Picture of the Week - 2/6/2020

First - it's early February and has been thunderstorming all day.  Not just raining, storming!  It was 70 degrees yesterday.  Our forsythia are blooming and there are daffodils up at my office.  Mother Nature has lost her mind!

Second - our life is all about wrestling all the time right now.  And I'm not sorry about it!

Last weekend was traditional regionals.  "Traditional" in wrestling just means that it's individual.  You win or lose (just like the team event) but your results 100% determine whether you progress in the bracket or go home.  There's no cushion for error... Regionals is the qualifying event for Sectionals, which lead to State.  Regionals is also the Super Bowl, so to speak, for the JV wrestlers.  West had a great day and won both the Varsity and JV tournaments.  At the varsity level, we have qualified all 14 of our wrestlers to move on to Sectionals.  You have to place in the top 4 to move on.  

Spencer placed 3rd.  He's likely going to run into the guy who beat him again this weekend...  and I think he'll come out on top this time!  He needs to place in the top 8 to move on to State.  I'm nervous and excited for him - and the rest of the team.  

Quinn placed 2nd.  He was awesome!  He's had a really great season - and if you look at his matches from this year compared to last year, there's no comparison.  He's improved SO much!  I can't wait to see what he does next year!!  (Summer first though...  both he and Spencer have given up lacrosse and will be wrestling through the spring and summer.)

Sectional wrestling starts on Friday at 4.  If you are interested in following along, go to http://www.trackwrestling.com  - select Events and search for "GHSA" - we are 7A Section B at South Forsyth HS.  Hopefully we will be wrestling through Sat afternoon.  

I've also attached a picture of Zane and Beck from one of the recent tournaments.  They are troopers and hang in the bleachers for hours at a time.  They keep themselves occupied with concession stand snacks, iPads and each other.  They are pretty awesome - even if they have drank their weight in Gatorade in the last 3 weeks...

Zane eye update

He had a follow-up appointment today and everything is still looking great!  They have taken him off 2 more of the drops - which just leaves one drop!!!  This is a huge improvement and made him very happy.  We don't have to go back for another 4 weeks.  This ordeal is nearly behind us and we thank God for watching over him!!!

Until next week...  and in the meantime - say a little prayer for Spencer this weekend.  He has been working really hard to earn a trip to State Traditionals!

Picture of the Week - 1/9/2020

Yep - we're over it...

And yet, we're still in it... 

Zane just had another eye doctor appointment this morning.  The pressures in his eye are STILL too high.  We are officially at day 14.  He's still on modified bed rest.  He's still out of school.  We are still doing drops and he's still wearing a shield.  And we still have more appointments on the calendar to hike down to Emory Eye Clinic.*

Did you know that (last numbers I could find) there were 7500 hospitalizations in 2010 for eye injuries in pediatric patients?  Did you know that 70% of them were males?  60% of those came from sports or recreational activities.  Ahhhh...  it's so good to be part of a statistic.  LOL

Seriously though, things could have been worse, as I've said before.  Zane's vision is still 20/20.  They tested his color vision today, which is apparently one of the first signs of optic nerve damage, and it's perfect.  So all signs point to a full recovery.  

And yet

We can't get this darn pressure down.  He's young and healthy, so he can handle high intra-ocular pressure for short periods without long term impacts.  But the longer this goes, the more concerning it is.  We started talking about glaucoma management today.  We aren't there yet...  but we're getting there...  

They are taking him, slowly, off one of his drops.  He's still on the other 4.  We go back on Thursday.  The doctor today explained to me that the steroid drop we are weaning off of can cause increased pressure and he does still have a small amount of blood in the anterior chamber of his eye.  I can't see it anymore without special tools, so it's very small.  This blood could be causing the "drainage system" for lack of a better way to describe it, to be clogged a bit or overwhelmed, which could be leading to increased pressure.  So there are still reasons (glaucoma aside) that his pressures might be elevated.  We need to clear out those potential causes before we will really know what the long term prognosis is.  And we are looking at at least 2 more trips to Emory Eye Clinic.

If you could say a bit of a prayer for him that things turn around this week, we'd be very appreciative.  He won't be back to school until at least next Tuesday.  He's out of wrestling - probably for most of the rest of the season at this point.  And he's getting to the point that he's bored out of his mind at home.  He's used to SO much more physical activity than he's had in the last 2 weeks.  (He's currently expending all of that energy chattering...  LOL)

* I don't want anyone to get me wrong, I am SOOOO grateful for the amazing medical professionals we have available to us in Atlanta.  We are blessed.  Truly.  But Emory is an easy 90 minute drive (in Atlanta traffic) from our house.  This clinic is busy and they are thorough.  That has meant long waits at almost every appointment.  Multi-hour waits.  So you are looking at at least a half day experience for each appointment.  I'm not complaining, but it's definitely a hassle.

In other news...  the other boys are all good.  We bought a bearded dragon last weekend.  And everyone is busy wrestling.  

This is a really big weekend for the high school team.  It's Regional Duals weekend.  If they come in first or second on Saturday, they will head to State Duals next weekend.  Stay tuned!  Quinn is wrestling with the JV team in their duals on Friday night and then both boys are on the varsity team on Saturday.  Spencer has the 220 spot and Quinn has dropped weight down to 126 where he's backing up a few different guys and giving coach some options to move people around depending on what the other team looks like.  Should be a fun couple of days of wrestling for sure!

Picture of the Week - 1/2/2020

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a holiday season filled with all the things you were hoping for!  We sure did - and then some...

Not 2 hours after I wrote last week's POTW message, I got a text from Bob letting me know that Zane had shot himself in the eye with a nerf dart.  Most of you have probably seen the updates about what happened on Facebook, so I won't repeat the whole saga here.  I'll just simply say that we are extraordinarily thankful that things weren't worse and that he'll be fine.  It's always exciting around here!

Our New Year's Eve was typically quiet and mostly revolved around chauffeur duties and sleep.  LOL  New Years Day was football and relaxation and chilling with a traditional dinner with the boys and my parents.  Good stuff!

And now we are onto the road to real life.  We aren't quite there yet because our lovely school calendar tells us that the boys don't start classes again until January 7th.  I HATE this part of the school calendar.  It's such a long break and everyone (at least in my house) is ready to get back into a routine by now.  We can't travel because of wrestling (and work) so we are left in this weird limbo of bored kids and confused dogs.  To be fair, I'm at the office today and tomorrow and letting Bob fend for himself!  Ha!  

While Zane is still on bed rest/no activity, the other boys are going to be busy over the rest of the break.  Beckett is going to a Code Ninjas camp to play with Roblox - and he's ridiculously excited about it.  Hopefully Zane will get clearance from the eye Dr at his appointment tomorrow to join him on Monday.  Spencer and Quinn are both wrestling this weekend - starting at noon on Friday.  It's an individual tournament, double elimination.  Spence is wrestling 220 and Quinn's got the 126 spot for the weekend - assuming everyone makes weight.  The team is getting into the heart of their schedule with Regional Duals coming up next weekend.  It's crunch time!

Here's a cute picture from last night of Zane and Beck cuddling with a very happy Brutus.  That dog is so funny.  He's in the middle of everything and when he wants some love on the head, there's pretty much nothing that will stop him from getting it!  

Here's to a fabulous 2020!  Go make it a great one!

Picture of the Week - 6/27/2019

Some weeks it feels like nothing much happens.  Other weeks it feels like A MILLION things are going on.  This week was the latter.

Newsy updates...

Last Friday was the Wolverine Round-up wrestling tournament.  It was really fun!  We hosted 15 teams in a fast-moving wrestling scramble.  The club made some money and the team had a great showing.  Spencer wrestled very well - at 220 lbs - and is very pumped up for the season.  Couple of pictures of him doing his thing...

Quinn didn't wrestle because he's sidelined waiting on some tests.  I've not said much about what's going on with him because Quinn didn't want to talk about it and it wasn't really my story to tell.  Short story is that he's had 3 episodes of seizure-like activity - all while wrestling.  The last happened on their trip to New Orleans.  Since then he's seen his pediatrician and a neurologist.  They both agree this this is mostly likely vasovagal syncope.  It's a stress/pain/anxiety reaction that essentially causes his body to shut down to protect itself - basically he passes out and then the body realizes the threat is over and he's fine.  In some cases, the limbs spasm, like a seizure.  It's scary as heck to watch!  But the neurologist told us that it's not a true seizure and leaves no evidence in the brain waves.  He had an MRI today to rule out other bad things, but given his physical exam this is likely just a precaution.  And what the heck, our deductible is already gone anyway, so why not.  Quinn's handling the downtime well, but is disappointed that he didn't get to wrestle in the Wolverine round-up and also sad that he's got to skip the team trip up to the OSU intensive camp.  (More on the camp in a couple of weeks.  It's the week after vacation.)

Luckily for Quinn, he was distracted by The Walk this past week.  This is a camp our church hosts.  They took over 900 high school kids and around 250 small group leaders to Panama City for 4 nights.  I have enjoyed hearing his stories since he got back SO much.  It was a week full of fun and fellowship and worship.  I think it was a life-changing kind of week for him.  I know that sounds cliche, but to hear him talk.  Goodness, I'm glad he got to have that experience!  That kids deserves some fun and frivolous!  Check out the adorable picture of Quinn and his girlfriend Lily.  I died of cuteness.  

While Quinn was gone, Spencer sold the project truck.  I think it's REALLY fascinating that he "lost" so much money on this project and NO ONE is upset about it.  I'm not.  Bob's not.  And most importantly, Spencer's not.  When you are 16 and only have a couple thousand dollars to your name, losing the vast majority of it on a project that didn't quite work out could be seen as a failure.  It could squash dreams or make you shy to try another wild idea.  I'm really proud that none of those things are true for Spencer.  He considers the lost money "tuition" because he learned so much about how to work on cars while this was going on over the last nearly 2 years.  I consider it tuition because of the life lessons he learned.  Yes, he now knows how to do a LOT of things to a car that I don't know (Bob doesn't know, my dad doesn't know, etc.), but he also learned how hard it is to budget time, how irritating it is to try to deal with unreliable businesses/people, how expensive shipping is, how to sell things on the internet, that even a grandparent's tolerance of a weird situation runs out after a while, and it's OK to mess up and not quite make it to the end of your goals.  There are actually probably a hundred more little things he's learned along the way.  I'm proud of him for trying.  I'm relieved it's over.  And I can't wait to see what he attempts next.  So long rusty red truck.

Oh - and I almost forgot - we got TP'd for the first time ever.  I don't imagine it'll be the last time with a house full of boys...  

We have 1 more day of work left before we head on vacation for a MUCH needed week away.  I can't wait to sit on that porch listening to the waves and watching for dolphins, adult beverage in hand and all my favorite people with me.  SO close!

Picture of the Week - 2/23/2017

Two unrelated, but cool pictures today.

The first is actually from last week.  Spencer got the "honey badger" award one night at lacrosse practice.  He's been good about going to practices and helping where he can - left-handed.  I'm sure his teammates appreciate him being there with them.  I know it's been frustrating for him to not be able to participate.  I think he misses it more than he's let on.  He's doing great though - and progressing through recovery like a champ.  He's started to wean off the brace and they are beginning to incorporate more strength training exercises at physical therapy.  I think he'll be able to participate in most of the summer football conditioning stuff, which is a great reward for the work he's putting in now.

The second picture is one my mom sent me from her day at the Elementary school.  She's been working with Zane's class on making a class quilt!  I hope those kids realize how lucky they are!!  Today she stayed and had lunch with Zane, which I'm positive he loved.  I'm so thankful that she gets to do stuff like that with the kids.  So fun!

Tomorrow Bob and I take off for our Buckeye Cruise for Cancer.  I'm working my way through "to do" lists and preparations to try to make things a bit easier for my parents.  This weekend the big boys are off for a church retreat and then Spencer leaves on Wednesday morning for his 8th grade field trip to Savannah.  It's a bit of a crazy week!  A crazy FUN week!

Cheers!

Picture of the Week - 2/16/2017

Hi everyone!  

Happy mid-February!  Anyone else realize how fast the first 6 weeks of 2017 have flown by???

Lacrosse has, once again, taken over our lives.  I've spent the last 4 days at the fields helping our photographer take pictures of all the teams in our program - we have 23 teams.  That's done now!  Uniforms are distributed, teams have been drafted, and everyone has started their "normal" practice schedules.  Spring season kick-off is NEARLY done!!  The last piece is getting all the game schedules loaded up.  That should happen next week - everyone cross fingers that the league isn't late.  If they fall behind schedule, I'm OUT because Bob and I leave for our cruise next Friday!

That vacation (our 5th Buckeye Cruise for Cancer) on the horizon has gotten me through MANY challenges recently.  I really can't wait!  

Here are a couple of pictures I took of the boys over the last couple of days.  How sweet is Quinn with those little boys?!?!?  And Beckett in the beanie hat with his "tough guy face" last night.... too much.  So cute!

PS - Spencer update...  He gets to start weaning off the shoulder brace next week.  Everything is going VERY well.  We are still looking forward to getting him back to 100% this summer and he's very motivated to use the summer break to make up for lost time in the gym.

Have a great week!

Kara

Picture of the Week - 1/26/2017

Hi all!

Thought I would provide an update on Spencer and how he's done following his shoulder surgery on Tuesday.  The surgery went smoothly and there were no surprises.  Spencer has 4 anchors now to help his labrum repair.  He also had some "scuffing" on the ball of his shoulder from where it had gone out of socket.  All of that's been cleaned up as well.  Here's a nice little infographic of what his injury looked like and how it was fixed.  In the picture the thing that looks like the egg in the middle is the bone of his shoulder socket and the tan stuff around that is the labrum (cartilage).

In general, I think he's done very very well.  He handles pain well - always has - and has had a pretty good attitude about recovery most of the time.  He does have his moments where he's loopy from the medicine or sore or tired or bored.  But all in all, he's doing really great!

Bob and I are exhausted.  It's been a while since we've been up every 3-4 hours through the night to take on care-taking duties.  Turns out it's harder the older we get.  Go figure!

Today Spencer took his first post-op shower and I took an opportunity to take a couple of pictures.  After this, I took off the bandages.  He is not swollen or red or bruised.  He's going to be back to 100% before we know it.  (more on that later...)  Here are a couple of pictures of him before I took the bandages off. 

The last picture is how he's basically looked for the last 2 days.  We moved a laz-y-boy into his room to help him sleep since he can't lay flat while he's wearing the arm brace.  He loves being in there in the dark surrounded by technology and food.  That big blue thing is the coolest invention ever!  It's a cuff that fits over his shoulder and is attached to a little cooler that pumps ice water through the cuff 24x7.  I think it's helped a ton with swelling and pain. 

All in all - we are very pleased - albeit tired.

Tomorrow he goes for his first (of many) Physical Therapy session with our new therapist.  He's actually working directly with the head athletic trainer for the high school.  I love this because he will be able to communicate how Spencer is doing directly to the football coaches and work with Spencer on how to merge into the pre-season football workouts (which actually started this week) when he's ready.  It's a win/win.  Spencer will be doing PT for about 4 months and should get clearance for full contact activities (i.e. football) in 6 months.  If all goes well, that's the week before school starts.  Fingers crossed for an uneventful recovery. 

Thanks to all for your thoughts and prayers.  We appreciate them all!

Picture of the Week - 1/5/2017

News.  Of the unexpected variety.

Have you ever wondered why "unexpected" news is normally either really good or really bad?  It's very rare that something I consider "unexpected news" is simply MEH.  Like sometimes gallons of milk go on sale, which is always unexpected, but I don't really consider that news.  And sometimes news happens, like I get the boys' final semester grades, but I don't really find any of them unexpected.  

The unexpected stuff has, for me at least, tended to cause either great joy or great stress.  Unfortunately we've had more of the latter than the former recently.

And maybe stress isn't the right word for this.  Maybe these recent healthcare related bits of news are more a hassle than stress.  Things could certainly be worse.  I know this.  I remind myself of it almost daily.  Things have, in our very own past, BEEN worse.  So yeah, maybe this is just the way life is.  We have some very normal and kind of boring days with cuddles and homemade chicken soup and we have some days with letters from the school and doctors appointments bringing "unexpected news".  

And we get through both of these kinds of days.  And we learn and grow and say some prayers for all our blessings.  Maybe I should stop thinking of these things as "unexpected" and just view them as THINGS that belong to our family and that we get the opportunity to deal with in the most constructive way we can.  

That's certainly more comforting.  New motto - no more "unexpected news"...  only OPPORTUNITIES for growth.  

So here's the scoop...

A few months ago we got an email from the school about their annual Scoliosis screening.  They were looking for volunteers.  I paid the email almost zero attention.  I forgot when it was.  It didn't register with me at all.  

Then Quinn came home and said he was flagged for a follow-up evaluation.  Hmmm...  that's interesting, but still not something that I did anything about.  I didn't even hit up the internet to look for information about Scoliosis.  Just wasn't bothered by this OPPORTUNITY at all.  In fact, I don't think it even hit the "news" part of my consciousness.  I think I likely blew it off as an error and something the follow-up would clear up for us.  

Then Quinn went to the follow-up and came home saying they saw the same thing.  He has a curve in his back and his left shoulder is higher than his right.  Well then...  It just so happened that the day after this second evaluation was Spencer's 14 year old well-child appointment.  This all happened right after Thanksgiving.  I asked the doctor, during Spencer's visit, about Quinn's OPPORTUNITY and she said she wanted to see him herself, had an opening in the afternoon, and we would go from there.  Well then...

Then Quinn saw the doctor, who confirmed the findings of the school screening and ordered an X-ray.  So by this time, I'd hit up the internet and done a fair bit of reading.  It's really only possible to 1) confirm Scoliosis and 2) determine how bad it is and 3) determine best course of action with an X-ray.  

This is one of those times that I'm SO VERY thankful that we live in a big city with good healthcare options and services for kids.  I contacted Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, who has a Scoliosis department and does regular Scoliosis clinics.  I spoke to the director of this group.  Turns out she lives near us.  She personally knows our pediatricians.  She used to work on the Cardiac Step Down unit at Egelston (where Quinn had his heart surgeries).  I was instantly put at ease and knew we were in good hands.

Then Quinn went to the Scoliosis clinic and got his X-ray.  This was right after Christmas.  His Scoliosis diagnosis was confirmed.  He's got a 4 degree left curve in his thoracic spine and a 6 degree right curve in his lumbar spine - classic S shape.  These curves are very mild.  More on that later..  They also measure how "mature" bone growth is to determine how much more growing is left.  The more growing left, the greater the chance of further curve. They rate bone maturity on a scale of 0-5, where 5 is fully grown.  Quinn is a 0.  (Aside, he was very pleased about this as he seems to be just hitting his growth spurt and is quite anxious to look down on me.)

The plan for Quinn, given his mild curves, but significant growth coming, is to monitor.  No restrictions.  No bracing.  No talk of any kind of surgical or other intervention.  Scoliosis is not curable.  It is manageable.  This is something he will always have, but it's no different than the cleft in his chin.  It's just how he is.  

We were thrilled with the news that his curve(s) were both under 10%.  We were relieved that we don't need to be seen again for 12 months, when he will revisit the Scoliosis clinic for a new X-ray to see how things are going.  

Then Quinn surprised us all by using this OPPORTUNITY to prove he's bigger than anything his little body is going to throw at him.  And it has thrown a lot at him.  He's gone on about his life like none of this has happened.  Maybe I should take his lead and learn a little lesson about saving worry until it's warranted.

And then a little more scoop...

You all know Spencer hurt his arm in the championship football game back in mid-October. We thought with rest he would be fine.  We assumed it was a sprain/stretched muscle.  He was between seasons.  He got lots of rest and started to feel better.  

Then Spencer participated in a lacrosse tournament.  At one point he laid out a kid and came up moving funny - like his shoulder hurt.  Like he was trying to regain range of motion.  He said he thought it "popped out".  We thought he was crazy, but it was probably time to see a doctor.  This was about a month after the original injury.

Then we saw someone with the CHOA Sports Medicine team.  (Aside, CHOA rocks and we are likely going to end up with a frequent flyer card by the time our boys are raised.)  After an X-ray review, Spencer was prescribed physical therapy to strengthen the area and regain range of motion.  This happened right before Thanksgiving.

Then Spencer started PT - and it was going really well.  We liked the PT folks and they seemed to understand that he was an athlete who was really itching to get back to wrestling and lacrosse.  He was also really wanting to continue his weight training routine.  If Spencer is anything, it's focused about getting himself into the best physical shape his genetics will allow.  He's motivated - and successful.  The PT suggested we get "aggressive" with his sessions to speed up the stabilization of his shoulder and signed us up for sessions 3 times a week.  Both the Sports Med guy and the PT thought we'd be good to go in 4-6 weeks.  

Around 5 weeks passed and Spencer was feeling really good.  This was right before Christmas.  His range of motion was back and he had no pain.  He started doing more stuff.  He went to a Speed and Agility training session with his lacrosse team - in the rain.  He fell on the arm and "heard a pop".  He voluntarily pulled himself back out of all physical activity.  It was this voluntary side-lining that made me think that something was really wrong.  He doesn't voluntarily quit anything.  

Then Spencer went back to the PT - who put the fear of God in us saying that he's had several dislocations and would now need 1) to be braced and 2) 12 weeks of ZERO activity to allow the shoulder to heal.  She didn't even want him to lift his arm above his head to put on clothes.  We were surprised by this OPPORTUNITY.  We really (still) didn't have any idea how serious this was.  

We decided we needed another opinion and should go back to the Sports Med team.  The timing of all of this was both problematic and a blessing.  It was all happening over the holiday break - so we didn't miss any school/work - but it was HARD to schedule the appointments we needed.  Our second visit to Sports Med earned Spencer another X-ray and an order for an MRI.  We sort of forced the MRI scheduling because our insurance deductible was long gone and it was much cheaper to get it done last week than it would have been this week.  If I'm being honest, I thought the MRI would show that he just needed some more PT and some more time and was hoping to prove the PT wrong so we could get him back to sports faster.  

Then we got the results of the MRI.  Spencer has a torn labrum in his shoulder and the MRI showed a fracture.  We were referred to a shoulder specialist with Children's Orthopaedic of Atlanta.  We went to see him yesterday.  If I'm being really honest, I 100% expected him to tell us that we needed to stay the course with the PT.  I did my typical internet research and had convinced myself that the best approach for a torn labrum was rehabilitation to improve shoulder stability - i.e. Physical Therapy.  

Then we saw the specialist, who - long story short - recommended surgery.  Surgery with a 6 month recovery period.  Shoulder surgery for a fit and healthy and athletic 14 year old.  If that's not an OPPORTUNITY for growth, I'm not sure what is.  He's already missed an entire wrestling season and will miss the entire spring lacrosse season.  He will, hopefully and fingers crossed and prayers for normal recovery and successful surgery and all that, be back in time to play football with the Freshman team.  His doctor, rightfully, is looking at the long term.  Spencer, surprisingly, is relieved.  He wants to "fix it" now so he doesn't have to worry about it.  In a way that is more mature than I could expect or ask for, he's willing to take the short term pain to ensure that his long term goals remain intact.  Unexpected news with a side of Life Lesson...

So that's what's going on with us.  We don't know when Spencer's surgery will be yet.  Hopefully I will find out today.  I'd appreciate if you all could keep him in your thoughts and prayers as we work through this process.  He'll do amazingly well and I'm sure someday we will look back at this with the benefit of hindsight and view it as a blessing - or at the least as merely a blip on our family path.  

This got really long...  if you made it this far, here are a couple of funny pictures of the big boys in their hospital gowns.  I'm so thankful they have kept us laughing through all of this.  They are such great kids!

PS - My little boys are, blessedly, healthy and happy and boring.  Nothing going on with them that I would consider an OPPORTUNITY.  Except maybe Zane's hair.  It's kind of out of control in the dry, furnace heat.  Apparently his hair really misses the humidity.

Picture of the Week - 12/15/2016

My theme for this holiday season may end up being "Fake it 'til you make it".  I'm having a tough time getting into the spirit this year.  And I feel bad even admitting that.  The Holiday season is supposed to be magical and full of gift wrapping and baking and peppermint.  So far my season feels pretty full of work and stress and drama.

Thank goodness for the little boys.  Because of them, I feel like I have to fake some holiday cheer.  Eventually opening that Star Wars Advent calendar and finding the elf and reading the Christmas stories and watching the classic movies is gonna force me, for real, into the holiday spirit.  For now I'm gonna just keep faking it.  

Part of the reason I'm stressed and busy dealing with drama is (admittedly minor) because of lacrosse and the Select evaluations.  To make a very long story short, Quinn got cut.  So did nearly all of his friends.  This has caused much discussion and I shall not rehash all of the conversations.  It's taken up a HUGE portion of my time over the last 7 days.  It's taken up even more of my energy.  And most of that has been dedicated to trying to protect and preserve the PROGRAM from the fallout - not my son.  More on that someday when I share how I've somehow found myself in charge of the boys program for our league.  I still don't fully understand how that even happened...  

Much drama...

Quinn, despite being disappointed, has taken this in stride.  He understands that if he had been better than everyone else, he would have made the team.  He knows we fully support anything we can do to help prepare him for next year.  We believe in him and think he can prepare himself to be a key member of the Sr Select team next year.  What we aren't sure of, as this is still quite new, is how he's going to respond.  Is he going to step up his game?  Will his desire to get better overcome inertia and cause him to change his behavior and his actions?  Not sure.  I hope so.  And since we've done this before, in different circumstances of course, with Spencer, we know the drill.  We've seen how a disappointment (getting cut, missing out on playing time, etc) can translate into really great things.  

I never like to compare my kids.  They are just WAY TOO DIFFERENT.  However, all Quinn needs to do to see how to turn this situation into something life-changing, is to look at Spencer.  And I know he can do it if he chooses to do so.  

And if he doesn't choose to apply the time and energy and will power to get better at lacrosse, that's OK too.  If he chooses to play the sport for fun.  To use it to spend time with his friends in a less competitive way, that's OK too.  And wrapping my head around that idea has taken some effort - if I'm being honest.  It's hard not to look at what Spencer has done and how much it has improved HIM and not hope for the same with Quinn.  But you know what...  Quinn is NOT Spencer.  They are different.  They have different talents and different abilities and different desires.  I pray that I am able to stay open to whatever Quinn chooses to focus on and that he chooses something to channel his passion into that will make him happy.  

So yeah...  there's been some drama in the house.  

And I haven't even shared some of the new medical stuff we are dealing with.  Not ready yet...  will soon.

As for the old medical stuff, Spencer's shoulder seems to be fully healed.  He's been going to the physical therapist 3 times a week for several weeks now.  It's made a difference.  And now that he's feeling better he's like a possessed animal.  If we don't find him a way to work off some of this energy soon I think he may start lifting cars.  This morning he got up at 6 AM so he could lift before school.  I'm not talking about a couple of bicep curls... I'm talking full on, sweat pouring, lifting.  I just pray he doesn't go too fast and hurt himself again because he's so anxious.  I'm pretty sure he's going to go to wrestling practice tonight.  I pity whoever he gets matched up with...  

This Sunday we have another wrestling dual.  If Spencer's shoulder does well tonight, he will get to wrestle on Sunday.  Quinn will be wrestling too.  He got to wrestle for the first time (since he was in 1st grade) last weekend.  He got pinned 3 times.  The last one was something called a stack?  I think???  It looked bad...  he got hurt... we spent the afternoon at urgent care getting x-rays of his neck to make sure he didn't break anything.  He didn't and he's fine, but wrestling is beast...  And you know what, Quinn went right back to work on Tuesday.  I'm so proud of him for that.  I know he's working hard and not getting much satisfaction from the sport THIS YEAR, but the fact that he's sticking with it will pay off in so many ways.  I pray he knows that.  

Drama this week for sure...

(Little boys are good - loud, but good - and not causing more drama than normal.  Thank goodness!)

Here's to the last full week before Christmas.  Here's hoping things will slow down a bit at work as people start disappearing for the holidays.  Here's praying that we get through the next week without any new injuries.

Here's to finally tackling my baking.  Here's hoping everyone loves the gifts we've chosen for them.  Here's praying for guidance on how to best support all of the needs of all of our children in ways that personally work for them.

Here's to sitting down to drink wine and watch Polar Express.  Here's hoping I can finish that one last project I'm working on before Christmas.  Here's praying that I can remember the real reason for this season and can trust that God has a plan that includes all of this drama.

Have a Happy week everyone!  (And sorry for the wordy email...  it's therapy...)

PS - how cute are these ornaments that Beckett has made for our tree?  I don't even have to fake how much I adore these.  Like seriously love...