MN Special Olympics 2011 Area 12 Swim Meet

Last weekend was the MN Special Olympics 2011 Area 12 Swim Meet but I haven't had a a chance to post pictures until now. I have a lot of pictures. Ready for the overload?

Let me first say a couple of things about photographing a swim meet. 1) It is THE worst lighting possible. High and flourescent, with an odd blue or green glow from the water. I pray for blue. 2) They are fast-action shots which means you need to have a high shutter speed, which does not work well with poor lighting. 3) You're VERY far away from the fast action so a good zoom lens is a must. 4) I have no clue what I'm doing.

Really, the person best qualified to do this would be a National Geographic photographer who shoots lions  bringing down a zebra in the middle of the night.

That said, my shots are only mediocre at best. The start of the races is about 45-50 feet away, and the finish line is about 90 feet away from me. In bad lighting. Moving fast. Just say'in!

Just got staged for her first race. She's pumped!

And found mom in the stands.

Just in case you didn't know it Mom, I ROCK!

Here's the group she's swimming with. Seeing her in groups like this reminds me of how small she is. Angela is very small! Now, she might not be competing against all these people, but all the lanes are used to get as many divisions done as possible. The other girl in the black suit is Angela's friend who is one year younger than Angela, but she is a MUCH faster swimmer and in a different division. Still, they swim at the same time. 

Getting into the water. Never mind mom told her to use the ladder because she ALWAYS gets scraped up getting in this way. This time was no different and she was black and blue by the end of the day.

OOh cold!

Goggles On? CHECK!

Where'd my mom go?

Swimmers take your mark!

GO! This is Angela's butterfly. It's the first year she's swam this event, and she needs A LOT of work before I'll let her swim it again next year. 

Angela is always her own best cheerleader! Everyone cheers with her because you can't not. LOL

Hi mom! Gonna swim my backstroke now!

She looks like she's chalking up her hands. That's gymnastics Angela.

Freestyle!

WHOOOOOOOOOO!!!  I am DONE!!!! WHooooooooooo!

Sharing

I guess you could say I'm a bit superstitious sometimes.

Let's say you're at a BMX track with your son and a group of his friends for his birthday. Let's say you've watched them pedal their little legs off and can see they're getting tired. You tell them it's time to leave, but one of the kids says, "Just one more time ok?" Don't do it! Pack everyone up right that second and get in the car! Why? Because "Just one more time" leads to stitches, concussions, or a combination of the two. I know this. I've learned this lesson. My older kids have learned this lesson.

If my ride bell on my motorcycle should fall off for some unexplainable reason, I'm not riding. Nope. Not. Not until I have a new bell on my bike or I reattached *my* bell. Nothing has ever happened to me, but it could. I've learned from others. It happened to them.

I have many exciting things to share, and yet I can't. I can't because doing so could possibly maybe jinx them. Don't you just hate that feeling?

What can I do to satisfy this urge I have to talk? To share exciting news? Maybe share another picture? Sure, why not?

Seriously?

Yes, I have disabled anonymous comments on my blog. In fact, in the six years I've had this blog, I've never allowed them. And no, just because you made up some silly pseudo name don't think I will post your comment.

So to Tinytim: Yes, I bought my child a "gun". It looks a lot like this one:

It shoots little foam disks. He had a BLAST with it today. He LOVED IT! No, I don't think he's going to turn out to be a murderer because he's shooting little disks at the wall. This happens to be an awesome cause and effect toy for him, while at the same time strengthening his fingers. (always working on those fine motor skills!) There, I turned it into a learning activity!

Believe me, he has seen far worse in his life than this little toy. I'm not too worried about damaging him.

Can I just say....

That Tamiflu is a most amazing drug?

If you're not on my Facebook, then you missed the discussion about Dean last weekend. You see, on Saturday afternoon Dean was just starting to get sick, and by Sunday he was *really* sick.

Sunday I took the kids to Angela's swim meet, then to a cousin's basketball tournament. Basically putting Dean in Quarantine and leaving him alone so he could sleep. I had no doubt he had the flu. I've had it many times. There's no mistaking that certain body ache/fever/chills combination.

I begged him to go in and get tested, and get himself Tamiflu. But alas, Dean is a man, and isn't about to bring himself to the doctor...for anything. (this could end up being the topic of another blog post.)

None of us got the flu shot this year. I'm not quite sure how that happened, but Angela and I usually get one. Somehow it got forgotten in the midst of the adoption stuff. Axel did get a flu shot last week, but this exposure from Dean was too soon for the shot to be effective. Dean doesn't, but after he got H1N1 last year, he swore he'd get a flu shot this year. Anyway I was a bit irritated when Dean wouldn't go in and get checked out. I considered it just plain selfishness since we have two kids here who are at serious risk if they get the flu.

Monday was Axel's surgery, and I was feeling fine.

Tuesday afternoon found me going from "fine" to a high fever in just three short hours. I was *sick*. Right away Monday morning I called and got myself into the doctor (See Dean, really NOT that difficult!) I tested positive for Type A Influenza and left with a prescription for Tamiflu. Then I was able to call the kids' doctor and get tamiflu for them too.

Yesterday afternoon I still had a 103* fever. Today? WOW! Whole new person! Other than a leftover cough I feel pretty good. Dean on the other hand? Not so good. He's still sick. It's too late for him to take Tamiflu. Hopefully it will help the kids avoid getting the flu from us.

I reminded Dean about last year when the flu went through here and our house spent TWO months very sick. He agreed that next year he wants the shot. LOL

Facebook conversations

This conversation took place on Facebook today between me and Dean. The couple that Facebooks together....ugh, I can't think of a rhyme for it. LOL

(bummer I can't get it all to line up right. Stupid Facebook.)

Today

Get off of here!!!!

Hey!

I was checking my work e mail

where are you?

how r u feeling?

lots better

Hugo Mn

figured you were in the driveway

lol

and

umm

Great!!!

lol

work email is not on facebook

no

just so you know

My finger slipped

Mine does that A LOT!

what can I say

lol I know

I bought axel a gun

Oh Boy does he like it?

yep!

he shot me twice

go figure

with what

the bullets

see u in a while

oh

k

bye

1 more stop

if I'm still alive

bye

bye

Quarantine

Our house is officially in quarantine mode.

On Saturday afternoon, Dean started to feel "that feeling you get in your throat" when you're about to become VERY sick. By Sunday morning he was down. I quarantined him to the bedroom while simultaneously begging him to go to the doctor and get tested for the flu, and hopefully get some Tamiflu.

But he is a man. Men don't "do" doctors for some reason.

Monday was Axel's surgery and I was 100% fine.

Tuesday afternoon I had a meeting at my house with one of Angela's service providers at 3:30. I was fine.

At 4:30 I was starting to feel a little "off".

By 6:30 I had a 103* fever.

Today I went to the doctor and got tamiflu for me, and the kids' doctor called it in for them as well.

Now, time for me to get back to bed so I can hopefully warm up again.

The Value of Friendships

I've started reading a new blog recently, called "Trenches of Mommyhood". Today she has a post about cellphone usage. Her post reminded me about something I've been meaning to blog about but wasn't sure how to say it. Over the weekend I was reminded, once again, the damage that can be done to friendships by a piece of technology that was designed to keep us better connected.

I have a good friend who is addicted to texting.

There, I said it. Only she needs to say it to herself. I don't know if she realizes just how bad her habit has gotten. I did try to bring it up to her once, but she got very defensive very quickly. The last time I got together with her, she either sent or received a text every 3 minutes, and would start texting her responses while she was mid-sentence with me.

It was rude.

It said to me, "The person I'm texting is more important than our friendship at the moment."

She is even missing out on her child's life, because while she is physically there for whatever event the child participates in, she has NO CLUE what's actually going on. Again, I witnessed this for the umpteenth time this past weekend. I have watched her totally blow off something exciting her child is telling her as she jumps to read yet another text that has vibrated the phone that never leaves her hand.

It is sad. The people around her, those she considers to be her good friends, are talking about it. She is oblivious, because it would mean putting down her phone to notice.

What about you? Do you know someone who is hooked to their phone, 24/7? Has your relationship been devalued by it?

Coming soon...teens and cell phones. Where are they learning their habits?

We are home!

We are home, and Axel is comfortably sitting on the couch with his Papa. He has a glossy ad in hand, so life is all good! He did eat some pudding (the first time he's eaten in 24 hours.) and I'm sure he's going to want more of something before he goes to bed!

Thank you so much, everyone, for your thoughts and prayers for Axel today. They were very much felt and appreciated!

Also, a couple people have posted comments saying they can't find my email address on my blog. if You have something you'd like to ask me about privately, look over to my right sidebar and find my profile. At the very bottom is a "view my complete profile" link, where you can find my email address.

Updates

I'll be updating via twitter today since mobile blogging isn't working on my phone for some reason. I'll only have time for short updates anyway. You can find my tweets on my right sidebar.

Goodbye teeth!

Tomorrow morning is Axel's dental surgery. I'm SO NERVOUS for several reasons, the first one being the initial intubation.

Remember last month, when I posted the pictures of Axel's MRI that showed just how his spinal cord is compromised? That issue requires Axel to undergo fiber optic intubation.  I found a website describing training someone to do the procedure. Guess what? I am all for allowing student doctors to work with my kids, but there will be no newbies assisting in intubating Axel tomorrow. A friend of mine suggested writing "Do Not Hyper-Extend!" on his chin! LOL

So, once the intubation is done, Axel has LOTS of work to be done in that little mouth of his! *Disclaimer* Since there are several new readers here, Axel was adopted in December 2010. He did not have dental care available to him where he was, so we've spent the last 2 1/2 months getting all of his medical issues addressed.*

Those holes you see where upper teeth should be are where he has teeth that have broken off, and there are still pieces of teeth in the holes. I think he has four teeth that need to be removed, a few that are abscessed, and several that need crowns. One one of his c-spin xrays taken back in January, I did notice he has a couple adult teeth that haven't yet erupted, so hopefully this damage to his baby teeth hasn't affected his adult teeth too severely. Also, his front lower gums are SO swollen! We just are not able to brush his teeth well right now (or since we got him home almost 3 months ago) because the cementum  is exposed making the teeth too sensitive to brush. We sure try, but it is so hard to watch him wince in pain. We know that if he winces, it's bad enough that one of us would be going through the roof. Axel has learned from his years in an institution that complaining won't get him help, so he doesn't. Oh I feel so horrible for him!

Oh, is poor little mouth is going to be miserable tomorrow! But in a few days, he's going to be feeling SO much better, and will no longer be in pain. That means he'll also be able to eat without having to be so very careful where all the food is in his mouth!

Once the dental work is done (or maybe before? I forget!) they're going to take him back to the the CT scan that we weren't able to get last week. The CT scan is needed for the spine surgeon at Shriner's, so he can see all the veinous and arterial structures in his neck prior to surgery, just to make sure there are no surprises when it's time to do his spinal fusion in May.

Tomorrow is a big day. Please pray for peace for Axel, and a very quick healing of his mouth. If you could say a prayer for the mama too, I would sure appreciate it.

More iPad stuff

For those who were asking about what Angela does on the iPad, here's a post a did several weeks ago about iPad apps we use. I should go back and edit that post, because I've changed my mind (fort the better) on one or two apps. I've also added several apps since then.

Axel in particular has learned SO MUCH on this thing. Angela gets skills from school reinforced on it.

Toys

Call me a geek, but I get a little giddy when new technology comes out. I can tell you that right now, the Best Buy store is a good place for me to stay away from!

Why? Because the iPad 2 release was just announced, silly!

If you've been around here for any length of time, you know how we love our iPad. Angela uses it ALL the time, and when she's not on it, Axel or I am using it. We have tons of apps for the kids on there, and then at night after they're in bed I use it to access iBooks or Kindle. And Facebook. And google reader.

The cool thing about the iPad 2 is it has two cameras on it, allowing a person to skype or record video. This is WAY COOL because that would mean, with the iPad 2, I wouldn't need to bring my laptop with me while traveling, just the iPad 2! It is so slim and lightweight compared to my MacBook, that would be a welcome change when traipsing through airports. I don't really like the netbooks, because their keyboards are so small. But I have a wireless keybord for the iPad. :-D

Oh...so gonna get this thing. You know, when I have more money. HAHAHAHHAHHAA

Q & A

I haven't done a Q & A post on this blog for quite some time. So...ask away.

Ear tubes

What I won't do for a nap! Today's little procedure got me a free ticket to nap.all.day. Uninterrupted!!!!! Axel even napped with me. Three hours is all day, isn't it? During that time Dean went to school to pick up Angela who has pink eye. (Gotta get that cleared up before her swim meet this weekend.)

So what did I have done? Well, last spring I had tubes put in my ears so that I can fly without being in excruciating pain when the plane decends. Seriously, it is like someone stabbing me in the ears with ice picks, with my right ear being *slighty* more painful that the left. This is due to severe eustachian tube dysfunction. You would think, when the plane lands and we're back to ground pressure, that I'd be fine, right? NOT! I flew to Philly with Axel two weeks ago and my right ear was still closed when I went into surgery this morning. This causes me to have a lot of trouble hearing clearly and localizing sounds.

Anyway, back in April I had the regular type of tubes put in. These are the same ones they put in little kids.

The problem with those tubes is for most adults they don't stay in very long. Mine fell out about a month ago, and within a couple days of each other. I knew when the first on came out because of the negative pressure on my ear drum.

But I have a lot of flying to do in the next several months, bringing Axel back and forth to Philly, etc. I don't want pain, and I want to be able to hear! So today my ENT put T-tubes in.

These cause a little more scarring to the ear drum, but they stay in the ear much longer *on most people*. The really cool thing is, when I have tubes in my ears I can fly pain free AND hear once the  plane lands!

For those with kids who get tubes in their ears and you wonder what they feel like, well let me tell you. The tube can't be felt at all, but my ears are a little sore, particularly if I hiccup or do other things that put pressure on my drums. But it's minor, and not something I would even take Tylenol for. My ears are itchy though!

Now, bring on the flights! Where should I go to next? Hmmmmmmmmm

Surgery today

For me this time. Just a minor thing. Getting new tubes in my ears! This time I'm getting T-tubes, which are slightly more permanant and should last me about 18 months or so. Maybe longer if I'm really lucky.

I get to take a great nap today. YAY me!

Speaking her mind

Today Angela had a check-up with the eye specialist. This visit is usually a three step process. First she sees one person who checks her vision...I guess. Then another guy, Joe", who checks the prescription on her glasses, and checks her eyes with the new prescription. Then she sees the specialist who looks in her eyes, assures me her cataracts are not changed, and all is good.

So today, we get to step two with Joe. The conversation went like this:

Joe: Hi Angela. I'm Joe.
Angela: I know you. I remember you.
J: I remember you too. Is that your brother Axel? I just met him a few weeks ago.
A: Yes, that's Axel. He's 10.
J: (pulling over one of the thingies that you put your chin in.) I'm going to use this special flashlight to look at your eyes.
A: Hey Joe. You're hot.

This is where I about fell out of my chair.

J: Well......umm...Thanks Angela. I think that's the best compliment I've gotten today.
A: Hey Joe.
J: (cautiously) Yeah?
A: Wanna go on a date with me?
J: Well, I have a date with my wife tonight. Sorry about that.
A: Awww Darnit! You broke my heart.

Seriously, this kid cracks me up.

When we left, Angela walked out of the exam room and all the techs and stuff were discussing something in the hallway. (probably what they had just found out Angela said to Joe.) Angela pumps her arm, "Yes! My eyes can see!"

Axel was behind her, imitating her actions, "Glanjanvidnkjndunehfnaane!"

One of the techs commented, "Those two are a hoot together!"

She was so right.

2633

The title of this post, 2633, is how many votes I need to catch up with the current leader of the Reader's Choice awards, and there are 7 1/2 more days to vote. You know what they say about the power of 10. If 10 people got 10 people, and so on and so on.....

You can go here to vote.