Turning 42 and a school tour

Today was my 42nd birthday. It was a really good day – totally NOT what I expected, from what went down yesterday. Yesterday being a TOTALLY sucky day in which I was told nothing would be happening today. There’d be no birthday lunch, no cake or ice cream or presents or anything. Not until later. That got me kinda sad. But you know what? They really pulled a fast one on me, because all of that stuff DID happen today after all. I was so happy and really grateful.

But my family and friends on Facebook made me feel extra special, too. Oh, and Peter Bowerman, who emailed me to wish me a happy birthday. (I’ve known Peter for years and even now, after over 10 years, he still remembers my birthday! He rocks!) I got so many birthday wishes on Facebook and I still need to finish replying to them All! I am so grateful for all of them. And I think those family and friends are pretty awesome people for taking the time to do that for me.

I posted a bunch of pics from my B-day on Facebook today. And while I was doing that, I had to stop and think, Gee, I’m recording my birthday on Facebook. Wow. I certainly didn't do that kinda thing when I was a kid. Heck, there was no Facebook when I was a kid. There wasn’t even any Internet! Kids today have pics and videos of their birthday on Facebook, unlike kids from my generation. It is pretty interesting. I also thought about how, of my two children, my son is the only one who has been on the Internet through pictures, videos, blog posts, etc., since the day he was born!

Well, aside from my birthday, we had two other things going on. One was Jesse’s baseball practice, but we didn’t go because Jesse has been dealing with bad stomach pains lately. He has missed school because of it. I am really starting to be concerned. We recently started him on a new medicine for his allergies but even though there were no side effects the last time he took this medicine (I think 2 years ago?), I am beginning to wonder if that is different now. I’m really curious if his stomach pain is because of the medicine. Maybe the dose is too strong, or something. I will have to call the doctor about that.

We also went to 8th Grade Night at the high school Jennifer will be going to in the fall. She got to check out the classes, meet teachers, check out activities and clubs at the school as well as tour the school. I am very excited about my daughter starting her first year of high school, though she dreads it. I told her getting a high school diploma is a really big deal. That didn’t make her feel any better about going to high school. She’s nervous about it.

We went on a tour of the school and I enjoyed checking out the school. Especially the LIBRARY! I thought the library was AWESOME! I wanted to stay in that room filled with books. Forever.

Here are pics I took from the tour:

The last soccer game

Today was Jesse’s last soccer game of the Spring season. When the season started, I was worried about his seasonal allergies being a problem. There were only a couple of times his allergies were a problem, though. Nothing major happened. No asthma attack or anything. The one time it was at its worst was when I forgot to give him a bath after practice (to wash all the pollen off of him) but that was it. He made it through the season okay. I am very grateful. It also helped that we remembered to keep him on his allergy medicine every day!

He has enjoyed playing soccer this season. It has been quite an experience for us getting to the practices, games, and coordinating a communication system to make sure I knew when everything is supposed to happen. We look forward to the next season!

Here are pictures from today’s last game. (Jesse is #24.)

First day of Spring Soccer

Today was the beginning of Spring Soccer for Jesse. He was real excited about it, as he enjoys playing with this team and has fun playing soccer.  (He also likes football and basketball.) While Jesse was happy about playing soccer again, I was secretly dreading it, because every spring, Jesse has to deal with seasonal allergies. He does take allergy medicine but sometimes it does not work as well as it should. In the past, we have had to supplement his allergy medicine with another medicine (per his doctor’s instructions) as well as use an inhaler for when the allergies triggered an asthma attack.

But despite my apprehension, I knew I could not let this setback keep my son from enjoying one of his favorite sports. That wouldn’t be fair, and that would send him the wrong message about how to deal with roadblocks in life. He HAS to be able to play soccer despite his allergies. Hopefully, this season will not be as bad as the last one. I’ll just have to stay vigilant in giving him his medicine and watching for any problems, as well as keeping his inhaler with me when we go to practice or games. (Kidsports, the sport club hosting this activity, is aware of Jesse’s allergy situation, as well as my neighbor/friend/assistant coach, so we all are aware that Jesse might need to be pulled out if anything happens.) I’ll just have to cross my fingers and hope that everything will be okay!

As far as the first practice went, I didn’t think they’d be playing much soccer, as they did not on the first day of last season, but, yes, they DID go into a practice round of playing soccer! Unfortunately, I had not told Jesse to wear his shin guards, and, well, he ended up getting a shin injury. Ugh. The assistant coach reminded me about the shin guards and I told him I wasn’t sure if he’d need them today. He told me that Jesse would need them every time, for practice and games. (I am paraphrasing him here.) (Fortunately, I can lipread him pretty well!) I was mentally kicking myself over that mistake. #SoccerMomFail

But other than that, it went really well. Jesse did pretty good even though he fell a few times. He also got quite a bit of scrapes on his legs – and here again, the shin guards would’ve been helpful! As well as the soccer socks. (And, yeah, he should’ve worn pants. It was VERY cold! It was also drizzling. So in addition to me freezing as I watched from the sidelines, I also got pretty soaked.)

After practice, Jesse and I were pretty cold, wet and muddy. Ah, spring soccer. Just like last year! (Only this time, I hope I don’t slip in the mud!) But he had a great time and really enjoyed playing soccer today. He is looking forward to playing soccer with his teammates more often!

Here are pictures I took. I couldn’t get a picture of him kicking the ball (wasn’t fast enough):

A conference, eye exam and a virus

It’s that time of the year again: Parent/teacher conferences. My conference with Jesse’s teacher was this morning and the next one I have is with Jennifer’s teachers, which will be next month.

But before I could get to the conference this morning, I had something else I had to take care of first.

Yesterday, Jesse started coughing pretty bad. It was a deep chest cough. When I noticed that he also had sacks under his eyes, I immediately thought it was his allergies acting up again. (I once read this book about “everything you need to know about allergies” and it said that sacks under the eyes is one of the symptoms of allergy attacks. It even had a picture of what it looks like and Jesse had the same thing.) However, I wasn’t too sure if it was his allergies, because we’ve been having so much rain. His allergies usually flare up in the late spring and summer but I read that people with seasonal allergies can also have allergy problems in the Fall. I considered it a strong possibility but discussed it with my husband first. Jesse was also having some nasal congestion and just feeling yucky. No fever. So I talked it over with him and he said it’s probably not allergies. All the same, it was decided I should call his doctor to schedule a time to bring him in.

So I took care of that before heading off to the conference at his school. They said to bring Jesse in that morning, but the problem was I would not be back from the conference in time to take him. So hubby had to take him to the appointment.

Then I headed off to Jesse’s school for the conference. It went okay, though there were some distressing things his teacher had to share with me. Mostly behavioral problems. After I left, I was pretty bummed about it. When I later told my husband everything that was shared, he was pretty upset, too.

Also last night: Jennifer had informed us that she was having trouble seeing the board in one of her classes. I was not sure if she’d already had her eye exam for this year but hubby and I think she probably needs new glasses. I made it a point to check in with her eye doctor today and I did that after I returned home from both the conference and a visit to Jennifer’s school after she had texted me about something she needed my help with ASAP. I called the eye doctor’s office and it turns out Jennifer has not had an eye exam for TWO YEARS!! Yikes!! She’s supposed to have one every year. Wow, I really failed on that one. (And I started to wonder if I should check in with when Jesse needed his, too.) So I made an appointment for her eye exam and they’ll see her in December.

As to Jesse, it turns out he has a virus. Nothing serious. The doctor said to just give him cough medicine and limit his time of outdoor play until he is better. I think it might be prudent to limit his exposure to other kids, too.

So the first half of this day had its downsides. I am just glad we have those things sorted out and can move forward in taking care of them.