Better days..

Austin's mood is good. I gave him an actual shower (well, his back and below his waist anyways)... smiles all around!!

Three days later..

This is Austin. He finally got the courage to walk all the way to the game room!! I think this is the first big step to getting back to normal. I don't think he can use the game controller with his hurt hand yet, but if anything will motivate him to try to use his fingers, XBox is it.

Now when Austin needs to go pee, I help him up but make him hold his cast himself. I stand beside him in case he loses balance, but he makes the trek with little assistance. He hates that I won't help him, but he needs the tough love to get him feeling able and less fearful. He'll scream at me and say, "you're HURTING me!!" and I'll say, "Austin, you hurt YOURSELF making a bad decision. I'm trying to help you". He's sometimes belligerent and ungrateful, but I know it's bc he feels like crap and doesn't like to need help.

As you can see, there's more smiling and he even laughed when I was sponge bathing him last night. He woke up at 1am- apparently having a bad dream- crying and saying, "no! stop! I said that hurts..". We gave him his meds and he went back to sleep until about 9am.

Last night AJ hit his head REALLY hard on the corner of a wall. It was actually bad enough that I almost took him to the ER. He cried for about an hour.. Today the coconut has gone down considerably, but there's still a cut (that didn't actually bleed). We still did his 4yr pix today and AJ really worked the camera... that kid is a freaking HOOT.

Nate's good. That's all for now.

A smile..

Austin's been off the couch 3 times today to pee. This is a pretty big deal. There was much assistance, some crying and it was very slow going, but he did it. Also, he's had much less pain meds- and seems more alert. You can tell he has some swelling in his shoulder.

It's been a better day. We tell him that every time he gets up and every day that goes by he'll feel better and better. Also, getting up helps to lower his fear level. He's still in pain, but it seems manageable today.

Nate got annoyed with the quality of my work...

so he decided to take matters into his own hands...

Healing..

Austin is very subdued- probably from the pain meds he's on. He's sad, and will start crying quietly to himself. He says, "I don't want a broken arm" and "A.J. is so lucky". He's in pain and sore. It's very sad to see. On the other hand, he smiled at me today- even if it was only for a moment.

We try to get him to sit up about 30 minutes after his pain meds. We need to have him stretch his muscles and get the blood flowing a little. For the most part, he lays on the couch and watches t.v.

A.J. seems very concerned for Austin, but Austin pushes him away (verbally anyways). I think Austin doesn't like to seem vulnerable to A.J.

Austin's follow-up appt with the orthopedist is on April 3rd. In a couple of days we're hoping the soreness in his other muscles will fade and he can just work on the healing the bone part. He hasn't been able to suck his thumb, but also hasn't complained about that at all today.

That's all for now. Here is a pic of Austin with his delivery from Grandma and Papa and a pic of Nate in a wagon that's not meant for carrying people.

Austin's Broken Arm

Today Austin got a pretty bad injury at school. He broke his left arm, upper bone. It was broken enough that you could see the disfigurement through his skin. I believe he was just playing on the playground and jumped off of a piece of equipment that wasn't meant to be jumped over. Anyways, after a long day at the Emergency Room, an ambulance ride, morphine, x-rays, and SURGERY to pin the bones back together...our little boy is home now.

Here are some pix:

Getting Buzzed and Nate's first haircut

new pics

Hey Florida people, how about some pictures of the new house, the boys, and some of you two even.

Grandma

Yes....I have a JOB!!!!!

Yes, I am working now.....feels soooo good to be back in the world of paychecks!
Will let you know more later!

Cutie!

Here are a couple of Tate. This was his first experience with the pool. That's Auntie Dawn with him. The other is a pic of him playing in A.J.'s closet and in all the blankets and pillows we had in there.

We're In!

Well, the closing went far from smoothly today, but about six hours after we were supposed to finish, we took possession of the house! Here is the address and phone number:

5910 Trevors Way
Tampa, FL 33625
(813) 962-8281 (won't be available until tomorrow.)

We will start taking visit reservations starting in about a week or so!

A.J.'s Birthday Bash Pics Part Two

A.J.'s Birthday Bash Pics Part One

a Blog heavy day..

I know I've put a lot of crap out today.. but I just keep remembering bits and pieces. If anything else comes to me, I'll just add to this list:

1. Heard Aunt Wes got a job... Is that not worthy of a post? Jeez.

2. Nathan started kissing yesterday. He opens his mouth and licks my mouth. BEAUTIFUL.

Pics on the way...

Sorry it's taking so long for the birthday party pics. I was without my computer for 5 days. My video card crapped out...but the place I took it figured out that I didn't need it anyway! So everything is great, and I will have some pictures for you all very soon.

It was great to see everyone again. I don't get to see you all very often anyway, so it didn't feel too different yet. I'm sure once the months go by, I'll realize how far apart we are.

The saddest thing I've ever heard

I went to pick Austin and AJ up from school today and AJ says, "are we going home now?"

Me: "well, we're going to daddy's. Is that what you mean?"

AJ: "not to the condo?"

Me: "no, back to daddy's workshop"

AJ: "Oh, I don't even know what 'home' is anymore..."

sigh...

So today I see Nathan on the floor oozing drool and white bits from his mouth. He's not choking, just puffy cheeked and oozing grossness. I run over and pinch his cheeks and stick my finger in there to clean out whatever he's gotten into... and practically an ENTIRE chicken breast comes out. Seriously, the piece of meat was enough to choke Dave.

Oh, and earlier I saw him looking at me with that naughty grin.. and I say, "Naaaaa-thannn????" and he turns on his butt and starts crawling away at light speed- leaving in his wake a spit covered dime.

Also today, Nathan has discovered he can climb up on- and dive face-first from- the little blue sofa that was in A.J.'s bedroom.

I Am Deeply Not Offended

1) I know a joke when I hear it, 2) it's true, and c) I have searched the entries and can't find the comment. I am, however, offended by the racist comments, like, "White guys can't do math."

Was that offensive?

Ok, so there's debate over here if what I said about Papa in the earlier post was offensive or not (the thing about "to a much lesser extent"). I obviously meant it as a joke. Dave thinks it was rude... Want to weigh in? And I don't know why I'm even asking because, honestly, I could give a shit.

Anyways, here's a pic of A.J. tonight wearing his birthday gift.

The House is Quiet Now

No one is yelling or crying, but no one is laughing, either. I miss the beeps and boops of the video games. I miss reading stories, although it didn't go well the last night you were here. I read what I thought was a nice story about a little girl and her mother picking blueberries on a mountain. When I finished, AJ squinted at me and said, "I HATE that story!"

It was so good to have you all here. Tampa doesn't seem as far away as it once did.

Going "home"

We all had a wonderful time visiting- and we got a LOT of work done. Aside from a successful packout, we got the house under contract, had a rockin' birthday party for A.J., got to see Grandma, Papa, and Uncle Mike, got a casino night (and lost 7 frigging dollars), visited old friends at Delmar Gardens, and ate some pretty damned good food.

Here's a pic of our boys on the way "home". Thank you all so much for your help. :)

Daddy's hat

Spoons

Does this need an explanation?

Saying Goodbye

Our beautiful O'fallon home went under contract again today. If all goes as planned, we should be closing that deal on April 14th.

Going to Grandma's

"Try it again day"

Yesterday A.J. woke up, came in the kitchen and started dancing, "we're going to GRAND-MA'S HOUSE" - he did a very cute little jig.

Today, AJ woke up, came in the kitchen and said, "IT'S TRY IT AGAIN DAY!!"

So we're getting ready and will be on our way soon.

He was handsome this morning..

I had Tater all gussied up for his trip to Grandma's. These things never last long. Here he is with tonight's dinner (pizza) all over.

The Snow Fingers

What a strange snow it was today. After talking to Mom, I understand that it was a similar story all around. Here is a picture of the snow band that canceled my school today.

By the way, the distance between Camdenton and Lebanon (just south) is about 25 miles.

Try Again Tomorrow

Nina and the boys got to the airport just fine. The plane took off, and everything was going just fine. The plane got within 45 minutes of St. Louis, when the captain got on and said, "Sorry folks, we're going to have to turn around and go back to Tampa due to weather issues in STL."

Nina said that AJ just put his head down and started weeping... and he said, "but I miss my grandma VERY much...". Then Austin started to cry and Nina started to cry.

It was a heartbreaking moment. We'll try again tomorrow.

Oh, to Live in Missouri!

Are you sure you guys don't want to live in Missouri anymore?

Sunday, March 2: Partly cloudy and a light breeze...76 degrees.

Monday, March 3: 2 inches of rain and very windy...temperature falling throughout the day.

Tuesday, March 4: SNOW DAY! Windy with 4-8 inches of snow forecast...20 degrees.

Nathan eating a deck of cards

Nathan's been eating anything he can pick up. Here he is eating one of the playing cards... he's had about 33 others earlier.

Another AJ birthday pic

Goodbye, Daytona!

Well, this has been a hell of a weekend - yesterday, we started the day celebrating AJ's fourth birthday at Chuck E Cheese. Then, we stopped at the apartment for a few minutes before we headed back to Daytona. Once we were there, we spent the rest of yesterday and the early part of today packing our stuff and cleaning out the condo. Then, we packed the car(s), headed back to Tampa, and put all of the stuff from the condo in the apartment's storage room. We have now officially vacated the condo, and now, God willing, the next time we visit the condo, we'll be on vacation.

So, as Nina said, step 483 is now complete - we are all now in Tampa! Next step - go to Grandma and Papa's house for sleepovers and move the rest of our stuff here.

Chuck E Cheese Surprise

We surprised the kids with a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese for A.J. They had a very very good time! This is only one of the pix I got. You'll just have to be patient until I can get them all out of my camera.

Happy Birthday A.J.!!!

AJ said, "Are you gonna miss me, Mommy?"

Mommy, "where are you going?"

AJ: "I mean, are you gonna miss me when I'm not a baby anymore?"

So Much Has Been Happening...

I apologize for keeping you in suspense about the cable bill. It's been a blur of activity here. Yes, I paid the bill. I'm going to wait until next week to pay the Regions Bank Mastercard bill because it's over $600 and will have to come out of the next check. I paid for the windshield wiper motor on the Saturn with the Regions card.

I have to pick up my medicine at Schnuck's pharmacy today. I may get a haircut tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.