K passed into grade 5 next year, out of 19 marks he got 13 B's and only 6 C's which is amazing for him and we are all so proud of him. He has been wanting an iPod touch for quite a long time now (almost a year) and had been saving up his money and had got to $100 on his own. So my parents told him that they would pay for the rest of the iPod since he did so well saving his money and so well in school (and Karate - he is now a green belt!!!) and I told him that I would pay for his first iTunes card and to put an extended warant on it. He got his on June 30th. I had some troubles getting it all set up and working because of the strong protection I have on our WiFi network and the fact that we never knew that you had to have either an iTunes card or a credit card on file to set up an account. Got those figured out though and that evening he was able to play it. We kept looking for free games for him but as it was getting late, I had him write down 10 games that he wanted and I would work on downloading them as he had to go to bed.
Well I downloaded those games and then went searching in the App Store to see what else there was. After a lot of looking and drooling over Apps and songs that I would love to have, on July 2nd I went in to town and bought myself an iPod as well (July 1st was Canada day so all the stores were closed). I have already downloaded a few CD's, a bunch of games, a bunch of really cool medical type applications and lots more :) So K and I have both been pretty much glued to our iPod's the last few weeks.
As for the 'vacation', it was really only my mom, K and I going up to visit my grandmother and some other family. My one cousin has some serious issues that she needs to work out for herself as she is really getting not only herself, but the entire family up there, into problems and just way too much drama. My grandmother is so stressed out that we are all worried that the issues that my cousin is going through is going to end up giving my grandmother another heartattack or other serious health complication. And of course somehow I got roped into the drama and feeling so guilty myself and feeling so horrible that something I did innocently caused a big scene and a lot of yelling and crying.
As a bit of a back story, one of my cousin's has two children, both boys: D1 is 13 (he has ADHD and is on medications because of this) and D2 is 10. While I was growing up we always played this one game of cards (not sure where it came from as I have heard no one else that has played any type or version of this game) basically on most nights the entire family is together. We got out of that as my generation got older and while K's generation was too young. Well D1 loves to play games and had been asking relentlessly for a few days to play a game of cards. I managed to get my mom to agree to play (more on that part later) and she was too 'tired' but myself, K, D1, D2 and their mom all sat down to play this game. We were playing cards while 'America's Got Talent' was on and I gave up watching the show to play the card game
We hadn't all even sat down yet when D1 said he would be right back. He comes back to the house with a drumstick and some chips and sat back down to play cards. I wasn't too pleased about this as I had been telling K that if he wanted some of the taffy I bought him, and the boys were around, he would have to offer to share his candy. To be telling him this and then to have D1 bring over not one, but two treats didn't leave me too impressed. After that something else came up with him running home to get his own pennies (we 'gamble' with pennies in the game) instead of just using some of his moms. A few times while we were playing I had to ask Kyler to pay attention to the game instead of watching the show and asked D1 and D2 a few times as well. I had got up to get myself some Doritos and D1 was again relentless in asking for some. I pointed out that he had already had some of his own but then gave in and told him that when I opened the bag I would give him some. I had just opened the bag and it was my turn to shuffle and deal. While doing this he asks again for chips and I asked him if it looked like I was busy doing something (yes) and that maybe he should wait until I am not busy to ask. After I was done dealing I poured him a bowl of chips. After a good half hour or so of having to repeatidly ask D1 to pay attention to the game I finally said "D1 are you playing this game or watching TV, you can not do both" and he mumbled and got back to the game. We finished up shortly after and all just kept our 'winnings' out so we could play the next day. I thought it was a good night and had enjoyed playing a game with the kids.
About 30 minutes after they all left (My nan and both of my cousins and their familes all live in the same small townhouse complex that is maybe half a block big in total, so it takes about 30 seconds to get from one place to the other) Kyler and I were cuddling on the couch and watching the news (this was while William and Catherine were in Canada and my nan was just fixed on the news). Nan answers it and then tells me that the phone is for me. I answer it and it is D1 informing me that I had really hurt him and that K isn't the only one with a disability, he has one too and can't focus on things and it wasn't fair to call him out and on and on about how hurt he was and his disability. I calmly told him that he had been bugging us for 2 hours to play the game, we agreed to play it because of him and that I didn't yell at him or get mad at him I simply asked him to choose between watching the television show or playing the card game. He mumbled okay and hung up. That really pissed me off and got me very upset. I was crying at the time while telling nan and mom what happened and then got really mad because out of everyone in that family, I have been the one to show him the most respect and patience that last few days and didn't appreciate that and I got up and went to my room and shut the door. That's when it all went crazy.
Nan was upset because I was upset and then his mom called saying that she had told him not to call and to just talk with me in the morning but that D1 took the phone and ran off to call me. Then nan made the mistake by saying that she was embarassed because of the behaviour and it being around mom and me. Well that then set my cousin off as to oh they are embarasements now and just on and on. Nan talked to my cousin and D1 and then my cousin hung up. Mom then called to talk to my cousin and said basically that she was sitting right there and heard the entire thing and no one was yelled at but yes I asked D1 to pick one thing to focus on and that he has been asked many times. Mom then goes on to tell her that we have been watching the show since it came on and that I would have really liked to see what was happening but I chose to play cards with the kids. My cousin and my mom talked breifly and hung up and then D1 called back to talk to nan and then nan basically snapped and said 'She has a disability too (D1 saying that I don't) yes she does, and a lot worse of one than you have, did you ever think of that?' and then he was told that there would be no more phone calls that night and surprisingly they listened to it. As a side note I should say that my bedroom up there, the window looks right across the small parking lot (3 card lengths total between doors) and I could hear a LOT of screaming going on during the time of these phone calls as well as after.
Nan was upset at all this but mom held her ground surprisingly. She told my nan that I had spent many hours alone those few days talking with D1 and that I always showed him respect. She said she was upset about it as well because it upset me and I don't take those situations easily with my health problems. She went on that the part that no one was saying was the worst part. D1 is a child and I am an adult and under no situation at all should a child talk to an adult like that. That D1 honestly has no respect for adults and should never been allowed to say anything along that line what-so-ever. However the next day was, in a way, worse. D1 apologized to me and gave me a hug and I told him that he had really hurt my feelings and that I probably wouldn't be playing games with him for a while. My cousin however never emerged the next day at all. When the kids came over they told nan she was in bed. We sent the kids home for supper as mom was taking nan, K and I out for her birthday supper and my nan sent food over for the kids to eat for supper. She later called around 8:30 and talked to mom breifly to say that she probably wouldn't see us before we left the next day and that she was going to go to bed now as she wasn't feeling well. However, D1 later told me (not knowing what his mom had told my mom) that she was up watching TV that night.
We didn't leave the city until almost 11am and still there was no sight of her at all. That was really worrying my mom and I as we both caught glimpses of how she was when she was taking opiods. She was really shouting in her talking, just really loud, she was slurring her words a lot, anytime we heard from her it was she 'was going to lie down for a bit' or 'I have to go have a nap' or 'im going to bed early' which when she was really deep in her addiction you never saw her out of bed. She was also slightly paranoid and just really off. It scares us because she has no motivation at all to get off of methadone and until she realizes that she is on the med for drug abuse and not for pain control, nothing is going to change. Mom and I both sensed that she is back on some other drug again or has managed to get her methadone doseage increased, either way not a good thing at all. She thinks we are all attacking her but all we want her to do is to get some serious help and get better before she does serious harm to her children (they are already showing signs of mental problems involving their mom).
Monday, July 11, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
Updates are done - as well as a new update lol
Well I have finally got all the posts up that I needed to do (I think I did at least) and believe I am now caught up. For those of you who have been trying to follow this but got confused I apologize. I had a lot of different topics that I wanted to blog about, if only so I have it as a 'record' for myself and to also try to explain why I have been quiet for so long. So, I wrote seven posts over the last few days to update on all that has been going on. I will list those seven along with a link to get to that post, and they will then be in order as I did not write them in any particular order. Here they go:
My nephews doctor's appointment regarding learning difficulties and how we can help him
My own doctor's appointment with my GP and what we learned and decided to do
The report that my internist / cardiologist wrote up and sent to my GP (who then gave it to me)
A great K moment, by his amazingly proud Auntie (Note: We got his grade back and he got a B+!!!)
K's 9.5th Birthday Party
An unsettling conversation with my brother
Reply from a letter that I send to a very informed EDS trained Doctor
And those are the entries that took me forever to finally finish but I believe each one of those entries are important and needed me to tell about for some reason or another. Now on to the current update :)
The increasing of the elavil is kicking my butt! When I started on it years ago most doctor's were shocked as it did not make me tired at all and did not contribute to a good sleep. Apparently I fell into the 5% of people who do not get tired from it. Well adding this itty bitty little bit extra (I was on 100mg, now up to 110mg) is making be absolutly exhausted! All I want to do is sleep, I can sleep for 12 hours a night and be ready for a nap just two hours after I wake up! I do know however that when I started this medication my health and body were not as badly affected by the EDS where nows there has been a lot of changes. It has only been a week and I know I have to give it plenty of time for my body to adjust to it so going to give it another week at minimum, probably more like a full month before I decide anything. I just want these headaches gone!!
Been having more and more joint issues. My right shoulder has been really acting up lately. I went back to taking the neurontin twice a day instead of once a day as the burning nerve pain was getting way out of hand. Unfortunatly the increase hasn't seemed to help too much. I now basically have that burning pain 24/7. I am honestly a little nervous putting ice or heat on it as I am not sure how good the skin is there and I don't want to end up doing more damage than there already is. Add to this I am now also getting basic pain. If I try to reach in front of me to get something (like sitting on my couch and reaching forward to get a drink) I get a horrible stabbing pain right into my back that sends enough of a jolt through me that I have already been modifying stuff to stop this even though it's not been that long. And then add the basic 'tired' feeling and you have a really great shoulder pain trifecta!
My hip is also causing issues. Last night I went to bed and read for a while. When I tried to roll over to turn the light out I got a shooting pain into my hip area that took my breath away. I then noticed that the way I was laying, my left foot was in the position that the entire arch side was right on the bed so I had my entire leg turned a little over quarter of the way in. I finally managed to get the leg to go straight only to find that I could now no longer bend my leg. It got to the point that I almost called my mom upstairs to come down to help me. However, after a dose of advil and breakthrough meds as well as the warm waterbed and me gently massaging the area and I could move again. It is defintly not something I want to experience again that is for sure!!!!
As I mentioned in one of the posts, I only noticed tonight that I have a positive ANA factor on my recent round of bloodwork. I had mistakenly thought that the 'Postive' was part of the C-Reactive Protein test until I looked further. At this point I honestly don't know what to think. Going to google for a while and let it sink in and will post soon about where I am at and what my plans for the future, medically at least, are.
My nephews doctor's appointment regarding learning difficulties and how we can help him
My own doctor's appointment with my GP and what we learned and decided to do
The report that my internist / cardiologist wrote up and sent to my GP (who then gave it to me)
A great K moment, by his amazingly proud Auntie (Note: We got his grade back and he got a B+!!!)
K's 9.5th Birthday Party
An unsettling conversation with my brother
Reply from a letter that I send to a very informed EDS trained Doctor
And those are the entries that took me forever to finally finish but I believe each one of those entries are important and needed me to tell about for some reason or another. Now on to the current update :)
The increasing of the elavil is kicking my butt! When I started on it years ago most doctor's were shocked as it did not make me tired at all and did not contribute to a good sleep. Apparently I fell into the 5% of people who do not get tired from it. Well adding this itty bitty little bit extra (I was on 100mg, now up to 110mg) is making be absolutly exhausted! All I want to do is sleep, I can sleep for 12 hours a night and be ready for a nap just two hours after I wake up! I do know however that when I started this medication my health and body were not as badly affected by the EDS where nows there has been a lot of changes. It has only been a week and I know I have to give it plenty of time for my body to adjust to it so going to give it another week at minimum, probably more like a full month before I decide anything. I just want these headaches gone!!
Been having more and more joint issues. My right shoulder has been really acting up lately. I went back to taking the neurontin twice a day instead of once a day as the burning nerve pain was getting way out of hand. Unfortunatly the increase hasn't seemed to help too much. I now basically have that burning pain 24/7. I am honestly a little nervous putting ice or heat on it as I am not sure how good the skin is there and I don't want to end up doing more damage than there already is. Add to this I am now also getting basic pain. If I try to reach in front of me to get something (like sitting on my couch and reaching forward to get a drink) I get a horrible stabbing pain right into my back that sends enough of a jolt through me that I have already been modifying stuff to stop this even though it's not been that long. And then add the basic 'tired' feeling and you have a really great shoulder pain trifecta!
My hip is also causing issues. Last night I went to bed and read for a while. When I tried to roll over to turn the light out I got a shooting pain into my hip area that took my breath away. I then noticed that the way I was laying, my left foot was in the position that the entire arch side was right on the bed so I had my entire leg turned a little over quarter of the way in. I finally managed to get the leg to go straight only to find that I could now no longer bend my leg. It got to the point that I almost called my mom upstairs to come down to help me. However, after a dose of advil and breakthrough meds as well as the warm waterbed and me gently massaging the area and I could move again. It is defintly not something I want to experience again that is for sure!!!!
As I mentioned in one of the posts, I only noticed tonight that I have a positive ANA factor on my recent round of bloodwork. I had mistakenly thought that the 'Postive' was part of the C-Reactive Protein test until I looked further. At this point I honestly don't know what to think. Going to google for a while and let it sink in and will post soon about where I am at and what my plans for the future, medically at least, are.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Letter from EDS Doctor
So following getting the bloodwork results from my doctor I got thinking. I was thinking that I always thought that C-Reactive Protein was a test about inflamation. So I get on google and search for it and find out that yes, it tests for inflamation. I then get thinking because I was sure that EDS was a non-inflamatory condition. So I start searching for C-Reactive Protein (CRP for the purpose of this post!) and EDS and can only come up with people that have the vascular type having elevated CRP. I also start realizing that CRP can also be a test for autoimmune conditions. My rheumy suspects I have some type of autoimmune disorder but doesnt know which one, if any. My rheumatoid factor and ANA have always come back negative (except for this latest batch which I just noticed when typing up the post about my dr's appointment :S) so it has never been pushed farther. With no idea what could be causing the elevation and wondering if EDS actually would cause elevation, I got on facebook and sent a breif letter to an EDS doctor that is on there and who provides answers and help to those who ask it. So basically I asked if EDS would cause the elevated CRP or if we should be looking into auto-immune. Imagine my shock when only a few days later I get a reply!!
His advice is that it is not usually elevated in EDS but there are many reasons for it. He suggests waiting a month and then redoing the tests to see what those values are and if it is still elevated for me to follow-up with my rheumatologist.
So the plan is that I will call my GP's office (have to make a call there anyways) and ask for that bloodwork (and the ANA now that I noticed it is positive!) to be done again to see what those values are and then go in and talk with my GP about them as my Rheumy is still not back and most peolpe are saying that he probably won't be coming back :(
* Looking at the bloodwork sheet, my GP highlighted two numbers and the CRP test name so I figured that the number and the 'positive' both went with the CRP until I took a better look at it tonight to write up the entry I did about my dr's visit outcome.
His advice is that it is not usually elevated in EDS but there are many reasons for it. He suggests waiting a month and then redoing the tests to see what those values are and if it is still elevated for me to follow-up with my rheumatologist.
So the plan is that I will call my GP's office (have to make a call there anyways) and ask for that bloodwork (and the ANA now that I noticed it is positive!) to be done again to see what those values are and then go in and talk with my GP about them as my Rheumy is still not back and most peolpe are saying that he probably won't be coming back :(
* Looking at the bloodwork sheet, my GP highlighted two numbers and the CRP test name so I figured that the number and the 'positive' both went with the CRP until I took a better look at it tonight to write up the entry I did about my dr's visit outcome.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Conversation with Brother
It is no secret that my brother and I do not get along, and that that would also be a gross understatement. I would be perfectly happy if he just disappeard and have no use for him. I don't like being around him and the stress of him just being in the house sends my autonomic issues spiraling. Which made this breif conversation so upsetting and almost threatened.
He comes down stairs and looks in my doorway to my room (I have to leave the door open so my dog can get in and out as he pleases, otherwise the door would be shut when he is here). He asks me if he can ask a favour and I ask what and he asks me if I can keep my pain killers downstairs and in my room. I tell him I can't and won't because. He asks why and I tell him that I am not going to go up and down a flight of stairs if I need a pain killer as I am upstairs most of the time I would take them. He then goes "I'm just saying" and left. Made me to feel that if / when he goes back to taking drugs it would be my fault because I taunted him with them and made them available. He comes back and asks me to at least hide them better. I told him that the only way he would know where they are is if he went looking for them. He replies that they are on the top of the fridge and that 'hide them better, they are right there, the demerol is right there'. Again I state that there are many bottles on top of the fridge as mom and dad keep theirs up there as well and that to know right where they are, one would have to be looking for them. He then left.
I am sorry, I am not going to hide away my pills just because a known drug addict (who has stolen my pain medications twice before - that I know of) who is clean comes to the house for a few hours a week. I have never touched my pain killers upstairs if he is in the house. He knows that they are in the house so maybe he shouldnt' have been looking so hard at the containers that were on top of the fridge. It just really pissed me off and left me in a bad way. I was so nauseated the rest of that night and shakey and 'weak' felling becaue of the stress of that conversations. Surprisngly though my mom hasn't mentioned anything so either for once in his life he didn't whine to mommy or mom told him the same things that I told him.
For the record - I keep maybe 5, maximum 10, breakthrough pain meds upstairs in case I need them. I also keep count of them and feel that following this conversation, I need to really make sure and keep an accurate count of them, at least count them on saturdays and again on sundays when he leaves.
He comes down stairs and looks in my doorway to my room (I have to leave the door open so my dog can get in and out as he pleases, otherwise the door would be shut when he is here). He asks me if he can ask a favour and I ask what and he asks me if I can keep my pain killers downstairs and in my room. I tell him I can't and won't because. He asks why and I tell him that I am not going to go up and down a flight of stairs if I need a pain killer as I am upstairs most of the time I would take them. He then goes "I'm just saying" and left. Made me to feel that if / when he goes back to taking drugs it would be my fault because I taunted him with them and made them available. He comes back and asks me to at least hide them better. I told him that the only way he would know where they are is if he went looking for them. He replies that they are on the top of the fridge and that 'hide them better, they are right there, the demerol is right there'. Again I state that there are many bottles on top of the fridge as mom and dad keep theirs up there as well and that to know right where they are, one would have to be looking for them. He then left.
I am sorry, I am not going to hide away my pills just because a known drug addict (who has stolen my pain medications twice before - that I know of) who is clean comes to the house for a few hours a week. I have never touched my pain killers upstairs if he is in the house. He knows that they are in the house so maybe he shouldnt' have been looking so hard at the containers that were on top of the fridge. It just really pissed me off and left me in a bad way. I was so nauseated the rest of that night and shakey and 'weak' felling becaue of the stress of that conversations. Surprisngly though my mom hasn't mentioned anything so either for once in his life he didn't whine to mommy or mom told him the same things that I told him.
For the record - I keep maybe 5, maximum 10, breakthrough pain meds upstairs in case I need them. I also keep count of them and feel that following this conversation, I need to really make sure and keep an accurate count of them, at least count them on saturdays and again on sundays when he leaves.
LONG over due update!
I was realizing today that I have not updated this blog in a very long time. A few things medically have happened (dr's appointment and getting reports from specialists) and even more non-medical (nephews birthday party, conversating with brother, nephews dr appointment) things have occured. Instead of just posting a pile of updates that will have the date stamp of a few days among them, I have decided that I will back date the entries to the day that they acctually occured. I will then post in this post the links to those entries so things don't get too confusing (hopefully). Will start the updates tonight and will probably take a day or two to finish them all. So basically, until there are a lot of links in this entry, I would just wait until I post those links before reading entries.
Friday, June 17, 2011
K's Birthday Party
Since K has a Christmas birthday (which is actually also my birthday, he was born on my 20th birthday) he never really gets a birthday party. He has a party two years ago for his 7.5th birthday but we never threw one last year. So he was overdue for a party so we decided to through him a "Happy 9 1/2-th Birthday!". Becasue of the layout of our house, having a bunch of 9 - 10 year old boys over was not appealing at all so we made it a 'destination' party of his choice. He got to pick from lazer tag, bowling or a movie. Since a friend had just had a movie party he decided to go with lazer tag.
We invited seven kids to go (to make it an even eight) but one couldn't make it so it was K and his friends - A,C,N & T from his class, B from one grade up and J from one grade down (the just live up the street and are good friends of K's). We booked everything for the 17th and it was real easy as the lazer tag place also offered a package for two games of play, pizza and pop for all of them. That left not that much to do. We went over at the beginning of the week and let him pick out which cake he wanted (He decided on a cake that had ice cream cones cut in half and filled with icing all around the cake and it to be done in green) and mom also got a pack of cupcakes in case the kids didn't like the chocolate cake. Mom picked up some vanilla ice cream, some cotton candy and some 'sprinkle party cake' ice cream to bring along with us as well.
(Moment of honestly here; Beware of ranting and annoyance)
I will admit at this point that I wasn't too happy about this party. When we had his 7.5 party mom complained about it all and said that she was never going to do this again and I was in charge of birthdays. Over the last two years I have asked multiple times (for his 8th, 8.5th and 9th birthdays) and she kept blowing it off. Once my dad decided that he was going to have a birthday everything was set up in the matter of days with no one asking me about it. I didn't find out about it until the date had been booked for the party!! After that, anything I questioned about the party I got snotty remarks about how I can never be pleased and just want everything done my way. I only questioned two things - What kind of pizza and to see if just a plain cheese one could be ordered (it was set up as just pepperoni that was being served) seperatly to be ordered for the party or if we could pick up our own food to be ate there during the party. Well neither of these questions were even asked of the place so K had to have supper before we left for his party because he would not like any of the food there (to me that just seems so wrong!). The second issue is that I asked mom multiple times to find out if we could decorate the place to maybe have a theme for the party. I had even said I would go in early to set up and decorate but was told it wasn't needed. I mentioned about how K had pointed out a bunch of decorations in the store that he thought were 'cool' but mom still never asked and basically told me to forget about it and that it wasn't important. I had wanted to do decorations so that I at least had some input into the party but was shut down repeatidly. Then I was really pissed off as mom decided that me, her, B and J would go in early to see if anything needed to be done and in the box was a handful of decorations to be put up! Nothing K would have choosen mind you but still. I worked at getting everything out on the table (cake, goodie bags, plates, presents etc) and for it to look nice and I tried to keep it that way and not let mom or dad put non-necessities on that table but it was a hard fought battle!
(End of rant, back to the party)
Mom, K and I went in to town on monday to figure out what we were doing for grab bags (or loot bags as mom kept calling them even though K had no idea what a loot bag was and questioned every time she said it). We were just going to pick up the normal dollar store type of stuff but then mom decided that she would rather get a few actually good toys instead of a bunch of crappy toys. So in the bags ended up - a tech deck, pack of go-go's, bookmart, ipod eraser, aero chocolate bar, tongue tattos, 3 pack of gliders, fruit roll-up, fizz candies, high bounce rubber ball and a small water gun. Since mom and I were working at the book-fair that week, we had to fill the bags up on wednesday to get them all ready to go. Only one small problem was that the gilders didn't fit in the bags so we had to give out a bag and then the package of gliders.
So friday comes along at mom, B, J and I leave a little bit early to go and get things figured out. We get in there and I put out the cake, cupcakes, goodie bags etc on the one table that they have and we got enough tables and chairs that we would need. There is a 'ball room' in there that is a large room with a netted ceiling and one wall that has a soccer / volley ball in it for the kids to play. The kids all played in there until everyone had arrived. The told us they could go in for a game of lazer tag at this point so off the went. However, about ten minutes later we notice that another group is going in to the 'arena'. I was kinda annoyed by this as we had booked a party and shouldn't that mean that our kids all got to go in at once with no one else or other groups in there. Mom and dad just brushed it off but I went out and talked to the guy in charge and told him my thoughts and then he said that he would make sure their second game was just them. The pizza was delivered about half way through their first game so when they got out we had supper (20 slices of pizza for 7 kids and 3 adults) and the kids went to play in the ball room. Some time passed and then the arena was open so our kids went in again and this time no other groups were allowed in thankfully. I asked the guy if I could just get a few pictures of them inside for my scrapbook and he told me to just go ahead in and that I could stay as long as I wanted to get pictures and for me to just watch my step (really dark with ramps and stairs etc).
After the second game the kids came out and we had birthday cake and ice cream, or we offered birthday cake and ice cream, not many kids wanted any of it, they did all down another can of pop though! Once everyone was done and we had cleaned up we called the kids out of the ball room over to do presents. K did pretty good lol, he got an MP3 player (since when is that a kid's birthday party gift?), $25 gift card to Toys R Us, $30 cash, a super soaker and beyblade and a paper jamz guitar. He was a very happy little boy! As there was still about half an hour left of the party we told then they could go back and play in the ball room. N's mom arrived to pick him up as they were heading out to their trailer but we had arranged it so that we would be driving all the kids back to our home town (the lazer tag was about 20minutes from our town). Dad was watching our group in the ball room and another group of boys, slightly older, came in to play as well. After a while dad left and him and mom were taking things to the car. That's when things went bad.
J (remember he is the youngest out of them all) came out of the ball room sobbing and clutching his stomach with B (his older brother ) right behind him. I asked what happened and he tells me that one of the kids in their kicked him in the stomach and that they were being rough. I went right to the opening of the ball toom and yelled 'My kids out NOW'. This is the part that shocked me: as my kids were leaving the room all the others were hooting and hollering about the losers and cry babies and on and on. I got them back to the party room and the others than came to the window (an open spot in the wall with fencing on it to keep the balls in) and started banging on the fencing and calling my boys wimps and how they were losers and it just kept going and then they started saying inappropriate language for a family party center. The shocking part?... There were FOUR adults sitting at the tables watching their group behave like that an not a one said anything!! My parents came back in, saw our kids out of the room getting mad, J just crying at this point and T getting rerady to go in and fight the kids (I had to grab him by his shirt at one point because I was concerned he was going to go and get in to it with these kids!). We very quickly just grabbed the boys, took the goodie bags (we hadn't even gave them out yet!) and walked right out of the place. While in the parking lot our boys were still all hyped up and ticked off so mom, dad and I were trying to get the story out of all of them. Finally we gave out the goodie bags and divided them up between the two cars and headed home.
About half way home B mentioned something about how one kid was annoyed becasue J had broken his glasses. Mom and I just looked at each other and we both knew that if it was one of our kids misbehaving it would be J. So stories start going around and we find out that J and T weren't too innocent in the whole matter. But still, if one of our boys had hurt one of the other boys they would have been pulled out and made to apologize to that boy. Secondly if my kids had of behaved like the others did when I pulled our kids out, they all would have been pulled out of the ball room and made to sit and behave. We would have stepped in and done something, no way we would have let that go like those other parents did!
Any ways, all the kids got into their goodie bags on the way home and we kept hearing "OMG I love tech decks" and "Which tong-too did you get, want to trade?" and "Aero is my favourite" and "I love fruit roll-ups". So we seemed to do a really good job on the goodie bags and Kyler had a great time and that is all that mattered at the end of the day. Not sure I would plan another party there but still the kids had fun so it was a good night.
We invited seven kids to go (to make it an even eight) but one couldn't make it so it was K and his friends - A,C,N & T from his class, B from one grade up and J from one grade down (the just live up the street and are good friends of K's). We booked everything for the 17th and it was real easy as the lazer tag place also offered a package for two games of play, pizza and pop for all of them. That left not that much to do. We went over at the beginning of the week and let him pick out which cake he wanted (He decided on a cake that had ice cream cones cut in half and filled with icing all around the cake and it to be done in green) and mom also got a pack of cupcakes in case the kids didn't like the chocolate cake. Mom picked up some vanilla ice cream, some cotton candy and some 'sprinkle party cake' ice cream to bring along with us as well.
(Moment of honestly here; Beware of ranting and annoyance)
I will admit at this point that I wasn't too happy about this party. When we had his 7.5 party mom complained about it all and said that she was never going to do this again and I was in charge of birthdays. Over the last two years I have asked multiple times (for his 8th, 8.5th and 9th birthdays) and she kept blowing it off. Once my dad decided that he was going to have a birthday everything was set up in the matter of days with no one asking me about it. I didn't find out about it until the date had been booked for the party!! After that, anything I questioned about the party I got snotty remarks about how I can never be pleased and just want everything done my way. I only questioned two things - What kind of pizza and to see if just a plain cheese one could be ordered (it was set up as just pepperoni that was being served) seperatly to be ordered for the party or if we could pick up our own food to be ate there during the party. Well neither of these questions were even asked of the place so K had to have supper before we left for his party because he would not like any of the food there (to me that just seems so wrong!). The second issue is that I asked mom multiple times to find out if we could decorate the place to maybe have a theme for the party. I had even said I would go in early to set up and decorate but was told it wasn't needed. I mentioned about how K had pointed out a bunch of decorations in the store that he thought were 'cool' but mom still never asked and basically told me to forget about it and that it wasn't important. I had wanted to do decorations so that I at least had some input into the party but was shut down repeatidly. Then I was really pissed off as mom decided that me, her, B and J would go in early to see if anything needed to be done and in the box was a handful of decorations to be put up! Nothing K would have choosen mind you but still. I worked at getting everything out on the table (cake, goodie bags, plates, presents etc) and for it to look nice and I tried to keep it that way and not let mom or dad put non-necessities on that table but it was a hard fought battle!
(End of rant, back to the party)
Mom, K and I went in to town on monday to figure out what we were doing for grab bags (or loot bags as mom kept calling them even though K had no idea what a loot bag was and questioned every time she said it). We were just going to pick up the normal dollar store type of stuff but then mom decided that she would rather get a few actually good toys instead of a bunch of crappy toys. So in the bags ended up - a tech deck, pack of go-go's, bookmart, ipod eraser, aero chocolate bar, tongue tattos, 3 pack of gliders, fruit roll-up, fizz candies, high bounce rubber ball and a small water gun. Since mom and I were working at the book-fair that week, we had to fill the bags up on wednesday to get them all ready to go. Only one small problem was that the gilders didn't fit in the bags so we had to give out a bag and then the package of gliders.
So friday comes along at mom, B, J and I leave a little bit early to go and get things figured out. We get in there and I put out the cake, cupcakes, goodie bags etc on the one table that they have and we got enough tables and chairs that we would need. There is a 'ball room' in there that is a large room with a netted ceiling and one wall that has a soccer / volley ball in it for the kids to play. The kids all played in there until everyone had arrived. The told us they could go in for a game of lazer tag at this point so off the went. However, about ten minutes later we notice that another group is going in to the 'arena'. I was kinda annoyed by this as we had booked a party and shouldn't that mean that our kids all got to go in at once with no one else or other groups in there. Mom and dad just brushed it off but I went out and talked to the guy in charge and told him my thoughts and then he said that he would make sure their second game was just them. The pizza was delivered about half way through their first game so when they got out we had supper (20 slices of pizza for 7 kids and 3 adults) and the kids went to play in the ball room. Some time passed and then the arena was open so our kids went in again and this time no other groups were allowed in thankfully. I asked the guy if I could just get a few pictures of them inside for my scrapbook and he told me to just go ahead in and that I could stay as long as I wanted to get pictures and for me to just watch my step (really dark with ramps and stairs etc).
After the second game the kids came out and we had birthday cake and ice cream, or we offered birthday cake and ice cream, not many kids wanted any of it, they did all down another can of pop though! Once everyone was done and we had cleaned up we called the kids out of the ball room over to do presents. K did pretty good lol, he got an MP3 player (since when is that a kid's birthday party gift?), $25 gift card to Toys R Us, $30 cash, a super soaker and beyblade and a paper jamz guitar. He was a very happy little boy! As there was still about half an hour left of the party we told then they could go back and play in the ball room. N's mom arrived to pick him up as they were heading out to their trailer but we had arranged it so that we would be driving all the kids back to our home town (the lazer tag was about 20minutes from our town). Dad was watching our group in the ball room and another group of boys, slightly older, came in to play as well. After a while dad left and him and mom were taking things to the car. That's when things went bad.
J (remember he is the youngest out of them all) came out of the ball room sobbing and clutching his stomach with B (his older brother ) right behind him. I asked what happened and he tells me that one of the kids in their kicked him in the stomach and that they were being rough. I went right to the opening of the ball toom and yelled 'My kids out NOW'. This is the part that shocked me: as my kids were leaving the room all the others were hooting and hollering about the losers and cry babies and on and on. I got them back to the party room and the others than came to the window (an open spot in the wall with fencing on it to keep the balls in) and started banging on the fencing and calling my boys wimps and how they were losers and it just kept going and then they started saying inappropriate language for a family party center. The shocking part?... There were FOUR adults sitting at the tables watching their group behave like that an not a one said anything!! My parents came back in, saw our kids out of the room getting mad, J just crying at this point and T getting rerady to go in and fight the kids (I had to grab him by his shirt at one point because I was concerned he was going to go and get in to it with these kids!). We very quickly just grabbed the boys, took the goodie bags (we hadn't even gave them out yet!) and walked right out of the place. While in the parking lot our boys were still all hyped up and ticked off so mom, dad and I were trying to get the story out of all of them. Finally we gave out the goodie bags and divided them up between the two cars and headed home.
About half way home B mentioned something about how one kid was annoyed becasue J had broken his glasses. Mom and I just looked at each other and we both knew that if it was one of our kids misbehaving it would be J. So stories start going around and we find out that J and T weren't too innocent in the whole matter. But still, if one of our boys had hurt one of the other boys they would have been pulled out and made to apologize to that boy. Secondly if my kids had of behaved like the others did when I pulled our kids out, they all would have been pulled out of the ball room and made to sit and behave. We would have stepped in and done something, no way we would have let that go like those other parents did!
Any ways, all the kids got into their goodie bags on the way home and we kept hearing "OMG I love tech decks" and "Which tong-too did you get, want to trade?" and "Aero is my favourite" and "I love fruit roll-ups". So we seemed to do a really good job on the goodie bags and Kyler had a great time and that is all that mattered at the end of the day. Not sure I would plan another party there but still the kids had fun so it was a good night.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
So Proud (and breif incident with mom)
So K got his assignment for his big project of the year and it was to build a castle and then be able to tell details about his castle. We got all the supplies for the project and were going to take the weekend to build it. I know that he has trouble staying on task and would need multiple breaks so we figured we would take all of saturday and sunday to work on this. Then mom throws a wrench into the plans stating that brothers' GF and her daughter would be coming out on saturday and brothers GF was thinking of going to watch her mom play baseball while mom watched her daughter (4 year old highly active little girl). I was very upset about this as that would be one massive distraction for K and I knew we would be getting no work done while they were there. Turns out they were running out of clothes and needed to do laundry so mom went in early on saturday to pick up their laundry and worked on it thoughout the day. She did finally admit that she wasn't thinking and that I was 100% right about K and too many distractions while doing the castle.
So between Saturday morning and Sunday evening we made a concentric castle that with working drawbridge and front gate that we were all very proud of. Then came the harder part... writing up a speech for K to give to hsi class!! K has very bad short-term memory because of the issues he has so we knew automatically that there was no way he whould be able to memorize a speech so we were going to have to write one up that he could read to his class. He did really well making it though, I typed while he pointed out all the parts of the castle, what they were for and what he made them out of. It took very little time as he was very comfortable with the material he was talking about. So we printed it off, put in cues as to when he was supposed to point to something and that was that.
Fast forward to Wednesday night when mom and I were working the book fair at his school. His teacher came in and pulled mom aside to tell her that she knew we were very busy (an understatment!!!) but she just had to tell her that K was excellent with his project. She said other classes came into the gym to see all the castles and ask the kids questions and many said that they liked his castle. Then she went around and when she got to him she confessed that she just kept asking questions until she could trip him up.... except she couldnt as he answered every single question perfectly!! She was so proud of him and knew that we would be as well. We don't have a final grade for it yet but just the fact that he was so comfortable with the material and did so well, the grade doesnt really matter. He did more than his best and that is what counts in this family and especially with him!
So between Saturday morning and Sunday evening we made a concentric castle that with working drawbridge and front gate that we were all very proud of. Then came the harder part... writing up a speech for K to give to hsi class!! K has very bad short-term memory because of the issues he has so we knew automatically that there was no way he whould be able to memorize a speech so we were going to have to write one up that he could read to his class. He did really well making it though, I typed while he pointed out all the parts of the castle, what they were for and what he made them out of. It took very little time as he was very comfortable with the material he was talking about. So we printed it off, put in cues as to when he was supposed to point to something and that was that.
Fast forward to Wednesday night when mom and I were working the book fair at his school. His teacher came in and pulled mom aside to tell her that she knew we were very busy (an understatment!!!) but she just had to tell her that K was excellent with his project. She said other classes came into the gym to see all the castles and ask the kids questions and many said that they liked his castle. Then she went around and when she got to him she confessed that she just kept asking questions until she could trip him up.... except she couldnt as he answered every single question perfectly!! She was so proud of him and knew that we would be as well. We don't have a final grade for it yet but just the fact that he was so comfortable with the material and did so well, the grade doesnt really matter. He did more than his best and that is what counts in this family and especially with him!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)