Full House! I win!

Okay, so it really means that all our bedrooms are occupied because our Step-daughter Alex (14) and Nephew Brandon (15) are visiting, but still I win.
Acer and I picked Alex up at noon on Fri. and it was pretty much instant JieJie/Didi love. She enjoys hugging, spinning him around and raspberrying him mercilessly. Already she speaks pretty decent Acer language and doesn't mind the normal chores that go with a two year old like taking him to the potty or helping him feed himself. Bill got his Father's day present (fatherhood by Bill Cosby) and I got a cool outdoor decoration/windchime for my birthday present. Alex usually does really well on her gift choices and this time was no exception.
Mum came over for dinner on Fri. night and went home with some bounty - the neighbor across the street is moving and he was bringing over some of his (deceased) wife's clothes. Most of these were new and Alex and I had gone through them all and sorted them. Mum went home with a new leather thickly lined winter coat, T-shirts and sweatshirts. Alex was a good hostess, making sure mum had tea and clearing the table. She is growing up into a kind, caring and helpful person and I try to let her know how great a job she's doing.
Saturday I had to work to Alex and Acer hung out with Baba/Papa. Alex helped cook dinner, I think she likes trying to figure out what to serve and she will help cook whatever she can.
Sunday Bill, Alex and Acer went off to church and I went to work. They went to a cook out afterwards, some people who live close to the church were having. They brought me lunch & then headed home to meet Brandon as his Mom was dropping him off so that she could meet Acer. They all went to our favorite frozen custard place, but forgot to bring any home for me. Sigh. At least dinner was excellent - baked salmon fillets.
Sunday nights we have a group over to play D&D, but we've temporarily lost a member due to a new job situation. So I learned that despite the fact that he doesn't like the job as much, there is a fem. he's sweet on there. So I said - Oh, so it's a sweetness issue - and Acer chimed in "oh, my, my, my!"
Monday was an extremely busy day - we started early by going to the local beach on Lake St Clair, where they also have a spray park. Acer liked the mist, but got hammered by some strong spray and wasn't quite as happy. By the way, Alex provided his outfit for the day - swim trunks and a huge on him Tshirt that says "I'm the good one, my sister is the brat!"
He actually liked 'swimming' in the lake quite a bit but we took him out sooner than he would have liked because his lips were turning blue!
We then went to Bill's work/bosses house (same piece of property) and enjoyed their company and their pool. Alex and Brandon played with their son Jake and Acer had the joy of a set of steps and a hand rail that he could both climb on and go into the water on! Oh Joy! He spent hours in the pool. Matt & Kristie are the ones who provided us with Acer's beloved wagon, well Kristie actually had the little trailer part that goes with the wagon too - more Fun!
Today we got up and out of the house early, we loaded up recycleables and Acer in the wagon and took the dogs and walked to the recycle center & then next door to the park. Acer LOVES to swing. He went for 45 minutes straight today (we took shifts) and stomped around on the play structure for a while. We were home by 11:30 but it was still above 80 that early in the day.
Alex and Brandon have always funded their fun while they're both here by returning the bottles we've accumulated. The rules are that they both have to be here and they share the money. So today was bottle return day and they filled up the back of the Beater, and away we went. I dropped them at the local megastore (meijer's) and they loaded up 3 shopping carts with bottles, with that and money for all you can eat pizza, I'm sure they were able to kill the two or so hours until Bill got there to pick them back up. Unfortunately, everyone was in bed by the time I came home, but I'll get the story tomorrow I'm sure.
I took pictures & I promise that Bill will post them soon, but as he spent 2 hours trying to get the small one down tonight, not much happened.
Heather

Inconclusive Eye Test

Thursday Acer had his first in depth eye test, and while there was good news for the front of the eye, there just wasn't enough information about the back of the eye. The Dr will do another procedure to see how organized the back of the eye is and whether or not it will actually be able to process any information if receives. If the back of Acer's (right) eye is not developed enough, the rods and cones are not able to funnel the infformation to the brain in a manner that makes sense. If that is the case, we won't have the cataract removed because it would really only be for cosmetic reasons at that point and it might make the tiny sliver of sight he does have worse. The next test will be in a few weeks and will involve hooking electrodes to his head and flashing lights at his eyes. This will give us more information and may or may not send us on to a third test.

Sigh, I guess my hopes for quick resolution were just futile. I won't say I don't care what the results are, because for Acer's sake I really hope he can get more vision but my love for him is definitely not based on his being able to see. I would just really like to know what is going on and what the condition of his eyes is. I think that if I know I can watch for future developments and maybe 10 years down the road something new will come around that would work for him. Or maybe not.
H

Looking for Joy

I've decided that I'm not enjoying Acer and all his good features enough. I want to teach & improve and help him become a well behaved, well educated child so much that I've been missing out on the Joy portion of being a parent. I can still do those other things, but I need to take the time to appreciate that great smile and goofy sense of humor more. Who cares if I have to sit on the toidy for an extra 5 minutes becuase he wants to jump into my arms from the step stool, be set down and jump again & again. I need to realize the happy face in front of me is more important than getting up and dealing immediately with laundry. The important part is that he actually wants to jump into my arms. Prayers that I don't slip back into stern, dour Mom & truly feel the Joy of "Mama, Jump!"

Acer hospital pics

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Aside from the first picture of Acer at his first barbeque, these are pictures from last Monday, when Acer had his hernia surgery. Bill took them with his camera phone because we forgot the camera. They put his id bracelet around his ankle, don't think it would have stayed on otherwise. He's in the smallest gown they had & it still was huge on him. The gentleman is the anesthesiologist. and the picture of Acer on his back on the gurney is after he was given his first batch of relaxation medication - essentially he's drunk!

We go today to have the stitches removed.

Dr's, Dr's and more Dr's

We've had a busy week, visiting Dr's mainly. Acer is getting fairly adept at amusing himself with Dr's office toys now, which I guess is a good thing (not totally sure)
Thursday we had our appointment with the surgeon about Acer's hernia. Fastest dern appointment I've ever had. The appointment was at 1:45 and at 2:08 we were back in the car. The Dr came in followed by an intern and a resident, they looked at the parts, listened to his heart and then sent us off to scheduling. Incredibly enough we were able to schedule the surgery for the following Monday!
Acer had an odd day that day as we had plans to go to the park and play to kill time before Bill picked him up from me at work. I'd figured we'd be much longer that the Dr's and as it was very close to work, we'd just play & then we'd go to work. Well... It was tremendously hot and so we went to Target for a while and then we hung out in the AC'd lunchrooom at work, ate lunch and explored. if it had just been myself I'd have continued with my plans, the weather is not big deal to someone who works outside, but with Acer I just felt it safer to keep him cooler.

Friday we went to Eye Dr #2's office and he has the best play area yet. For some odd reason, Acer ended up on his back, scooting himself around headfirst on the ground. He travelled quite a distance this way before hitting the chairs and deciding that perhaps walking would be better

By the time the Dr saw us, Acer was asleep on my shoulder. This was actually beneficial because the Dr was able to examine him more easily. He echoed what Dr #1 said and we're now scheduled for a sedated ultrasound on 6/21.

Saturday I worked and Bill was during the day caregiver, not to much exciting there but in the evening when I came home we decided to take Acer to the play place at the local mall. Acer's favorite was a bridge on the outside but was actually a slide/steps combo. He explored it, climbed it forwards & backwards and held his own against bigger kids, simply by moving slowly and keeping his centyer of gravity low.

Sunday Acer and Bill went to church while I worked and then they meet me at work for lunch. After lunch Bill and Acer picked up our friend Will and they went to mutual friends' joint BBQ summer party. I got out of work too late to join them but Bill said Acer did fine playing with toys there. He did say one toy said something about being a princess, but Acer didn't mind the sexist twist.

Yesterday we were up early to get to the hospital, we had an 8:15 check in and a 9:45 surgery scheduled. Acer actually went in closer to 10:45 but I expected that. The surgery went well although the hernia was larger than expected, it took two stiches to close intead of just one. We left with a very sleepy, sore little guy and were home before 2. After that he slept on me as I read and napped. He awoke hungry and ready for action about 6, after a meal of milk and fried rice, he was up and running for hours. We've discovered that like his reaction to Benedryl, Codeine seems to rev up his systems. We'll be switching to regular tylenol for pain relief for later today. Last night he really didn't want to go to sleep. just to roll over us and around us and just generally be awake, except in bed.

Today we'll be travelling back to the Med labs with our latest, properly collected stool samples, the ones I turned in a week and a half ago were not proplerly done so I had to go out there last week wed, & get the proper collection bottles. Yeah us!
Earlier I took a break from typing as Acer called from the next room and said he had to go to the bathroom. As I walked in I saw that he was actually holding on to the back of a chair as he needed it to balance. Why? - because he was standing on Rugby's flank! Rugby was actually okay with this, but when Acer tried to move to a new location on Rugby (abdomen or ribs, not sure where he was heading) Rugby groaned & sat up. It was just seconds too fast for me to get my camera dern it.
Well all for now
Bill will be posting pictures later/.
Heather

Hope

Monday morning we went to the eye Dr. It took longer to get there than we'd expected simply because I got lost, but we finally arrived. Dr O'Malley is a specialist in Pediatric Opthalmology, these days he concentrates on the surgeries to get eyes to track and move together. He looked at Acer and said he wasn't the man we needed but that he would get us to the right man, a Dr Roarty who now does the surgeries Acer will need. I appreciated that, his honesty in sending us to someone who would be better for Acer. He gave Acer a preliminary look and then outlined what he thinks Dr Roarty will want to do, and also gave us some hope for correctable sight for the future, at least in the right eye. He could tell that Acer has some peripheral vision, and that he has a cataract and a keyhole pupil. The Dr seemed to think that these were operable and that Acer would have sight with glasses or contacts and the possiblity of a lens replacement in the future. He thought that Dr Roarty will probably want to look at Acer's eyes with an ultrasound while Acer was sedated; that way we'll get the best, most accurate picture of what's going on in those little eyeballs. We go Friday to See Dr Roarty
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A group of Bill's clients from one site got together and threw a mini shower for Acer. Bill's boss Matt was in on it and sent Bill over to fix something. When Bill got there he found they had everybody sign a huge card and had 2 gift bags and a gift card for Acer. It was very generous and nice of them. Bill will post a picture about this later.
Monday night we went to church but Bill and Acer were out in the hall so they didn't disturb others. Acer lost on section of elastic in his pants and they kept ending up around his ankles. He seems to not have enough butte to keep his pants up in general, so I've now bought him a belt.
I'd like to thank everybody who has given Acer a toy that makes noise, they are his favorites by far. I don't mind as they are teaching him. Thanks to a little stuffed Leap toy, he's now bellowing out his ADG's at the top of his lungs. (the letters might not be right, but the notes and cadence are and there is a letter for every space in the song that needs one.
Well, time to get ready for work, Bill meets me there & then drives home with Acer.
Heather

Ode to the Beater, A good, loyal, trusty and rusty steed

Yesterday my car turned 200K. She is 15 years old, puffs smoke out everytime I start up from a light, has paint flakes flying off her all the time, and still gets the 20 mpg she got when I bought her 12 years ago. Officially she a '92 plymouth Voyager but unofficially, she's known as the beater and has taken me across country many times, whether pulling a moving trailer or carrying a canoe.
I look at these 12 years, and she's really been a great car, granted her AC no longer functions, and she's pretty dern ugly, but she's paid for and insurance is extremely cheap on her.
I think that because I bought her to ferry a church youth group around in, the Lord had repaid me by making her last as long as I need her to.
People ask me when I'm going to get a new car, I'll get one when I absolutely need to, not before. Instead I used the new car money to get something a bit more soft and lovable - a two legged mobile named Acer.