How is the year almost half over already? Where has the time gone and why does it have to go by so fast? It’s like that Kenny Chesney Song, ‘Don’t Blink’.

“Don’t blink, just like that you’re six years old

And you take a nap

And you wake up and you’re twenty-five

And your high school sweetheart becomes your wife”

~ Don’t Blink by Kenny Chesney

And then there’s the line from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off:

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once and a while, you could miss it.”

~ Ferris Bueller

I remember bringing James home after spending his first two months in the NICU and wondering what our lives were going to be like. Wondering if he would even make it to his first birthday. Now here we are almost nine years later, and he just finished third grade. I blinked.

So, what’s been going on with us over the past month? Well, let me start by saying thank you to all of you that made a purchase from Stacy’s online Thirty-One party. She didn’t get as many sales as she had hoped, but she did okay. Every little bit helps. As soon as she gets her commission check, she’ll send 20% over to Pediatric Stroke Warriors.

School

A couple of weeks ago they had their annual “Spring Sing” where they play music and sing a song or two for the school. James obviously can’t sing, but maybe he can learn to play an instrument.

A couple of weeks ago they had their annual “Spring Sing” where they play music and sing a song or two for the school. James obviously can’t sing, but maybe he can learn to play an instrument. I’ve always wanted to learn to play the guitar. Maybe the two of us can learn together. Or he can learn to play at school and then teach Daddy what he learned.

And just like that, James is done with 3rd grade, will get a little bit of a break, and then start summer school. Sorry, I should say Extended School Year, or ESY. Summer school has negative connotations. Like when you fail a class and need to retake it in summer school. James hasn’t failed anything. James is in ESY so that he continues learning, getting therapies, and spending time with his peers. It also allows Stacy to get out of house and walk some dogs to bring in a little extra money..

We did get a little bit of bad news. The one-on-one nurse that has been with James for the past three years has accepted another job in the district and will not be with him in the fall. As of right now she is planning on being with him over the summer. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens as we get closer to the new school year. We just hope that we don’t run into a situation like we have in the past where James has to miss a bunch of school because they can’t find a nurse for him.

Mother’s Day

Several years ago, as a Mother’s Day present, I made Stacy a couple of raised garden beds. She got a few years out of them, but after the covered pergola went up, it stole a lot of sunlight from those garden beds. About a year ago I decided to start work on a new set of raised garden beds on the other side of the pergola where they would be saturated with six to eight hours of sun a day. Little did I know at the time how much work it would be. Making the raised beds turned out to be the easy part. Removing the grass and leveling the area was a lot of work!

In researching ideas for a design of the new raised beds, I really liked the looks of the ones made with corrugated metal roofing panels. I came across someone’s post where they made them and included all of the parts they used to make them. For the life of me I can’t find that post now, but if I do, I’ll link to it here. I can’t take credit for someone else’s plans.

The only thing left to do was get some soil to fill them up and pick up some vegetable plants to plant in them, so Stacy, James, and I headed off to Menards…in two cars. There was no way we’d have enough room in the van for the three of us and all of that soil.

That was my gift to Stacy for Mother’s Day. James had his own gifts to give her. The card, the plant, and the jar he made at school. The Wonder Woman Lego we made together…because she is Wonder Woman.

Medical Stuff

Not too much to report on the medical/health front. James had to have some blood drawn for the seizure medication study. With all of the germs floating around we decided to mask him up.

He had a routine pulmonologist appointment on the 29^th. The doc listened to his lungs, and they sounded good and clear. With allergy season coming up, he prescribed an allergy med for James.

Stacy noticed a cut on James left ear and couldn’t figure out where it came from. She finally realized that it was from the headrest on his wheelchair. Because his head naturally goes to the left, his ear is constantly rubbing on the headrest. Stacy discussed this with our palliative nurse who drops by every couple of weeks, and she recommended putting something called MediHoney on his ear. It apparently is supposed to help heal his ear from the inside out…whatever that means.

Garbage Disposal

One of the joys of homeownership is having random things break. This weekend it was the garbage disposal. It didn’t really break. It still worked, but it had developed a leak on the bottom. It didn’t appear to be repairable, and not knowing how old it was, I decided to just replace it.

Just as I was always helping my dad around the house on projects like this when I was younger, I had James help me. I think we did good. Much quieter than the old one, and more importantly, no leaks!