Amy and Colby: STARTING SUMMER VACA OUT RIGHT

School's out! School's out! I'm so happy I just might shout! Not sure who is more excited about the school year being over, Colby or me. His last day was yesterday. He had a good school year. I wouldn't call it great, just good. The last couple of weeks, Colby had been crying/whining at school. At first, of course, we were all concerned. There was no particular pattern – he would cry during different activities, different times of the day, etc. It was obvious he was not in any real respiratory distress. By the last week of school we were like, knock it off kid. I told Colby, look, if you are truly having respiratory issues, I'll come pick you up from school in a heartbeat. If not, then straighten up. Such a mean mama!

Some of it might have been Colby has been fighting off a double ear infection. Yeah, that might make you a little grumpy, huh? First he did a round of Augmentin. And just like I told the pediatrician, it wasn't enough. Took him back to the doctor 2 weeks later, and Colby had some nasty, thick, yellow/green gunk coming out his trach. Uuuuuugh! Then Colby started Omnicef and Ciprodex drops in his trach. That has worked I do believe. Turns his poop a lovely brick red color, too. Wait a second, I believe that's TMI?!

I've been talking to Colby about what we're going to be doing over the summer. I want to find a nice balance between going places, doing things and just chilling, resting. I think both are very important. We've found a new massage therapist. Colby hasn't had massage since December, so he'll have that once or twice a month. During the school year we were having trouble getting speech therapy here at home scheduled. So hopefully Colby will have speech weekly now. He and his speech therapist are tight, they have a very special relationship. And there's swimming of course. Looks like Peter Pan at Derby Dinner with friends is now in the works. I'm also thinking a visit or two to the zoo and the walking bridge are in order. A lot will depend on the weather because we don't do hazy, hot and humid. And of course we have follow-up appts at Cincinnati Children's – 3 days this month and 1 day next month I believe.

Colby has had an excellent first day of summer vacation. Today Colby had pet therapy. Here's a pic of Colby “walking” Luna with her owner, Ann. They visit us every other Saturday, and Colby loves it. We also went to a Louisville Bats game. Super fun! Friends invited us to a suite to watch the game, and let me tell you, it was sweet! I thought Colby might last an inning or two, then he'd get tired or whiny and we'd go home. Uh, no, he loved it! I was pleasantly surprised, and he seemed to be having a great time. The game started at 6:05, and at 8:15 I was saying, Colby, we have to go, you need your treatment at 9:00. I swear he didn't want to leave. The friends who invited us arranged for Buddy the Bat to come into the suite and see Colby. It was awesome. See pics for evidence.

There has been much progress made on our house over the last couple of weeks! The framing is more than half done, probably closer to 80-90% done. Looks like the plumbing is done unless there's something little, but for the most part, done. The electricians start next week. I'm starting to think about finishes. Went to look at flooring. Very soon we will need to go look at cabinets and counter tops. There was something going on with the house every day this week. I was either meeting with the contractor, meeting with someone to look at work and give me quotes, going to look at/pick out stuff, etc. Loving every second of it! Hopefully now that school is over, I'll be able to give more time to all things house related. Can't happen soon enough!! Come on house, get done!!

We've been fortunate to have many materials and labor donated to our house project. We have an excellent contractor on our side. Don Langan and his son, Clayton, of Karzen Langan Construction, have been involved with our house since we bought it. They are overseeing the renovations. I provided Don with a letter explaining our circumstances and pics of Colby and me. He took the information and contacted a lot of his subcontractors. Turns out there are many generous, caring businesses here in Louisville who wanted to help us get into a house. We are forever grateful for all the items and services that have been donated. HOWEVER, we still have a loooooong way to go. The best we estimate, we still need about $50,000 worth of materials and labor to complete renovation. That's a lot of freakin' money! So along with fixing up the house comes fundraising for the house. But I'm on it! Recently I published a gofundme page on the web. In July we hope to have a fundraiser at a local restaurant. And in August we're going to have a mega big, super awesome yard sale. I'll forward all the details for these wonderful events as they get scheduled. If you are interested in contributing to our “get us out of this tiny apartment and into a beautiful house” fund, you can check out our gofundme page here: http://www.gofundme.com/amyandcolby. Any donation is greatly appreciated, please know that. You're helping us get one step closer to completing our house and getting us out of this apartment!

Okay, my little baseball fan is tucked in, and I'm not far behind. Not sure what we're doing tomorrow, resting probably. It'll be hard to top today, that's for sure. Bye for now.