I wanted to at least post before the end of November....I've got 1 day to spare. Last week for Thanksgiving was a bit of a mixed bag. I wasn't sure what to do this year, although the only plan I did make was I didn't want to fly anywhere. Other than that, I wanted our week to be flexible and open to options.
It's a good thing I did that because sure enough, my son last weekend kept saying his throat was hurting. I assumed it was a regular sore throat so at his 8 year well-visit the Dr. says after looking, "Hey, um...so I think we should test him for strep". And yes, positive. Then, after starting the antibiotics last Monday, on Tuesday morning he wakes up with a rash all over his legs, arms, cheeks, etc. I called the nurse who told us to come back again. Dr. wanted to see if it was possibly viral, but she is thinking he has a penicillin allergy. Add it to the 70 other things he's allergic to. She was able to switch to another antibiotic and all is well now.
Once he was feeling a bit better we were also able to go to our Embassy suites hotel again this year. We had some hard/sad things happen at the first E hotel we stayed at i.e. my Dad passing, my son knocking out two teeth and fracturing his cheek on the bedside table corner. Bad mojo, so last year we stayed at a new one, and went back to the same this year. The pool was out of commission that night, which was a bummer, because after we spent the night the next day my girl reeeeally didn't want to go, so we decided not to. It was cold as well, so I wasn't too upset.
Our plan after the hotel was to also go to a very small theme park about an hour from here, but we got sooo much rain last week, we had to just make do with hanging out at home until weather got better. In the meantime we were able to go shopping for a new bike for my girl. She just keeps growing so much that her seat can't be extended anymore (she's almost 5 ft tall and she's only 10). This is her 4th new bike, from the itty bitty with training wheels, to the one she learned to ride for real, to a bigger one, to one now I think she should be able to use until she's well into teenager years. The only thing is, it's making a loud noise while spinning so I need to take it back in to see if something needs adjusted.
After the rain rain rain, it finally cleared up enough to where Sunday we were able to make it to the theme park. My girl was super excited about the whole thing and my son was, well, a bit nonchalant. At first he didn't really want to go....but I'm not sure he understood all the different type of rides they had. In addition, neither of them had ever been on a roller coaster before. As for me, it's the first time in my life where I had to check weight limits and also see whether I could actually fit on rides. It actually turned out to be a non-issue as I didn't hit any limit and was able to ride everything the kids did. That's not to say it was super comfortable and roomy. We started off with the high swings, and I've realized heights is not my thing anymore. Then we decided we should go for the roller coaster. I squished myself into the seat and would have done what I had to, as this mama wasn't about to send her kids out on it by themselves. I don't even have the words for how roller coasters and free falling feels at 47. Frightening, painful, it's like my brain was knocked around a bit, wobbly afterwards. I don't recommend it. I was in the car behind my two and watched as my son's head (who is a few inches taller than 4 ft) kept hitting on the side of the car when we swung around the sharp turns. I asked them what they thought and neither could decide. I asked if they wanted to go again and they said no way. We spent the rest of the time going on the carousel (which I absolutely hated because apparently I now have a major fear of heights and there is no seatbelts in those things!) I squeezed my son's hand until it turned red. My daughter felt the same way and both of us said it's the worst ride ever. My son sat there cool as a cucumber. It was sweet he offered his hand to both of us girls as we fretted the entire time.
Our final hurrah was the spinny cups you sit in....and it was so cool because all 3 of us could go in one and my daughter said it best, it wasn't scary, but it was thrilling! We all squealed and laughed and it was the perfect ride to end our time. In fact, we all liked it so much we did it one last time. Then headed home and prepared for this week we are in now.
It's definitely back to the busy schedule as both kids decided to play basketball this season and my son's first practice was last night, and my girls was tonight. My son has practice Mon and Thurs and my girl has practice on Tues and Thurs, and she has a bible group every other Tuesday so today, she went to school, straight from there home w/ her friend, then went to bible study, then I picked her up and we scarfed down dinner, then went to basketball practice. This has got to be the busiest day she's had in her whole life.
I am a bit worried for her as she will likely adjust ok as long as she doesn't get sick. We struggled w/ that during her soccer season in that her sicknesses lingered and it just wasn't possible to finish out the season. I am hoping hoping that she can maintain and hang in there. I was pretty impressed with how much they were teaching the kids about basketball fundamentals and even game play in the first practice. I always watch really close the coaches to see how they do. The head coach seems good with his tone and instruction, but the assistant coach, well, let's just say he's a bit more short, abrupt, and loud. I'm not sure how my girl will respond to that, but will see. She made me promise when I watched practice that I wouldn't say a word--so other than a brief "Good Job" and I got the eye, I kept quiet.
On the way home my heart burst with pride....I was impressed with how well she just jumped in, even though she was nervous, and even though it was all new. She could tell one of the girls was struggling so I saw her try to show the girl what she needed to do. I also saw how she kept trying to do what assistant coach asked her even though he made her do it 3 times in a row. She didn't give up. I'm such a sap, I told her in the car on the way home how proud I was of her. And it was so sweet, she said she was proud of ME for not yelling out in the gym, even though I wanted to. It was a great bonding moment.
I felt like the whole Thanksgiving week we just bonded a bit more. I specifically leaned into her by trying to find her and just lay with her on the bed, for example. She also struggled falling asleep many of the nights so instead of sending her back to her room, I let her lay on the couch. And when she went back into her room she asked if I would hold her hand. So, off we'd go and I'd sit on the side of her bed and hold her hand. Sometimes she'd ask 3 times and instead of saying no, I just went in and tried to comfort her. Lot of hugs and it really was wonderful. That's not to say there weren't challenges because there were. She was still somewhat irritable some of the time and sadly, I noticed her anxieties picking up. She gets quite a bit more anxious in new places and in public. Not sure what to do there other than watch and see. I'm trying to get us established with a new primary care that is part of a 'system' that is in our network. Well, today I called and to establish as a new patient they said first available is in January. I just don't get it. I really don't. We live too far from the medical center for it to be our primary care office and I can't understand why these things are hard for us. It's hard to know what to do sometimes.
My son also really impressed me at his first basketball practice. He's a lot more sensitive to the coaching style so I was really paying attention to coach Brandon in his practice. My son's the type of kid that has a hard time with constructive coaching because he doesn't want to feel like he made a mistake. I've been working on helping him understand that's what coaches do....they help you get better. They want you to be better. He seemed to get on ok w/ the coach. He also showed me how the many hours and hours he goes outside and plays basketball in our driveway has helped him become an aggressive, confident player. Very proud indeed. Both kiddos seem happy with joining so far and I can't wait to see how they progress this season.
I love sports...I always have. I like the competition, getting sweaty, gritty, don't think you can give more and do....it's just something that's stayed with me. I played organized sports starting in junior high...I think back and my kids have been in organized sports since age 3+ starting with soccer, then flag football, and also basketball. I didn't start until I was 13 years old! I played all 4 sports in junior high--volleyball, basketball, track, and softball. We didn't even have soccer or swimming (didn't have a pool in our town). As I got older I found out I was pretty darn good at volleyball and over time, just focused on volleyball. In highschool my senior year I went back to playing basketball mostly because my mom wanted me to. I was a pleaser with my mom for sure. If she really wanted me to do something, I totally would and did it. Then I continued playing volleyball in college for 3 years, then I transferred from the small college in my home state, to a neighboring state college where I had a boyfriend. Go figure. I continued to play volleyball in pick up leagues, and when I went to graduate school I joined the traveling club volleyball team there. That's where I injured my right shoulder with a SLAP injury and took a few years off until I had surgery in 2003 (I think?). After that and rehab, I was able to play again and I joined a gay men's volleyball league. Most of my closest friends at the time were gay men, so there you go, I joined them playing volleyball for several more years. Then, around 2006 my mom came to live w/ me and my playing slowed....then the years afterwards.....then I started on my journey to motherhood and haven't played since.
It's not until this moment that I realized how much a part of my life volleyball/sports in general has been. And how playing them has slowly faded out. I kind of got sad just now thinking about all the teammates, tournaments, competition, traveling on the buses, etc.and miss those days. I honestly couldn't play at this moment because I can't run (my knees aren't great bending). I do go out in the driveway and shoot hoops, etc. with the kids and I kick the soccer ball around, but never did play that sport so don't know what I'm doing there.
That's something one of the counselors along the way was trying to get me to see is that I have lost focus on doing things for me after starting the motherhood journey. When I say I went feet first, all in, I really did. It became my mission to research as much as I could and then start trying to conceive, having the kids, and here we are 11 years later my life has been consumed with motherhood and my children. I don't go out at nights, I don't date, I don't play sports, I'm not in any clubs...I mom. That's exactly what I wanted to do, and why I had kids....but haven't explored the 'me' part of 'me' in such a long time. But let's be real...as a single mom, when do I have time do that?! I think what's got me thinking is that omg....I'm going to have a middle schooler next year. Blink and then I'm going to have a highschooler, then another one....then they will be off in their lives to college or wherever they want to go. Empty nest. I shudder......
Ok, not to get too far ahead of myself. Christmas holiday coming soon my kids will be off school for 2 weeks and my sister will come for one of those. I'm kinda sort of looking around at job market but likely will pick that up the first of the year. I finally finished my rental renovations i.e. inside of house, outside of house/garage, inside of apartmnet, landscaping, and house appliances. It's been a long haul, but it looks outstanding. I'm so proud and love how it turned out. Now, just need to get house rented and we are good to go! I've also been spending a lot of time, I mean a lot of time working with my sister to help get her business streamlined into this software system. I started with watching the system 101 videos. The silver lining is of me not working now I've been able to dedicate so much time to help her, which just feels good. I am really enjoying it too.
So....I am pretty busy most days and am working a lot it seems....just not getting a paycheck for it :)
