HAVE I MENTIONED WE'RE WANTING TO MOVE?!

You know our story. We've been busy. We've had some good and some bad things happen over the last week. So let me summarize.

Unfortunately, I had to fire another nurse this past Tuesday. Trust me, I didn't want to. Long story short, his attendance and work performance have been crappy since July. He was a no call/no show for his shift on Tuesday. So bye-bye undependable nurse. I'm so disappointed, frustrated and upset. Another one bites the dust. Someone please explain to me why people can't show up for their jobs. I just don't get it.

Thursday we were putting Colby on the bus. Keep in mind, we have been putting Colby on the bus four days a week since August. From 9:15am-9:30am on Mon, Wed, Thurs and Fri, Colby is boarding the bus for school. It's not rocket science. So this jerkoff who has lived here for quite some time tries to back out around the bus. He ends up backing into the bus crossbar on the front, not once, but twice. Didn't even realize he did it. Then starts to pull off. So I run after him and get him to stop. I proceeded to tell him what he did. He then had the balls to say to me that he didn't have time to wait for us, we took up the whole parking lot and he had things he needed to get done. Oh no, you did NOT just say all that to me young man?! Let's just say it got ugly from there, and I'm pretty sure he won't be trying to back out around the bus again. So rude! Seriously, we can't move soon enough.

We (my dad, the nurse and I) took Colby to his ophthalmology appt. Colby wanted no part of any of it. The whole day he had a high heart rate. He wasn't exactly cooperative with the ophthalmologist. “Colby, open your eyes, buddy. Colby, I need you to open your eyes. Hey Colby, look here at the light, ok?” I know it stinks to have your eyes dilated, but seriously? Of ALL the stuff that Colby goes through, he gets a little freaked out about the eye dr? Crazy kid. His prescription was a little worse last year and is a bit worse this year, so we got a prescription and will be getting kid some new glasses soon. Took us a while to get back home, but overall it was a fairly easy day and I'm glad that's over for another year. I'm sure Colby is really glad that's over for a year.

Work is buzzing along on the house. The next two weeks are absolutely CRUNCH TIME! Our priorities for the weekend were first pick up everything off the floors, then sweep and shopvac the floors in preparation for the wood laminate flooring and carpet to be installed. How freaking exciting is that?! Floors!! They installed the teeny tiny floor in the half bathroom upstairs, I guess so the plumbers could go ahead and work in there. Tomorrow is going to be cra-cra busy at the house. The counter top is being delivered and installed. The appliances are being delivered, along with the flooring installation is starting. We're also trying to get the basement painted before we move in. What a difference some scraping and white paint can make! We should be able to finish that up tomorrow night.

I'd better get to bed. Need to get up and get me ready. Then get Colby up and ready for school. Then run a couple errands. Then off to the house to check out the progress throughout the day! We're still hoping to move on the weekend of Nov 7-8. That's our plan, and we're sticking to it. Could it be that two weeks from tonight, we'll be sleeping in our new, beautiful home? Oh my, I certainly hope so.

I went over to the house and took pics and video tonight. Will post some on Facebook and on this blog when I get a chance. Thanks to all you have followed along and supported us during our house journey. Starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and man, it sure looks good!

GETTING BETTER AND BETTER AROUND HERE

Hi everyone! In order to keep you in the loop of all things Amy and Colby, here's a wrap up of our week. Oh my, there's lots going on! Most of it ranging from good to down-right freakin' fantastic!

Colby has kept busy. Due to nursing issues, we haven't been able to go swimming lately. This was his first Tuesday getting back in 5 weeks I think. Of course he loved it, and I love taking him. Sometimes I have right shoulder and neck pain, and I swear getting in that therapy temp water helps with it. He also went to school the other 4 days. I think we finally have the school nursing worked out now also. I'm very excited to report that it has been over a year since my sweet boy has been in the hospital, and oh my goodness, am I thankful for that. Our lives are about to get very cra-cra very soon. We don't have time for illnesses! Not that we ever have time for lengthy hospital stays, but we really, really, really don't have time for them currently. We'll be heading up to Colby's ophthalmology appt this Friday. Luckily we are scheduled at the northern Ky location of Cincinnati Children's for this. Cuts about 15-20 minutes off our drive time each way. We'll take it!

I absolutely love this time of year, and this year is particularly special. With any luck, we will be moving soon! Like 21 days from now soon! Holy crap on a cracker, it's finally almost here! I'm thrilled, excited, stressed, worried, elated and overwhelmed all at the same time. We are sooooo close to finally, finally getting out of our apartment and into our beautiful, new, handicap accessible home! Work at the house was moving along. Not at a record fast pace, but things were getting done, so I was happy. Then we got an e-mail from the contractor and apparently he has the rest of this project all lined out. Well alrighty then! The trim carpenter, Charlie, is hustling to get his part done, along with many extra little to-do's that we've noticed need attention. Look at the work he did on our fireplace – it's absolutely beautiful. Everything he has done in our house has been A++, amazing, beautiful work. He's a one-man show and semi-retired, but it absolutely 100% has been worth the wait. Then the painter, Mark, follows behind Charlie and is finishing up the painting and staining. Come on fellas, trim, trim, trim, paint, paint, paint!

So here's the plan. This Thursday and Friday the laminate flooring and carpet will be installed, hopefully. Next Monday, Oct 26, the counter top is being delivered and installed in the AM, hopefully. In the PM, appliances are to be delivered, hopefully. You catching my drift on the hopefully stuff? Everything and everybody needs to fall right into place and stay on schedule. Then the next 2 days, the “big dogs” come back in and do their thing to finish up – HVAC, electricians and plumbers. Final inspections on Oct 29 and 30, then bing bang boom, we can start moving. We've given ourselves a few days cushion just in case something doesn't go exactly as planned. We also have to assemble a temporary ramp for Colby, as our deck and ramp aren't going to be done until November.

Now then, who is available the first week of November to help us move?! I'm starting to pack up some things around here as I have time to hopefully prevent insanity and exhaustion from setting in come Nov 1. We shall see. Really don't want to spend the money to to hire movers, so we absolutely are now taking volunteers to help us get moved. Like I said, I'm trying to get busy now and do what I can to prevent cra-craziness in the near future. Is that even possible?

Going to bed now. Good luck to me on getting my brain to shut down. Inhale, exhale. It's all going to be okay. It's all going to work out just fine. And, we're moving soon! There aren't enough exclamation marks to put after that sentence. So excited I can barely stand it. 

Told you it was beautiful. Every time I walk in the front door of that house, I think wow, is this really ours?! Colby is going to love, love, love this fireplace. 

 

 

 

Took Colby to the Halloween parade this past Friday. What can I say, we're adorable. Great parade, we'll definitely go again. We do love us some Halloween, that's for sure. 

HOUSE UPDATE - AMAZING!!

Lately the question(s) for me have been, how's the house coming along? When do you all anticipate moving? Well, these are all really good questions. Usually my answers are, coming along nicely and I'm note sure. We have made tremendous progress on our soon-to-be home. The property is going through a complete transformation. Before and after pics are amazing, and the house is unrecognizable from where we started. The work that has been done so far is amazing. The fact that I've somehow kept my sanity over the last 9 months is amazing. Now if we can just get through this final push, get the house DONE, and get us moved! Once we move, I'm sure it will all be very amazing, haha.

So what's left to do? Another really good question. We're in the final push. Down to the nitty gritty. Everything, inside and outside, is shaping up nicely. Exterior has been pressure washed and painted. We painted the house a cream color to match the brick accents on the front porch. Compatible cream - SW 6387 - as a matter of fact. And I must say, I absolutely love the color. We had landscaping donated, and so far the company has killed the grass. Guess they'll be coming to do more work soon. The interior is where the house is really looking fabulous. I knew this house would turn out “nice” and “pretty” buy Oh My Gosh!! It's absolutely beautiful!! And I'm not saying that because it's mine (ours, you know what I mean). I'm saying it because it really is BEAUTIFUL! Anyone that has seen it lately says the same thing. It has far exceeded any thoughts or visuals I had of how the final product would look. Yes, it looks amazing! All the tile work is done – bathrooms and fireplace. Kitchen cabinets are installed. Bathroom vanities are installed. Basement waterproofing was completed last week. Donated hot water heater installed. Whole house generator delivered and ready to go. Donated shelving has been installed in the closets. I'd say about 80% of the painting is done. The last few weeks have been a picking/choosing frenzy! We've picked out paint colors for all rooms and the exterior, faucets, carpet for my bedroom and the upstairs, lighting, house numbers, pedestal sink, figured out the shelving logistics, and several other details I can't even remember right now. The carpenter is finishing up the trim, then the painter can come back and finish painting and stain the steps going upstairs. Once the faucets come in, the plumbers can come back over and hook them up, along with the toilets. For the love of all that is good and holy, can we just get a working toilet in the house already?! We'll call the lighting company tomorrow and give the final light fixture decisions. Still need to pick out stuff like cabinet hardware, but I'm thinking around 95% of the choosing/coordinating/envisioning is done. Thank goodness, that was super hard on my little brain. I even had tons of help, and it was still taxing on my poor brain.

When are we moving? That seems to be the $64,000,000 question. Technically our apartment lease is up October 31. So that means a big crapload of work has to happen in the next couple of weeks, along with getting Colby's huge shelving unit moved from the apartment to the house, getting the duct work cleaned, AND packing us and actually moving. We currently have 2 big hold-ups. The counter tops are going to take longer to get in than we had hoped. Actually, if that's the only thing stopping us from moving, I say let's go for it and we'll go counter topless for a couple of weeks. However, we're also waiting on the deck and ramp to be built, and that's the biggie we of course can't be without. The time line for this was originally mid-August to mid-September. Now the company is saying sometime in November is the earliest they can get to it. Hmmmm, not exactly what I wanted to hear, especially since we need a ramp to oh, I don't know, get Colby into the house! The deck and ramp are being generously donated, so beggars can't be choosers, right? We're looking into renting a portable ramp for November in the hopes that if the deck and ramp are the only items we're waiting on the last week of October, we could still move. But honestly, I just don't know right now. The stars are going to have to align perfectly and some major work needs to be coordinated and finished to get us moved by October 31. I can rent month-to-month, so if we're stuck in this horrible, dingy, stupid ass apartment for a couple weeks longer, so be it. Not what I want of course, but it's not exactly something I can control either. I'm very grateful and we're incredibly blessed to be having somewhere to go soon, and I try to keep that perspective. But you can't blame me for wanting to hurry up and move into our new, larger, more functional, beautiful house. It's going to be what it's going to be, and I've had to talk myself into being able to accept the outcome. Bottom line, Colby and I have a beautiful new house waiting for us, soon. I didn't think this dream would ever come true, but it has, and it's been a wonderful, although stressful at times, experience I wouldn't trade for anything.

That's the scoop on the house. More updates soon. Can't wait to blog and say we're packing!

 Looking from the kitchen into the dining room, living room, hallway - February

Looking from the kitchen into the house now - October

February.

October. Is this even the same house?!

KID UPDATE

Overall Colby is great - freaking fabulous really. I never take Colby's health for granted, NEVER. I'm very grateful he is doing as well as he is. However, everything around Colby had been a bit of a mess over the last month, but is now getting better. I know this will shock you, but we've had some nursing issues. Can you believe it?! (Insert long sigh and eye roll.) We've been short 56 home nursing hours/week for 3 weeks. Now listen, I'm NOT complaining. I love taking care of sweet boy all by myself. And he might not admit it, but I think Colby prefers it, too. I'm simply stating the facts here. And it has been rather bad timing with as much stuff as we've had going on at the house recently. Yes, I'll be blogging about the house in another blog very soon. Our one full-time nurse went on paternity leave. Now he wants to move his schedule around, working longer shifts and being here fewer days. Ok, we can accommodate that I think. Another home nurse who worked 4 nights/week went down to 2 nights/week. And I went to school with Colby and another new nurse through the school system's agency for several days to get her trained to ride the bus and attend school with Colby. She is very good, and I think she'll do just fine with Colby and the school gig. She reminds me of the awesome nurse Alli we had a couple years ago. I'm just thankful nursing is getting back to normal. For how long, who knows, but it's looking pretty good right now.

Then there is the never-ending bullshit problems with ordering Colby's respiratory supplies. We are in the process of transitioning to another DME company. It's not as easy as you might think. You can't just pick up the phone, call and say hey, we'd like you to get all Colby's equipment and supplies now. It takes time. I had to sign release forms. Then the new company, James Medical, has to get orders, i.e. settings and pressures from the doctors. They also have to get the template form from Cincinnati ENT to order Colby's custom trachs. All kinds of stuff like that. They ordered an IPV machine for Colby, and lo and behold, it was the wrong one. SMH. They ordered the big honkin' green monster machine instead of the smaller, more portable IPV-HC model. We're slowly but surely getting there though. So far they've been a wonderful company to work with. Just hoping that trend continues.

Colby is out of school this week to get his Zometa infusion. He gets this medication 2x yearly to help with his low bone density. We're lucky that he tolerates the infusion well enough that we can do it at home instead of having to go to Cincy. I kept him home from school Monday so Walgreen's Infusion could come out and draw his pre-infusion labs. Tuesday the infusion nurse came out and gave kid the Zometa, along with a large saline bolus. Then it's best to keep him home for a couple of days and keep a close eye on him. There is a possibility the infusion would cause flu-like side effects. Colby has had a few episodes of high heart rate, but ibuprofen tackles it nicely. Friday starts his Fall break, so basically he's out of school all this week. He's really bummed about it, NOT.

Here is a recently pic of my sweet boy. As you can see, the last time I cut his hair we went back to a faux hawk style. He got his school pictures taken a couple weeks ago, but we decided to do more of a mature, laid-down hairdo. He looked incredibly handsome in his button down shirt. Can't wait to see the school pics proofs. 

Ok, I need to wrap this up. No nurse until 5:30 tonight. The infusion nurse will be here in 1.5 hours to draw Colby's labs. I'm still in my nightgown and haven't started Colby's morning routine yet. More blog updates soon. Be watching.

KID, HOUSE, FUNDRAISING - this is my life

COLBY:  Doing great, thank goodness. Although I must say, since turning 13 a couple of weeks ago he does seem to have a bit more P&V to his attitude. I notice more eye rolling, more disgusted-you're-such-a-dork Mom looks. He's still my sweet boy though and always will be. And that's not a typo. Colby Michael is now 13 years old! I can scarcely believe it. We didn't have a big blowout family party this year. On his actual bday we took him to see Ant Man (that's what he chose.) Week before last we took him to a play, Peter Pan. Then last week I arranged for his high school buddies to go bowling with him. I was pleasantly surprised that all 4 of them wanted to go! They are wonderful young men, very good with Colby. Every time it was Colby's turn to bowl, all 4 of them got up and helped him. It was awesome to watch for sure. Colby starts school tomorrow. Don't think he's overly thrilled about it, but that's tough crapola. We're going to try to extend his school day this year an extra 25 minutes. This will help compensate for him missing school on Tuesdays for swimming. We'll see, all we can do is try. Might be too hard on him and he might get too tired.

HOUSE:  Happy to report good forward progress on the "get us out of this stupid tiny apartment and into a beautiful new house" project! It has been a flurry of activity at the house over the last week or so. Outside work includes siding and soffits repaired, new gutters hung and most of the old ramp removed to make room for a new deck and ramp. There were only 2 of us working on the ramp demo. I don't know how much help I was, but hey I tried. We worked 3 hours and were able to get all the boards taken down and hauled in the dumpster, along with taking out 3 of the 9 posts that are set in concrete. Super hard, put your back into it, sweaty work, but well worth it. Now if we can come up with an easier way to remove those posts, we'll be in business to start work on the new deck and ramp. Inside work recently is foam insulation sprayed, fireplace installed and hopefully, fingers and toes crossed, drywall starts this week! I've also been picking out paint colors, tile colors and patterns, etc. You know, the girly fun stuff. I want the drywall started so badly I can hardly stand it. Come on fellas, let's get 'er done over there.

FUNDRAISING:  And of course we continue with our fundraising efforts to pay for this beautiful new home for Colby and me. I'm excited to be hosting a doTERRA essential oils class/fundraiser this Thursday at 7PM. This is a 1-hour class to educate you on the benefits of incorporating essential oils in your life. One hour, that's it. Show up, learn about these wonderful products, have dessert, socialize a bit. Order if you want. My BFF Christina is a doTERRA consultant and she is donating 100% of her proceeds from this class to our house fund. Very generous of her, and I appreciate it so much. If you can make it Thursday, can't wait to see you! If you can't make it but are interested in placing an order or want more information on the fantastic-ness of essential oils, let me know.

Time to take kid swimming. He didn't get to go last Tuesday because I had to work. So I know he's chomping at the bit to get in that pool. More soon. Peace out, bros.

TUESDAY'S TALK - it is Tuesday, right?!

Colby only has 8 more days until he starts back to school. What the what?! Many school systems in this area have been back for well over a week now. Those people are probably like, shut up chick, we started school in July! I feel like Colby hasn't had much of a summer. Much of it had to do with the weather. It was either pouring down rain or so humid it put his breathing in danger, so that left the walking bridge, zoo, other outdoor activites out of the equation. Plus I have worked several extra days this summer. Gotta make that money, money, baby needs a new pair of closet doors! I'm working Sun, Mon, Tues and Wed this week while my boss is frolicking on her Hawaiian vaca. But I'm not jealous or bitter or anything like that. While she's hiking, sunbathing and having dinner dates, there's nothing I'd rather be doing than an extremely mind-numbing, monotonous, pill-packing job in the basement of a hospital parking garage. Actually it hasn't been that bad. My boss also happens to be my BFF, and I'm really happy she gets this vacation. She has been working full time and going back to school full time to get her degree for the last couple of years now. She deserves this R&R. Once we get moved and settled into the house, I'm going to start saving for some type of vaca for Colby and me. Everyone needs a change in scenery sometimes.

I haven't talked much about the house lately because there hasn't been much going on. I understand why and that this is how construction works. But I'm still frustrated. I couldn't even get up there much to do anything. I recently fired a nurse, leaving many open shifts, leaving me unable to go up there. Colby can't be in the house right now. There are boards, HVAC stuff, other various construction materials lying around everywhere. And, there's a big ole fireplace sitting right in the middle of the living room floor. That fireplace does not fit in the fireplace hole the framer made. (insert pissed-off-looking emoji). The GOOD NEWS is that the insulation starts today. Hooray!! That's progress, wonderful, forward progress. After that of course we can move on to drywall. Then the house will really start taking shape, and I'll be able to chill out a bit. Kitchen cabinets and counter tops were ordered last week. We're going this week to pick out bathroom vanities. Time to get the ball rolling and get this house done so we can move ASAP.

And geez, I can't imagine why I would want to move. A few weeks ago I turned on the ceiling fan/light above the kitchen table and smoke started rolling out. Literally, it started smoking. Maintenance came and fixed that. Yesterday and today we have no hot water. Cold water, yes, hot water, none. According to the memo they sent out, there was a “boiler emergency” and they have to wait for parts. Should be fixed sometime today. Soooo, how am I supposed to get ready for work? Guess I can heat up some water and wash up in the bathroom sink. Who am I, Laura Ingalls? Where am I, Walnut Grove, Minnesota? Geez. But the best, the absolute best, was when our AC went out last month. I called them on a Tuesday. Took them 3 attempts and 6 days to get it fixed. They brought over some old, stinky window unit for us to use that weekend. It had no knobs so you had to use a pair of pliers to use the knobs. Don't get me wrong, I was thankful to have it. But it was freezing cold in Colby's room and stuffy and warm in the rest of the apartment. Yeah, I'm really going to miss this place when we move. NOT!!!!

Don't forget about our fundraisers! Basically we're doing new construction on the house and man, ain't nothing cheap! If you are interested in essential oils and how they can improve your overall health, I encourage you to contact me about the doTERRA essential oil class/fundraiser I'm having next week. My friend Christina is a doTERRA consultant and is donating 100% of the proceeds from this fundraiser to our house fund. 100%! So if you use oils and are running low, we can set you up with a reorder. If you're wondering about what all the buzz is about with the recent essential oil craze, come to this class. I love my doTERRA oils, and you will, too.

We're also having a yard sale in late September/early October. Start saving your junk, I mean treasures for us. We'll come pick up your stuff! Taking donations now! We're pricing items as they come in so we won't be so rushed and crazy right before the yard sale.

Day nurse isn't getting here until 1:00 today, so I need to start getting Colby up for the day. Happy Tuesday everyone. Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.

DOING BETTER - I GOT THIS – I THINK

Yes, I've been a little down lately. Down, but NOT defeated. So how has this week been you ask? Pretty darn busy. That's how I usually say all our weeks are, but it's oh so true. Monday I worked. Tuesday we took Colby swimming. Tuesdays are bath night, too. Wednesday we took Colby to the matinee at Derby Dinner Playhouse to see Peter Pan as part of his birthday present. Neither of us had ever been. It was good, I think Colby liked the play. But man, that is a long day. We ate lunch, then there were 2 intermissions during the play. We didn't get home until 4:00. Thursday was a more laid back day, housework for me. Friday the nurse and I took Colby for a “real” hair cut at Great Clips. I mean come on, he's a teenager now and needs something better than the hack job I've been doing on his head for the last couple of years. Not much going on today. We have a new nurse here now. She's doing pretty good, but so help me, if she calls my son Cody one more time, there just might be some throat punching go down.

August is SMA Awareness Month. So, for the next 31 days I'll be sharing various crappy facts and lots of information on SMA. My family and close circle of friends have been familiarized with this sucky disorder to some extent for quite some time now. Know me, know SMA. But maybe I can teach somebody something new. Any information I share may convince someone to donate to research, which hopefully soon will lead to an effective treatment or even better, a CURE. Look at the green fact below - 1 out of 40 people carry the recessive gene that causes SMA. Think about that the next time you're at a ballgame, or church, or the movies, or anywhere there is a crowd of people. Start counting heads, and count to 40. In that group, 1 of those people has the SMA gene. Count another 40 people, again, 1 person in that group is an SMA carrier. And so on and so forth. YOU could be a carrier and not know it. I certainly didn't know I was. Colby's dad didn't know he was. He has 3 other perfectly healthy children older than Colby. Not trying to scare you - just something to think about. More fascinating SMA facts to come.