Summer 2011 post

July 28, 2011 (okay I know it’s Sept but I forgot to post this when I did it, oops)

My annual update, I do believe it’s been about a year, I never look back on past posts because frankly I like being unaware of my grammatical errors. In my mind it’s perfectly fine, if I were to look back, I may never blog again. Also here’s hoping I don’t repeat anything…

So much has happened in a year as I’m sure with most of society. I will try and recall as much as possible because as you know we live life by school year not calendar year and we are about to start a new year. Jazzy will be in high school! As she walks into the ninth grade, I am bursting at the seams with excitement for her. I look back on high school with such fond memories; I actually just celebrated my 20 year reunion in June. High school is so significant and watching her go through it will be so exciting. Now I’m no Mary Poppins, I realize my excitement might be coupled with a little Tito’s from time to time. Also, I realize that my HS experience was quite different than others, like Alonzo’s. YIKES! When I’m riding shotgun down his memory lane, there is no seatbelt big enough to strap my mind from wandering. When his friends come over and reminisce, FORGET ABOUT IT, that is one party bus I definitely don’t want baby girl to be on! Okay I think I’m upgrading myself to Grey Goose, did you hear that Jake, Fernie, Raul… when in town, GREY GOOSE! Help wipe those memories from my mind, por favor!

Speaking of a love for the ladies, Diego is growing very quickly. He is now 4 ½ years old and will start pre-k in the fall. He is definitely a momma’s boy, as he likes to affirm, “Loud and proud”. Actually, he just adores the love from any female, any age. His best friend is Sascha as he likes to state, but loves to curl up on Jazzy’s lap. And when Jazzy’s soccer teams shows up, he’s truly in Heaven. Nothing like 15 girls loving all over a young boy, this kid will definitely have serious issues. Swim lessons this summer were challenging, until I remembered he is his father’s son... We could not get his floaties off, we barely got him in the water. It took awhile to get his confidence up while in the water, let’s just say he’s “cautious”. Anyway, back to the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree; I was going out of town for a few days and needed childcare for just Diego. I decided to hire a super cute, tall blonde, which is in her second year of high school. She’s the daughter of a friend, she baby sits and has competed in swimming. JACKPOT. Apparently, they get to the pool and she says, “Hey Diego why don’t you take off your floaties?” This little Chicken Little replies, “SURE!” Swipes them off - hours later is doing cannon balls, swimming above and under the water, jumping in like super man, you name it, a regular Michael Phelps. Rock on Britney, thank you. We may need to call on you from time to time. Where was she when I was trying to potty train this knuckle head?!?

Now, the update on my little Sascha. My warrior princess. Since my last post, I believe we have been to Chicago 4 times. I won’t bore you with the specific tests; just know we have been in the “normal” range for the last two visits, since December. Very exciting news. In the last year they have taken away one steroid drug and have been weaning a couple others. Although this is exciting, it is equally very unsettling. I’m always afraid, nervous. Too many drugs are not good, but taking it away almost leaves you vulnerable. Everything just seems like a slight panic attack. After homeschooling this year I learned more about her, and myself. Homeschooling was equally rewarding as it was stressful. I dropped about 1,467 *F* bombs in my head. I learned who she was at the beginning of the week and who she would become at the end. There are many side effects to medicine, and when you see them unfold before your eyes it’s quite impressionable. After her injection on Wednesday, we took Thursday off, because it just wasn’t worth it. She couldn’t focus and was very agitated. This truly gave me another perspective on life. It will make you look at people differently. You never know what is happening in a stranger’s life. When someone cuts you off on the freeway, when they are rude at the store, bad service in a restaurant, even a co-worker having an off day; you just don’t know if it’s a birth mood issue or an altered issue. And there are many examples to remind you of this. Every story you hear is no coincidence, pay attention, it’s relatable somewhere. A couple of years ago a friend of mine was on fire about this lady who was driving her mad. She was the mother of a girl who cheered with her daughter. So she somewhat had to interact with this lady. My girlfriend had to deal with this lady’s aggressive behavior, her tantrums, and her confrontations. Long story short, out of the blue I asked about this lady a couple of months ago, I was inquiring if their relationship had mended since her daughter was on the cheer squad again. My girlfriend informs me that in September she was diagnosed with some sort of brain tumor and they buried her in December. Whoa. You just never know. We need to learn how to give others a break. I’m still working on it.

Aside from that, she is doing well, I’m not sure if you can notice from the pictures but her swelling has gone down, she has managed to lose 6 lbs since December. During our visit to Chicago at the beginning of the year her weight was a huge concern. I do admit I didn’t handle the situation very well, REALLY, how dare they, Let’s pump up your daughter with two kinds of steroids, for a year and a half, and then eliminate the SUN, eliminate areas that have high germ probability, and any jumping because of the weakness in her neck, then they question the weight gain. When she asked me to see a nutritionist, let me tell you, the Gary, Indiana roots I possess found themselves with much strength. I was about to go off… when deciding which language to do it in, I looked at my classy hubby and decided not to put him through the embarrassment. Okay maybe a little, I did have something to say but I did a la Alonzo, with a little class and a soft tone. Don’t ask him to verify this, because like the blog I played it in my head as perfectly fine. Okay, okay, let’s just change the subject all together, she lost 6 pounds and I didn’t speak to a nutritionist. :-O

Fast forward, we survived home schooling, she went back to Spanish schoolhouse for the last 6 weeks of school so she could participate in the end of the year program (and I didn’t have to put together a production a la “So you think you can dance and sing American Idol”) and have kinder graduation. She was accepted into the dual immersion program at the elementary and will start the first grade in a few weeks. YEAH BABY! I’m nervous as heck but one just has to move forward, right?

Fast forward to present day…we have our next appointment in a couple of weeks, I hope and pray it’s all good news and I will try my hardest to post before the new year. Hehe

Lots of love my friends, stay healthy.