David's Follow-up Appointment

David went in for his follow-up appointment yesterday. The prognosis is good; Dr. D said his surgery went text-book perfect. . Dr. D said he looks great, is very happy he is out walking everyday (with Phoebe). He is used to people coming in and asking for more pain medication, which David did not.   David had a number questions, all which were answered. The hot spot he is feeling in his upper back/lower neck is due to muscle spasms, which will benefit from physical therapy and pain management. The pins and needles and other had issues are due to damaged nerves and will also get better with physical therapy.

He was able to see the bruise on his spine on an x-ray, which he said was pretty big.  He was able to see the titanium plate in his neck, which he said was pretty cool. 

Dr. D said he can't look at how he's doing on a day-to-day basis; he is on a 3 month, 6 month, one year basis.  He goes back next for a CT scan to check fusion and a few days after that for another follow-up. 

Varsity Volleyball

I have to say Congratulations to Eva on making it onto the varsity volleyball team at her school!  She participated in a volleyball camp over the summer with her coach, and I've been told by more than one parent on more than one occasion how well she was doing in tryouts and practice.  One even said she was a "beast" on the court. She gives it her all,  has a great attitude, and always has fun. 

Sorry, no pictures yet.

Ballet

Ballet is in full swing again. Emily is going twice a week again this year. They will go twice a week through December and then drop down to one day a week for the remainder of the year while they work on the recital pieces. 

I'm a little surprised that she has stuck with it. It seems like this might be her thing.  This is her 5th year in ballet (plus one or two years at another dance school). It helps, too, that her bff is in her class. 

Can you tell she is wearing her tights over her

 leotard like she's seen on various documentaries?

 

I wonder if she'll make it to pointe shoes? I believe that is ballet 4 and 11 years old, so at least 3 years away if not 4. The girls generally stay in each class level for 2 years. That would mean Emily would have the remainder of this year in Ballet 2, then two years in Ballet 3 before being able to get into Ballet 4.  There is always the possibility of 1 year in Ballet 3, but I think a little more time to get her strength up is better. Pointe shoes are hard. I remember that I quit ballet right when I was going into pointe shoes - of course, I quit to play softball.

 

This year (May 2016) they will perform a production of The Firebird. I'm glad they've gotten away from the Disney princess ballets. I was getting tired of those.

 

I'm excited to see how she grows this year, as I am with every year. 

David

As most of you know, David had an accident during his soccer game last weekend. He was going to block a ball (he's a goal keeper) and was hit in the forehead with someone's knee.  Besides getting a concussion his head was knocked backwards leaving him unconscious and initially with no feeling in his hands. After waking up, the pins and needles came and then changed to severe burning pain in his hands. So much that you couldn't tough his hands at all.

The paramedics were called, a neck brace was put on his neck, and he was taken to the ER in New Orleans. I was not at the game and was called when the ambulance was on its way. I rushed in from Hammond to find him in the ER very scared and upset. He truly thought he broke his neck. As it turns out there were no breaks or fractures (!) but his spinal cord was is bruised.

Three days later he was being wheeled down to the OR for anterior cervical discectomy fusion. Basically, they went in through the front of his neck, removed a disc, and fused two of his vertebrae together.  He had numerous bone spurs in his spine as well as minimal space in his vertebrae all of which was putting pressure on his spinal cord. When his head snapped back, it 'pinched' his cord, bruising it.  All of that has been cleaned out now, but he still may need to have this done on the vertebrae below these two that were fused together. He won't be happy about that.

He did get some immediate relief in his hands after the surgery, and they've gotten a tad better since being home, but he is still dealing with some pins and needles and some pain in his hands. His biggest complaint is pain across both shoulders and back. 

He has a follow-up appointment Monday, so we'll see what the doctor says at that time.

First Day

This is what the first day of 3rd and 6th grades looks like.  Sigh.  They are getting big so fast. My new job has me leaving the house at 5:20am, so I do not get to see them off (or at all) in the morning. This is very difficult for me as well as for Emily (she talks about it a lot), so we'll see how this goes. The upside is that I will be home shortly after they get home from school.  I did call and FaceTime with them before they left, so that helped a lot for both of us.

 

 

 Waiting for the bus

 

 

 

 

This year riding the bus in the morning is new. They will also ride the bus home.  (Last year they took the bus to my office 3 days out of the week.)  Eva will get a key to the house for those days that we will not be there when they get home. I can't tell you how excited she is about getting this key.  

 

Do you see a certain dog photo-bombing?

 

David was on kid (and dog) duty this morning. I can see Phoebe getting used to this routine - walking the girls to the bus stop and waiting with them.  It's just so cute.



Baton Rouge Sunrises

I had to share a couple of sunrises I got to see from the balcony on the 7th floor of the building I work in.    If I were to swing the camera just to the left (south) you would see a panorama of refineries, so I'll just stick to this view. 

 

Yes, this is the same balcony in which I was locked out.    Kind of worth it, though.

Meet and Greets

The girls had their meet and greet at school to drop off school supplies and meet their teachers this past week.

Emily has the teacher she and I wanted--for 3rd grade! And her bff, Kendall, is in her class, too. 

Eva is in class with most of her friends. She is going into 6th grade, which is middle school. Their school has changed 6,7, and 8th grades to match the schedule of the high school. They will have a block schedule now. They have 8 total classes that they take, but only 4 in a day, and they rotate each day. This is supposed to transition them better when they do get to high school.  This year is also the first year that they have to dress out for PE, as well as the first year they will get grades for Spanish and computer.  Their English teacher is their homeroom teacher, but they will switch teachers for every other class, just like high school.  Eva is so excited about this schedule. She says it makes her feel older. 

Sigh. It makes me feel older, too.

Busy Times

My last post was in May at the end of the school year. What was supposed to be a fairly quiet summer ended up being pretty busy.  Here's the quick recap:

We've had hair cuts...

We went to Grand Isle for Father's Day with some friends. I believe this has become an annual trip. The kids have a great time and so do the adults.  By sheer chance, this year we ended up staying in David's dad's cousins camp. It was a great location:  2 blocks to the beach and its own pier on the bay.

I quit my job working for a State Farm agent and went back to my degree, geology, and accepted a job working for the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.  It's a great place for me to get my foot back in the door while relearning all I forgot.  I now have a commute in/out of Baton Rouge, but I go in for 6:30 am and leave at 3 pm.  I pretty much miss all of the traffic each way, and I'm home for 4 pm. The hard part will be when school starts and I won't get to see the girls in the morning before they start their day. A little face time may be needed instead.  

I had a couple of days off before starting the new job, so we decided to surprise the girls with a last minute beach trip.  The weather started off looking bad, but ended up being beautiful, as Destin always is.   

Oh, before the beach trip we tried camping in Oak Mountain State Park, dog in tow, but the weather there was really bad, and we ended up leaving after one night (we were only staying 2) because it really was going to be a rain-out.  That also prompted the beach trip: we wanted to end summer on a good note.  

July also brought my 25 year high school reunion. I have not been to my other reunions, partly because I was only at Ursuline for my senior year and I really feel like the reunions for my high school in Dallas are the ones I should be going to - it's just hard to get to those.  I opted to go, figuring this would be the only one I attended.  We had a good time and it was nice to see some of my old (and by old I mean some of the ones I've known since I was 4-5 years old) friends.

That pretty much concluded the summer. The girls start school in a week - 6th and 3rd grades. Eva is in middle school, and they are beginning the transition to high school. HIGH SCHOOL!  They now have schedules that match the high school so they are better prepared when they get there, or so they say,  They have a home room teacher for english, then change teachers for everything else, like high school.  They have 8 classes they take, but only 4 in a day and it rotates each day.

Wish us luck with our many changes, and I'll try to be better about updating this blog as events occur.

End of the Year Awards

Eva received an Honor Roll award for having a GPA of 3.5 - 3.99 as well as the President's Award. 

 

 

Emily received an Honor Roll award and medal for having 4.0 GPA all year. She was one of only 8 in the entire 2nd grade. She also received the Sunglass award in class because she is so bright! Lol. 

So proud of my girls. One more day of school then they turn into 6th and 3rd graders!

Eva and Reading

Eva had 25 AR points last year. She said she didn't have a goal this year, but her points for 5th grade were 233.  That's quite an improvement,! 

 

The downside is that all of her friends have very high AR points (one had over 450 and another over 300), so she has a lot of competition.  I'm just so proud that she improved so much! Thank you, Harry Potter and Hunger Games!