Update on the diet

Because yes, I'm still going strong !! Finally under the 200 and 40 lbs gone, unbelievable. To pick up Sebastian, who is not anywhere near 40 lbs and know that was weight that I was carrying around ! I have given away my first load of clothes that were hanging off of me.

Papa left, we're sad

Whirlwind couple of days. Yesterday we went to church, came home, L went for his visit and as soon as he came back we left for Tampa to visit Kim. She looks a 100% better, can make a fist, can not quite release the fist, but what great progress !!!!

We visited, actually went to the patio area and sat and chatted, went over some financial stuff, hugged, shed some tears, laughed...........what a relief to see her so much better !

On the way home we dropped papa off at his truck, he had to squeeze one last load in, responsible til the last minute ! While L was on his visit, we had already packed some of his clothes and a suitcase full of clothes and shoes to give away.

He slept in the truck, this morning drove over to Venice, where the truck is going to stay parked at a neighbor's job site, while Papa is gone, this neighbor is going to do some work on his truck. After L's OT/PT, I drove over to pick Papa up, L slept the whole way, he was tired of working so hard at therapy !

We finished packing, ate lunch, I ran to Wal-mart for last minute stuff, and as the day went on I fekt more and more anxious. It has been a long time since Papa has been gone this long. The kids don't even remember...................we'll be fine. Just absolutely hate saying goodbye !!!

We decided Oscar and Alex were going to take Papa to the airport and after that swing by Kim to visit. So all the kids gave their kisses, we showed them a calendar where we will cross off the days. All kids got a musical toothbrush (it plays music while you brush for 2 minutes) trying to keep it all light................

Sofia refused to come outside to see him of. Lili would not go of my hand and kept saying that she felt really sad. Max stopped playing and said, I really don't like papa to go that long, I want him to stay here. Sebastian has not said a whole lot yet. Lili keeps walking around and has big shiny eyes, tears will probably start soon, the poor thing.

I'm good now.............it's the goodbye thing. I tucked a card in his carry-on...........................................hopefully time will go fast.

I have to focus on the rest of the week, holy cow, macaroni&cheese (as Sebastian likes to say)

Tomorrow morning, EEG Sebastian, labwork afterwards, blood and stool. After we'll fly over to the Coalition where L will have a supervised visit, then we'll fly home where an Early Steps therapist will meet us for therapy for L. ( when oh when will they start selling diet cokes with optional extra shots of caffeine !! )

Wednesday, specialist appointment for L, about 1 hr drive away. Half day school for the kids ( I can smell a movie afternoon coming !)Licensing coming for quarterly visit ( so the house has to look halfway presentable LOL )

Thursday, Guardian ad litem, caseworker are coming early afternoon. Originally I planned to pick up kids from school and start driving to Orlando to go pick up Oma. Oscar offered yesterday to go with Alex, which starts to make more and more sense.

I thought about just taking 2 (besides L) but then I feel bad for the other ones, driving with all 5.....................mmmmmmmmmmm, maybe it would be better for Oscar to go, and I'll wait for Oma here, with a glass of wine and some good rice !
I feel bad, but I shouldn't feel bad, I know that mom will understand.

We're back...........

The past days have been weird, just weird. Saturday, I just really felt I needed to make my blog private..............apparently it's pretty easy to find a blog and the thought of bio's reading my blog...................creeps me out. I don't mind strangers, LOL, God knows I read some blogs of people that do not know me.

BUT, I read blogs for inspiration, other foster or adoptive families, families with special needs kids, etc.

I had actually written a blog about L, but was smart enough to save it as a draft. Then I thought maybe I should go private......................

For right now I have decided to make it accessible like it was, but I will not post anything about L, other than maybe that we have an appointment, or how he is in general.

Wiggling fingers............

Kim is able to wiggle her fingers and lift her leg a tiny bit, awesome news !

This week has been an adjustment for everyone..............Oscar driving his friend to the hospital ( 1.5 hr one way) leaving him less time for girlfiend/band/youthgroup
and stuff. Papa and myself trying to get the finances in order/paid, at times frustrating. Papa a bit anxious about his upcoming trip to Peru...............

A friend called him yesterday, to go diving this morning, I convinced him to go. I know he'll come back relaxed, he's worrying too much....................

LOL, as I was typing this, he called, his friend stopped at Wal-mart, buying all kinds of stuff, getting a fishing license, looking at nets...............papa can NOT stand shopping, and definitely not Wal-mart on a Saturday. Told him to breathe and relax LOL LOL

The boys are playing outside, sometimes I wish we lived on 5 acres, with trees and mud and adventures for them. Max is such an outside child..............but they are happy, going from the trampoline, to riding bikes on the sidewalk, to playing on the swingset....................it has been wonderful weather, not too hot, so the outside play is in full swing !!!!!!!!!

Sofie is playing with her littlest pets. She already had quite the collection, and
last week we stopped at a garage sale where we picked up 36 of them for 10 cents each!! What a find !

Lili is hanging around, she has a cough and stuffy nose. L is swinging, taking a rest after crawling all over the place all morning. The girls had put pillows on the floor that he was crawling over, wonderful physical therapy !! Getting him stronger, less frustrated, he is doing so well, and the kids are doing great with him !

appointments, appointments........

We have been so very busy, our lives are always busy ofcourse, between work, the kids, the house, etc.......but whew.......

Lots of phonecalls, trying to sort out financial stuff for Kim, mainly what's due, what do we pay first, etc. Getting disability payments started, or rather the process. Some people are hugely helpful and others are complete a$$es. The mortgage company was wonderful, after we explained what was going on, and really all we needed to know was if the payments were automatic. Verizon, however was unbendable. Lifestyle fitness said no at first and then were very helpful, we froze her account for now, saving $75 a month and right now everything helps !!

This afternoon I had an appointment with dr H for Sofia, we went over a bunch of stuff and Sofie did great with verbalizing her feelings. Looking back, Sofia has changed a lot over the past year. She has always been a happy and smiling. Over the past year she has changed to a little girl that constantly swings from being happy (life is wonderful, everyone is great, I just love the world) to a child that picks fights, is vindictive, mean, tantrums. This swinging back and forth happens several times a day and its' exhausting ! I can't even imagine what it must feel like for her !
In her own words, she feels weird, feels angry and wants to break stuff, people won't/don't like her, etc, etc

Dr H said she scored a 10 out of a 10 basically...........it makes me sad, but at least we are ahead of the game, instead of waiting for major things to happen. She will start taking Ailify to try and even out her moods, very low dose. I am praying it works ! I want my happy little cholita back !!

Lili is sitting next to me, she has been coughing and her ear feels icky, so I need to check that out. Tomorrow we have OT/PT, afterwards L goes for his visit. he has been doing great and such a blessing !! i'll have to make a separate blog about him. His well baby check up, he weighed 16.13 lbs...............he needs to gain weight !!!

update

It has been quite the week ! Very, very busy, between everything that's going on with Kim and the kids and little L. Y'all, I don't even know where to start.............

Kim was transferred to Tampa, late Thursday night, had surgery on Friday. A large brain tumor was removed, the surgeons were able to get the whole tumor out !
The bad news...................the tumor was melanoma..................so the next day a whole body scan was done and thank God nothing else was found. PG !!

Ofcourse a lot of things have had to be figured out, plans made, etc.............about the kids, place of rehab, paying bills, etc, etc

The youngest son is going with his dad to KY, the oldest will be staying here with us..................not a problem, other than space wise............where do we "stack" all these kids ??

LOL, Alex will be sleeping at home and Oscar will "move in " temporarily, to sleep there as well, so Alex won't be by himself. Days will be spend here.

I am going to be added or authorized on Kim's account, so we can pay bills and keep things current.....................we'll also are going to do a mini extreme home make over...................organizing a very disorganized closet and a garage that's stacked to the roof.................I received "carte blanche" from grandma to get rid of all the junk LOL

So, right now, just lots of prayers for some good things to be happening in rehab !!

This definitely has thrown everyone involved a huge curveball and an even bigger wake up call...........................things happen just like that.........

Papa was very close to cancelling his trip next week, but I convinced him we'll be fine...........................Oma is coming, plenty of help.

So, now I have 7 kids LOL

Just like that............

Just like that...............things change.............

I am shaking as I'm typing, we are all in shock. Yesterday all was "normal" in our little neighborhood. We, in this little corner, have been neighbors for 12 years, gone through all kinds of "life stuff", babies, divorces, cancer scares..........but also birthday bashes, parties, midnight swim meets, etc

My neighbor across the street, Kim, collapsed last night around 12.30 am, we all just found out this morning. The news is not good, she has a deep tumor in her brain, there is bleeding, her speech is affected and she is paralyzed on one side.

She will have surgery later today at a hospital about 90 minutes from here. Right now she is still here in the hospital. Our neighbor Lisa, re scheduled her work for today and went straight there. Oscar and Joseph ( other neighbors son ) went to support Alex, Kim's oldest son. These 3 boys have been friends since they were 4 years old. Zach , Kim's youngest is at home, he did not want to come over here, he's watching movies ( and has kind of disconnected himself, maybe not a bad thing)

I'm going to check on him in a minute, take him for some food to Mc Donalds.

I called their father, who lives in a different state. I talked to Guillermo and he agreed, Mike needs to come down and be here for the boys, we don't know what is going to happen............Mike had only talked to Alex and was not completely aware of how bad things were.

We need lots of prayers...........................