Movin' on up

Miss Kaiya had her first spring gymnastics meet today and it was a big day because she just moved up from Level 4 to Level 5. This means that all of her routines are different and more difficult. She has worked so hard in the gym since November to get to this point. This time last spring we were preparing for her first ever meet and what a difference a year makes! She looked so confident and poised. She posted some pretty impressive scores, too, especially considering she just barely learned to get all the way over the vault last week! She got to do Olympic rotation today (vault, bars, beam, floor) and her scores were 7.4, 8.3, 8.2 and 8.0. Wow! She was bummed because she ended up just missing the podium for all-around score, but she is the youngest on her team and one of the youngest level 5's there today.

I also threw in a couple photos from her Grade 13 and Beyond awards night. All the kids in our area from grades 3-5 have to write an essay about what they want to be when they grow up and her essay was selected as one of the winners. She got a $100 scholarship to put in the bank and watch it grow. We are working really, really hard on humility lately to make sure all of her successes don't go to her head!! :)

Sporting her new leotard

No longer so short

Starting her floor routine

The whole gang today

Supporting their sister . . . ha!

Over the big vault

Bar routine

Beam and floor routines

Grade 13 & Beyond Award - she wrote about wanting to be a wheelchair designer

With her school principal

Progress

The human body never ceases to amaze me. It's been just less than a week and Cooper's eye looks so much better! The swelling is completely gone and now it's just a rainbow of colors. I wish there had been as much healing on the inside vs the outside if for no other reason than this kid is going nuts having to lay completely low.

The opthamologist we saw this week (one of 3 that ended up seeing him during the same appt) gave us good news and bad news. The good news is no surgery--the fracture is small enough that it should heal itself. The bad news is that 1) there is some bleeding in the back of the eye that needs to resolve and 2) he had a massive sinus infection that showed up on the CT scan.

He has been fighting some congestion and a cough for 4 weeks and I talked to his pediatrician last week about it because I suspected it was a sinus infection. We were all set to start antibiotics this week if it hadn't improved when the injury happened. So, double whammy because he can't even blow his nose! The risk with nose blowing is that air (or in his case infected sinus junk) can travel up into his eye through the fracture and cause increased pressure. How do you not blow your nose when you have a sinus infection? So hard!! He is also still under strict guidelines not to increase his heart rate for the same reason--increased pressure in his eye could cause the bleeding to worsen and the whole orbit to give way.

Giving him Motrin over the weekend did not help the bleeding (sure wish I had known he had bleeding!). So now he is on a big gun antibiotic for the sinus infection and two different Rx eye drops for swelling and the bleeding. One of the drops fully dilates his pupil. So, he really looks freaky. Black and blue plus a dilated pupil. Nice!!

One of the drops is to be taken 4x/day, which means once at school. To make a very long story short, I had words with the "health clerk" at the school about the absurdity of their policy that a written note signed by the doc must accompany the Rx to be taken at school. The Rx is the note from the doc, you dumb people! It has his name, the doctor's name, the name of the med, the dosage, the number of times per day he is to take it, etc. I told them I would sign a waiver or whatever was necessary, but I was not faxing another form to this very busy doctor when he has already explicitly given instructions on what he wants Cooper to do. Our district does not use RNs in the school, so the health clerk cannot administer his meds. I finally resorted to just sneaking the bottle in his lunch and letting him go into the bathroom to do his eye drop. We feel like drug dealers! SO stupid!

It's so hard for Coop because he feels pretty normal right now, but yet he can do NOTHING. The kid is learning a hard life lesson. Every athlete sits out for injury at some point--hopefully this is it for him for a long while!!

Monday . . .

Tuesday . . .

Wednesday . . .

That's gonna leave a mark!

If parenting has taught me one thing it is to expect the unexpected. Friday night was a case in point. I was at Target after dropping off Kaiya at gymnastics when I got one of those dreaded phone calls. About all I remember was, "Cooper got hit by a ball . . . . I'm taking him home now."

Cooper was at baseball practice on Friday evening and was taking some infield grounders. Well, he really took one. A ball came off a bat, hit the pitcher's mound and took aim directly at Cooper's left eye. He thinks he was out or at least dazed for a couple seconds before he realized how hard he had been hit. One of his coaches got him some ice and he was sitting there for a bit before a kind parent saw that it was not looking so good and decided to take him home.

Doug met me at Children's Hospital North Campus, which is half way between our house and Kaiya's gym. I was able to call ahead and let them know we were coming (a/k/a requesting expedited treatment and abuse my employee privileges) and we got right in. An hour or so and a CT scan later, we learned that his orbit floor bone was fractured, but it was small enough to just watch for now. He has strict instructions not to elevate his heart rate and he is not even allowed to blow his nose. We will go back and see an opthamologist at Children's next week and go from there.

He has been incredibly brave through it all and I was so proud of him for the way he carried himself at the hospital (thank you's to all nurses and docs). He is mostly just bummed that he is out of all sports until cleared by the doc. That was a big blow because they have a baseball tournament next weekend.

Through the whole experience, I was again reminded how blessed we are as a family. To have the kind of support we got from our friends and family was huge -- just like Cooper's eye. :)

Ready for the CT scanner--the tech was trying to make him laugh with Spiderman stickers

Out cold with an ice pack waiting for CT scan results

Finally home (if you look closely just below his eyebrow, you can see ball seams left their mark)

Day two--some progress!

After icing it all day today even more progress! He can open it!

What does this mean?

Every day when the kids come home from school, my counters turn into a sea of paperwork as they unload their backpacks. Today, however, one particular paper caught my eye. Kinley drew a picture of a new superhero she has invented. His name is Captin Nackey (translation = Captain Nakie . . . as in short for Naked).

So, here is Captin Nackey in all his glory--a purple cape and nothing but a pair of underwear with hearts all over them. Notice the close up drawing of just the underwear. What a goofball!!!

Opening Day!

I had the privilege this year of going to the Rockies home opener at Coors Field. It's my first one and I got to go because my dad gave up his ticket so I could go. Father of the Year award for him this year! Brandon, Erika, Doug and I all had tickets, but we were a bit scattered around the stadium. It didn't matter though--it was a gorgeous day and that place was so electric. From the F-16 flyover to the 7-0 final score, it was a perfect day!

A true spring BREAK!

We had the most enjoyable spring break this year . . . maybe it was because the Phoenix weather was perfect . . . . maybe it was because the kids got along so well . . . . maybe it was because we had ice cream almost every night . . . or maybe it was because it was a break from the real world. No homework, no running kids everywhere, no work. A break from it all.

We drove this year, which even turned out to be OK. We went to Las Vegas, NM on Friday and spent the night after driving through some blinding snow and then went the rest of the way on Saturday. We got in at about 5 p.m. and the kids were in the pool within 5 minutes of arrival. They played in the pool til dark and then we grabbed a pizza for dinner.

Ready to crash at our hotel

Green grass!

From car to pool in 5 minutes after arrival

Sunday was a casual day--went for a run, hung out at the pool and the boys played catch. I love my running trail in Scottsdale--a dirt path right along a canal that is lined with orange trees. The orange blossom smell was unreal this year. So amazing! We BBQ'd that night and went for an evening swim and then watched a movie. I found some swim caps for the girls because by the end of day 1, their hair was already completely GREEN. They weren't too thrilled with it, but it worked and they loved not having green hair all week. I also found t-shirt type swimsuits that were super cute and kept them from getting fried.

Green hair solution

Home away from home

A nighttime dip in the pool

By Monday, the kids had made friends with several other kids from other parts of the country and Canada who were visiting. They usually see a few kids during the week while we are there, but this time was kids galore! They became instant friends and their pool days were now revolving around when the other kids would be there. The weather was about 82 each day and perfect. On Monday, we took a picnic lunch to the park and watched some of the Giants Triple A club practice. We stood at the fence and watched them take batting practice and were so close, we could hear the coaches and their conversations. Kinley decided she wanted to learn to catch and by the end of the day, she was getting it all figured out. Of course, we hit the pool in the afternoon and then went to Macayo's for a yummy mexican food dinner that night and to Yogurtland after that.

Giants Triple A team

Learning to play catch

Is she cute or what?

Kinley's new buddy, Julia - their birthdays are only days apart.

Yogurtland!

Tuesday, we went to our favorite park affectionately known as the "duck park" because there are ducks, geese, swans and pigeons everywhere. They feed them a loaf of bread and played on the playground while Doug and I ran together. It was the hottest day, so off the pool we went and got take out for dinner.

Feeding the ducks

The duck park

Wednesday was my 30 something birthday and Kaiya and I had planned all week to climb Camelback Mountain again. We did it in less than an hour this time and she amazed me. The first 2/3 of the hike is mostly a train with some rocks, but the last 1/3 is all free climb with some tricky footing and navigating. I guess her nickname is Monkey Girl for a reason. It was a fun way to pretend I'm not getting old and the pool felt awesome afterward! The funny part, though, was when we got back Cooper had this look on his face like, "I can't be shown up by my sister." He was deep in contemplation. Next thing we knew, Doug and Coop headed back to climb themselves. Cooper did great, too, and now we have to get Kinley to the top next year. Fortunately, the competitive bug hasn't hit her yet and she was quite content to just cheer us on. That night, we went to dinner at a fun place called Pinnacle Peak where the whole place has a western theme. They had a band and the girls danced and had a ball. After we convinced them it was time to go, we stopped for ice cream at the Gelato Spot and came home and crashed.

On the way up the mountain

Looking up at the very top. . . almost there!

A one minute rest stop

Go, Monkey!

We made it!

The boys made it, too!

Pinnacle Peak for dinner

The girls loved the dance floor!

Another ice cream shop

Thursday was our last full day and the weather was supposed to be crappy. Well, they were wrong! It was cooler, but still sunny and gorgeous so we headed to Mesa to watch the Rockies play the Cubs. We sat in the grass just past the outfield fence and had a great time. Even Kinley was getting into the game. Atta girl!! :) Had to do a little shopping that afternoon, went to Baja Fresh for dinner and the Sugar Bowl (Scottsdale's famous ice cream shop) and then let the kids do a last hurrah at the pool.

Kinley's new hat . . she wouldn't take it off

The Cubs spring training site

For a picture only - not a true Cubs fan

Right behind Seth Smith

Taking it all in

Our beloved Sugar Bowl on our last night

We left at about 11 a.m. on Friday and drove the whole way home, getting in at about 2 a.m. Long, long drive but the kids were awesome and the drive is really pretty in places. Gotta love DVDs, iPods, DS games, etc.

I get a little melancholy every year when it's time to come home. I hate leaving. Guess it's time to start looking forward to next year already!!