Ducks

This is the latest fascination for Aspen.
Ducks.
DUCKS.
and MORE ducks!

There isn't a bath that she has taken that she didn't insist on  getting every single one of her 15 little ducks into the tub with her.

Stubborn, stubbborn mother

Brenden has had a frustrating cross country season this year, and I have had a frustrating time watching his frustration.  Ever since his crash at state last year (at which time I learned he had had a previous "crash" at a race a week before), he has struggled to improve, finish strong, and have enough energy to finish the race at 100%.  His dad decided after state last year that Brenden had just not eaten well... and had succumb to the stress of the event.  I knew it was more than that.  

Two weeks into the season, he had another less than stellar performance, throwing up afterward, and having several other underclassmen on his team, finish before him.  He was frustrated and decided that he needed to cut of his text messaging plan and strictly enforce his own bedtime.  His eating was also more closely monitored.  Needless to say... not much changed.  I finally started doing my own research on some of his symptoms and running issues teenagers have had.  The best guess I could come to based on this information was an onset of Type 1 diabetes.  At his next race, I brought fluid and honey that most runners who have type 1 diabetes take before a race.  He rolled his eyes, told me I was crazy, and sipped the glucose water and pretended to gag when he ate the honey.   His race was ok that day, but not 100%.  He admitted that he is afraid to give 100% because he is afraid of the possibility of his "crash" happening again.  He said his race was better because he did better eating and sleeping.

Whatever.

Talking to his coach and his dad wasn't helpful.  They were insistent and adamant that eating and sleeping was the problem.  I'm sorry... kids don't have a violent seizure-like run, throw up for an hour afterward, and don't remember the last mile of the race (or 30 minutes after the race) because they didn't eat pasta and got to bed at midnight.

What more could I do?

No one was listening to me, and he wasn't at my house long enough for me to get him in to get looked at.

Fast forward two weeks.  

Two weeks and two races later.  

Two CRAPPY races later.

While talking to Brenden on the phone last weekend:

"Hey mom... can you send me some of that stuff you brought to my race that time?"

Not sure if he was grasping at straws or if it really helped, but I dropped 2 races worth of honey and glucose in the mail.  

 

Even if his coach and dad weren't listening to me... Brenden knew there was something more going on.

I called him Wednesday afternoon.  

No answer.  

They had had a region meet at Morgan High and I was anxious to hear how he had done. 

I got a four word text message reply.

FELT GREAT.  FEEL GREAT.  

I called for further details, and amidst the roar of the team noise from the bus I was informed that he won the race that day, and that he felt GREAT.  

HE WON THE RACE!!!! 

HE FELT GREAT!!!

I screamed.  I cried.  I jumped for joy.

Now we are faced with a crossroads.  

The fact that it helped means that we will be making a trip to get his blood tested next time he is down here for more than a day.

The fact that it helped means I am not just a crazy paranoid mother.  

The fact that it helped makes me happy for his last most important races of the year: Region & State.

The fact that it helped makes me angry that no one would listen to me and get him in for more tests.

Mother's intuition... and a whole lot of prayer.

Thank heavens for answers (even if only a temporary fix)

facebook: the condensed version of life.

Lately life has been so crazy, that I haven't had time for the camera... for blogging... the only thing I seem to have for is texting in life updates to facebook.  So instead of pictures, I took my updates and decided to expound on them since I have a minute.

October 2:     Dear weatherman... please don't tease me and get me excited for five days of thunderstorms only to inform me tomorrow afternoon that you were just kidding.  

We have had unseasonably warm weather for weeks.  Low 90's... even though it is October.  I'm just so ready for cooler weather.  I fear we will go from 90's to 40's, totally missing out on the best season of all: FALL!

October 1:    GO AGGIES !!

 Yeah... it's that time of year again.  The time when I root for whomever is playing BYU in football.  And when they play Utah State (my alma mater) I get to cheer FOR my Aggies and vote NOT for BYU.  Gotta love it when USU actually wins (yeah... that's right:  31-16).  Last time this happened was in 1993, and I was actually in attendance at that game in Logan.

September 29:  The only thing standing between me and Friday is my crazy horribly long long day of parent teacher conferences tomorrow.

Every year it is a bittersweet day.  It's long.  I talk so much, that by the end of the day that my tongue hurts.  The only thing that redeems the 6 hour long sitting marathon is hearing how kids are changing their attitude towards math, or doing better this year than they have before.  ALMOST makes up for it, I should say.  No more PTC's til next spring.  YAY!

September 26:   does a runny nose on a 3 year old count as "sick" enough for me to stay home with her tomorrow??

Yeah... well, I went back to school that Monday morning, but she was worse than she had been.  I planned on taking Tuesday off to take her to the Dr. but we managed to sneak in an appointment on Monday.  My suspicions were correct.  She had a bladder infection (which I suspected because she had been wetting the bed).  Apparently kids don't have the same symptoms as adults do.  She had been complaining about back and stomach pain for over a week.  She also had had a constant runny nose for 2 weeks.  Allergies.  Who could have guessed?  An allergy pill each night, and she hasn't had any problems since. 

September 24: I really really need a weekend without my hubby working cause aspen and I miss him.

Hayden's schedule and working situation lately has been crazy.  Sometimes things always don't go as planned, and jobs have to be moved or pushed back.  This has been our lives the past several weeks.  His employee he has had since December has decided to move out of state.  On top of double booked jobs, he has been dealing with new employees (who don't share the same love of perfectionism that he does), the stress of an employee that is still (barely) working but would rather be gone, late nights and early mornings for the past 15 days straight, and a customer that wants everything extra added to her floor and no desire to increase her bill.  It makes me sad watching him, because there isn't much I can do to help other than what I do:  have a clean house, fix good food, rub his back, and bathe Aspen at nights. 

September 22: 80's day tomorrow at school and I'm gonna ROCK IT (ok, so I never really rocked it in high school, but my students don't know that). Putting together an outfit is what I do to entertain myself when Hayden has to work late :)

No words are necessary... A picture is worth so much more than a thousand words on this one... and 3 pictures???  well... I'm speechless.  The kids LOVED it.

September 20: If a dishwasher wasn't so expensive to fix, and washing dishes by hand didn't SUCK... I'd just let it stay broken

I bumped the inside roof of my dishwasher shutting it (with too many dishes loaded, of course), and managed to break off a part.  After running the dishwasher with no results twice, I realized what had happened.  The first day I washed all the dishes by hand... an entire OVERLOADED dishwasher full.  It took a mere 80 minutes.  By day 4 of this, I declared a strike, and informed Hayden he was either taking over dish duty, or we were eating out.   Needless to say, the dishwasher guy was at our house by 5pm that day.  To replace a $20 part and put it in, our bill came to $144. 

September 19:  Murphy's law... the only time my OUTDOOR cat decides to come INSIDE is after he has fallen in a bucket of gas/oil mix at my neighbors house. WHAT A MESS I have!

I was putting Aspen to bed one evening and kept noticing a strong smell of oil.  Thinking it was something from Hayden's work, I didn't give it much thought.   I looked at Aspen's bedspread, and noticed it was covered in black grease in an area about 12 inches square.   I pulled it off and smelled it.  Yep.  Gas/oil smell.  I immediately began the cleaning process, growing more furious by the minute, thinking it was something Hayden had sat on her bed, or brought in without realizing it.  Then I noticed the back porch.  Same grease spot.  The newly recovered cedar chest in my living room.  Same grease spot.   

The only thing that calls all of those places "home" is our outside cat, Mazda.  I searched him out, and sure enough... from his waist down to the tip of his tail, he was COVERED in gas/oil mix.   We searched the garage, the shed, the yard... without any sign of were it would have come from.  Finally Hayden went next door, and discovered a large open container full of the icky substance.  He had drained his boat oil into a pan once he thought it had gas in it.  The cat must have jumped into it before he knew what was in it.  I felt bad for thinking that Hayden had done it.  We gave our cat a couple of good doses of water and dish soap... which he was NOT happy about.  After a bit of cleaning on the rest of the mess, the bedspread looks almost like new, the porch I don't care about, and the cedar chest cover will more than likely have to be replaced. 

September 9:  Nothing like doing a load of laundry and finding an EMPTY bottle of fingernail polish mixed in with the clothes when I'm moving it into the drying.

If it isn't a cat making a mess, it is a 3 year old.  She has been in love with having to have her fingers constantly dolled up.  Her favorite has been a little bottle of polish she found in a glass star shaped container.  She liked it so much, in fact, that without my knowledge she put it in her pants pocket.  Thank heavens the brunt of the HOT PINK polish was absorbed by the white pants.  It helped that it was a load of hot water clothes with bleach in it.  Only SOME of Hayden's underwear turned pink.  Only some. 

September 3:  Was about 2 cars away from being in a rollover today... makes you look at life a little differently the rest of the day.

Funny how life has those moments of making you stop and think.  The flow of traffic through the construction corridor flows at about 70 mph even though the signs all say 55 mph.  On my way home from school the other day a car came speeding up to my bumper (as I was driving with the flow of traffic).  I moved over to let him pass, and he quickly passed and began passing other people through two lanes of traffic.  I estimate that he was going 80-85.   He attempted to pass another car, and move back into the fast lane, but when he realized he didn't have enough room to do so, he swerved back into his lane.  This caused his SUV to fishtail, his car to go sideways, clipping another car in the next lane, and both vehicles to roll multiple times off the road and onto the embankment of the freeway.  This is all happening only 3 or 4 cars in front of me at the time.  I watch as papers, car parts, and a person go flying through the air as if watching a cartoon of the wreck.  Had I been insistent on not having him pass, could it have been me?  Had I been 10 seconds faster in leaving from school, it could have been me he hit as he rolled.  The realization that life can change so quickly had me shaken up for the rest of the day.  I did more playing that afternoon, more praying that night, and more thanksgiving for the things I have in my life.  It's too bad we forget so quickly.  I take things for granted much too often.