Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Just Hanging Out

We're still "riding the wave" here at the Schrooten Ranch and that is all good! Since there's nothing new going on, I thought I'd share a little bit of the old. This picture is especially for my friend Rachel, who posted an almost identical picture of her son, Gabe on his blog.




This picture is from one of Jack's physical therapy sessions. Apparently, it was more than he wanted to deal with so he decided to fall asleep right in the middle of it -- on his therapy ball. I miss those days when Jack was a baby. Although, Jack's baby years are a complete blur because I was in total stress and insanity mode determined to get Jack off the vent and on with the life I had planned. I wish I had slowed down and enjoyed Jack just being a baby. Sadly, I did not carpe diem!

Sunday, February 22, 2009

This Can't Possibly Be MY Kid

Truth be told, I was a pretty good athlete growing up. I played softball - the real deal - not T-ball, from Kindergarten through high school. I also played tennis and soccer. My sisters were all good athletes too. My brothers ... well, good, but not as good as their sisters :-). (I'll regret saying this as my youngest brother reads my blog). Being the stellar athlete that I am was, I thought for sure my kids would follow suit. After all, my nieces and nephews are all good athletes (and therefore they must take after my side of the family - no question). So you tell me .... can this possibly be MY kid?





I, on the other hand, took my sports very seriously when I was Eric's age.



Hope you all have a great week and remember . . .

Smile ... and the world smiles with you!


Wednesday, February 18, 2009

And I Wonder Why

It's a little after 10pm and in the three hours since I walked in the door from work, I've done homework with Eric, rummaged through the mail, checked my email, chatted with my friend Karen on Facebook, did the bath and brush teeth routine with Eric, talked to my sister on the phone, read a few blogs, fed Jack and got him settled in for the night and just now realized that this is what my dinner consisted of tonight:



and I wonder why I'm carrying around an extra twenty pounds. At this point, I may as well just grab a diet coke, finish off the box and find a comfy place to read my book.

Monday, February 16, 2009

One Advantage

If there's one advantage to having a kid as medically involved as Jack, it's already having everything you need when your other kid gets sick with the respiratory crud.

Stethoscope ✓
Pulse-ox ✓
Xopenex
SVN Machine ✓

Good to go!





Eric has been hacking all through the house all weekend, especially in Jack's room. I'm keeping all appendages crossed that Jack doesn't end up sick. Not only do I not want Jack to get sick, I've got a girlfriends weekend coming up in less than two weeks and I have plans to not be home for three days. Wish us luck.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Life Is Good

After our trip to the bookstore last night, today was a relaxing day, doing a whole lot of nothing and enjoying our new books.


Eric "relaxed" and read for maybe all of five minutes.


Happy Jack!


Mark had to break away from the relaxing part of the day and put up the wall words I ordered a few weeks ago. I saw this saying on a plaque and I really liked it, but I needed something bigger to fill the wall space above our kitchen table. I found "wallwords.com" online and ordered the saying from them. You can pick what font, color and size you want for your words. It's different, but I really like the way it turned out.



(the lettering is a hunter green color)


Tomorrow is a holiday for all of us. Yeah! The "old" me would have gone into the office anyway. The "new" me is taking the day off.

Wishing you all a happy Monday.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Happy Valentines Day


Have a great day and thank you all so very much
for your friendship!




The picture is of the flowers Mark got me. I, on the other hand, being the sensitive, caring nurturer that I am, didn't get him anything and my kids aren't happy either because I only got them a box of really cool cookies from Mrs. Fields. Looks like I'll be taking my kids shopping later today. When did Valentines Day turn into Christmas anyway?

Thursday, February 12, 2009

This

This is what greets me almost every night when I walk in the door from work



Eric loves his brother’s TV, which is why you’ll always find him hanging out in Jack’s room. This picture makes me happy … and it makes me sad too. I cannot even begin to articulate how difficult it is for me to see Jack in his bed unable to move, day after day after day. Yes, he's happy. Yes, he’s loved and Yes, he’s well cared for. But, so much of this makes no sense to me. I’ve really been struggling with this a lot lately and find myself very anxious if I think about this for too long. So, I try not to. Living in the moment, that is my motto. Right.

Happy Friday friends!


~~~~~~~~~~~~

The best thing about the future
is that it only comes one day at a time.
Abraham Lincoln

~~~~~~~~~~~~



Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Homework 101

Sorry guys, I've got nothing exciting or profound to write about (and I'm feeling kind of good about that!)

I grabbed my camera tonight to catch Mary and her friend doing homework "together". No question this is the cyber/tech age. Homework is done on the computer and kids do their homework together - over their cells phones.

Just a short clip of Homework 101 in the 21st Century


I'm not looking for any excitement to report on, so hopefully the mundane of every day life is worth the stop over to our little Blogspot.

Love ya'

Sunday, February 08, 2009

A Little Bit of Hilary

Hilary had to put together a video for her English class that described who she is today and how she got here. With a little help from her mom, here is a little bit about Hilary



~~~~~~~~~~

On the cochlear implant front, the testing they did showed that three of the electrodes aren't working, so they turned those off. I was concerned that the loss of the three electrodes would affect her hearing, but I was told that the other electrodes (there are 22 in total) recruit the sounds (frequencies) of the non-working electrodes. And, in fact, in the sound booth she actually hears higher frequencies better now. Her audiogram is pretty remarkable for a deaf person (it almost matches that of a normal hearing person). However, keep in mind that hearing with a cochlear implant is completely different than what we hear. In any event, all is well as of now.

Thursday, February 05, 2009

25 Things About Me

Those of you who have read my Facebook page already read this. However, because life is calm and I'm still "riding the wave", I have little to write about these days. So, I'll just share with you 25 random things about me. Boring, yes ... but it's all I've got for now.

1. I played the accordion from the age of 8 until I was 12.
2. I went to Catholic grade school, high school and one semester at a Catholic college. These days, however, I’m not a big fan of the Catholic church.
3. I was a softball pitcher in grade school and high school. Because I was a “windmill” pitcher, I now have a shoulder that pops out of socket rather easily. Unfortunately, it doesn’t pop back in quite as easily.
4. I have three sisters and two brothers and I am the second oldest.
5. I’m comfortable with people one-on-one, but I’m shy in large groups and typically have little to say.
6. I believe in God, but don’t believe I need to be inside a building to have a relationship with God. God is very much a part of my daily life.
7. I cry often when I’m by myself, but never in front of people.
8. I worry that when my kids are old enough to leave home, they’ll leave and never want to come back.
9. I’m okay with going places and doing things by myself.
10. I was the spelling bee champion of my school in 7th grade.
11. I'm a camera buff. I have my camera with me at all times (you already knew this).
12. I don’t like animals. We’ve had a dog for 5 years now and I haven’t petted her once (although, she is likable - for a dog).
13. I’m fiercely independent and I absolutely hate asking for help.
14. I always wanted to be a mom. When I young and planning out my perfect life, I wanted 10 kids. God thought it would be more fun to give me two kids with disabilities. The amount of work involved equals that of at least ten kids.
15. The first guy I dated seriously was 15 years older than me (I was 20, he was 35).
16. I bite my fingernails.
17. I’ve been called a pediatric eater. I don’t like to try new foods. I don’t really like meat, but will eat chicken or turkey on occasion. The last time I ate a hamburger was over 20 years ago.
18. I drink a beer every night.
19. I'm always cold. I have a space heater in my office that is always on, even in the summer months.
20. I swear a lot.
21. When I was a kid, my best friend and I would spend the entire Labor Day weekend collecting money for Jerry’s Kids. It was the highlight of our year. Now that I have a Jerry’s Kid, I want nothing to do with MDA, can’t even force myself to watch the telethon.
22. I decided when I was 11 years old that I wanted to be a doctor. When I didn't get accepted into medical school, I applied to law school on a whim and got in. If I could do it over again, I would have gone to pharmacy school instead of law school.
23. I don’t cook.
24. I always have my teeth clenched and have to remind myself to relax my mouth.
25. I’m a native Arizonan and I’ll take the hot Arizona summers and the beautiful Arizona winters over the four seasons any day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday, February 02, 2009

Riding the Wave

Over the last week or so, I’ve managed to complain about my kid who cried throughout the entire Broadway production of The Lion King, lament the fact that I didn’t go on my much anticipated cruise and whine about the Cardinals losing the Super Bowl. Yet, not one mention of a sick kid, an annoying encounter with a DME company, an irritating phone conversation with an insurance company rep or the need to engage the services of a single medical professional.

Without question, life is very, very good right now! How refreshing it is to find myself complaining about everyday, normal people kind of stuff. Then again, I suppose it would be better if I didn’t find myself complaining at all, eh?

Knock on wood and may the good times last as long as possible. I’ve been at this long enough to know that chaos is lurking just around the corner.

Until then . . . I’m going to hang on and ride the wave for as long as I can.



Sunday, February 01, 2009

Super Bowl Sunday

Well, that was painful and I have a headache! (and it would have been a much better game had the refs not played a major role in the Steelers win! :-)

I admit, I'm a sore loser. Then again, as the saying goes, "you show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser."

Have a great week!


**************************

At the risk of being mocked by most of you ;-)

GO

Cardinals Football

Have a fun day my friends!