’t get into the work drama. But I can say that I’m ready for lunch!! 
Kevin and I got a little shock yesterday. Austin has had some issues on the soccer field with catching his breath and feeling lightheaded. We chalked it up to possibly being asthma and had him get into the doctor yesterday. Well, along the breathing difficulties he is having a little chest pain. The family has a long history of heart issues. So to be on the safe side the doctor ordered him to have some tests on his heart.
Nothing makes a parents heart plunge faster than hearing the words, “I want to run tests on his heart.” They got him in to the hospital for testing right away. He had an EKG and some kind of pulmonary cardio test thing done. The EKG can be read at our hospital but the other one has to be sent to the big city to be read by a pediatric cardiologist. So we don’t have a clue as to when we will get the results.
In the meantime Austin is being sidelined in soccer. He can’t play or lift weights or anything until we get the results back. I feel so bad for him because he finally found his fit. He found a sport he was great at and enjoyed. 
He found an awesome group of guys to hang with and I feel are helping his transition to high school next year. And his coach is amazing and so supportive. I pray wholeheartedly that it is just asthma and he can go back to his team as quickly as possible. I’ll keep you all updated on the results as we get them.
Do not continue reading this post if you are afraid of mice. It could also be bad if you happen to love mice. And if you don’t like snakes then maybe you should carry on to a later post as well. But if you are ready for a giggle, a moment of panic, or just to be happy this wasn’t you…please proceed.
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Austin has a milk snake that he named Cow. We visit our local pet shop at least once every couple of weeks to get a pinky or a furry for it’s meal. A pinky is a newborn mouse. A furry is a mouse that is a smidge bigger and has hair. Most small snakes will need a pinky but as they grow they will need a furry. We are in the furry stage.
I actually got the chance to have a day alone with Matthew. We went shopping in town together and he went with me to the pet store. I also get crickets for my turtles too. It’s a 30 minute ride from the pet store to our house. When I left the pet store the bag looked like this:
When I got home I reached over to help Matty get out of his seat belt and noticed something this mom feared. The mouse bag was turned over in my purse!! I have a very large tote bag. I flipped over the bag praying for a miracle but all I found was this:
I was not happy! I was actually a little panicked. I called Kevin at work. I have no clue why. What was he going to do? He was half an hour away and couldn’t leave for at least 3 hours. I was not going to allow this thing to scurry around in my purse for hours on end. And, yeah, Kevin wasn’t a lot of help or moral support. Guys just don’t get it.
I peeked into my purse and didn’t see a flurry of white. I really didn’t want to dig around in my purse. I decided to just lift my purse slowly and hope for once Matthew didn’t have impeccable aim. I was granted this miracle:
Little Mr. Furry mouse was by the passenger seat trying to get under it! Furries can’t see, so they use their sense of smell to get around. Could you imagine if he would have gotten under that seat? I may have never been able to find him! However, I did, so Matty was able to live another day. 
I got a piece of paper and scooped the mouse back into the bag. I went straight to Cow and deposited the mouse in his cage. The little mouse’s adventure was short-lived.
I told the pet store of our little adventure the next time we went in. They now staple the bag closed
Well summer has officially hit in our household. That means that each of the kiddos have a new summer routine. Schedules always cause me a lot of stress. I hate change. My kids hate change. I get anxiety. They get anxiety. I fret. I worry. I cuss my job. You name it.
So far this year it’s going really really smooth though. Rachel will be spending one week at home with me and one week with her dad. This was her decision. She is 10 1/2 and it is time for her to start figuring out her visitation routine on her own. So far it works really well for us. I drop her off on the way to work on Mondays. And then I will pick her up after work on the following Monday. 
Matthew will be with an AmeriCorps volunteer for 3 days out of the week. She worked with him at the after school program which didn’t get summer funding. 
Austin is just kinda chilling this summer. Next week he will start working on high school soccer practices. I can’t believe it. High school sports already! And he will work off and on for us and his grandparents pulling weeds and other stuff. 
Lauren will be doing her English 2 online courses this summer so she can graduate high school in December. She will also keep Matty for 2 days of the week. And at the end of July she will do driving school for two weeks.
So it’s busy but we seem to have it all worked out. Matty did so well with his new arrangement that I actually got teary eyed. No they weren’t tears of joy. I was sad that he didn’t miss me more .
Hope everyone else’s summer goes smoothly as well!! What are your plans this year?
The kids have been bringing home their progress reports/report cards home the last week or so. Lauren is doing fantastic. Once her teacher submits her English grade she may be on the honor roll & have a 3.8 GPA. Austin hasn’t received his yet and he caught Matthew’s sickness so it will be a day or two before we see his. Matthew is doing great as always.
Then there is Rachel. She is going through what I call the Spring Slump. It’s that time of year when a lot of new stuff is being thrown at the kids that they have NEVER seen before. Toss that in with a fragile x brain and we see slippage on the grades. She is still doing good but she has gone from straight A’s to mostly B’s. Math is teetering on a C which is not surprising since math is a fragilistic persons worst nightmare! Kevin and I are fine with her grades. We know she is trying and we understand all of the other outside influences affecting this.
But Ms. Rachel is not happy. She is not happy AT ALL. She is walking around the house in what I call the junior diva unabomber look. She has on her pink hoodie with the hood up and almost over her eyes. She puts on her superstar white sunglasses and she pouts.
Spring Break is in 3 weeks and I think it will be a welcome break for her.
(and yes I do have my own language and dictionary )
The oldest three had their conference this last Monday. They went pretty well. I didn’t get to go but Kevin attended. Lauren is 1 point away from A/B Honor Roll. She was giving the opportunity to raise that point by doing some make up quizzes by the end of the week. She is working on that . Austin’s grades were a bit worse but he also has the chance to get A/B Honor Roll by the end of the week. He was missing a few assignments and he just needs to get them in by Friday. He had been out sick the week before and it pulled his grade way down.
Matthew is doing exceptionally well. He has A’s & B’s but they don’t much matter with him. He doesn’t do normal academics. I thought this was a cool little letter from his adaptive p.e. teacher. I had to edit out names but the rest is original:
