Baby Steps

April 26-April 30, 2010

Have you ever lost a week? Well it looks like I did with this week. Paul is going crazy with the end of term; I was staying out of the way and making sure that I don’t cause any more distress for him. That was our week. It was a long week; I spent lots of it sleeping. I spent quite a bit of time on line. We only went out a couple of times to shop. We paid bills on Friday. We kept Kathy overnight on Friday. Tom and Sandy were having a garage sale and wanted the time without checking on Kathy all day long.

May 1, 2010

Saturday morning Kathy and I got up to eat. We sat at the table. After she finished eating I sang to her. It has been a very long time since I could sing to Kathy. She was excited about Itsy Bitsy Spider, The Wheels on the Bus, If You’re Happy and You Know It. But her very favorite and she made me sing it over 30 time was Pop Corn Popping. I did all the hand movements and if I missed one, Kathy would stop me and say again now please. So there I was singing at the top of my voice, waving my arms around and having the time of my live.

We took Kathy for lunch at Dairy Queen. She didn’t eat her grilled cheese very well, but that ice cream cone; that was another story. She didn’t seem to feel well, so we spoiled her.

When we got to Wal-Mart I was completely exhausted. Grandpa and Kathy did the shopping while I stayed in the car. Kathy loves to shop with Grandpa. She directs traffic while shopping and I guess she is getting very good. She knows just where Grandpa needs to go.

May 2, 2010

Kathy had a very rough night. She was up coughing and asking for Reiki on her ear. I think she finally calmed down and went to sleep around 3 am. When 6 am came around and it was time to get ready for church, I decided that I would stay home with Kathy. Paul stayed home too. It had been a very short night. We went back to bed and Kathy slept until 10 am.

Tom and Sandy picked Kathy up in the evening. Kathy is still not feeling well, so she was a little clingy and ready to go home. I made spaghetti for dinner. We invited Tom and Sandy to eat before they had to run home and pamper Kathy some more. This was the first dinner I actually cooked by myself and served in a long time. It tasted really good. I made a huge batch, so Paul and I have some leftovers for next week.

May 3

Paul had a final at 11am today. As soon as he got home it was time to go see my primary care guy at the airbase. PA Byrd was very happy to see me. Well, he was very happy to see the changes in me. My voice is almost back to normal. I can sing children’s songs, not grown up songs yet. I keep yelling at everyone. I have been yelling for months and no heard me, now I have some volume. He was pleased that my legs looked so well. Now, I think I smile all of the time, but he was so happy with my smile this time. He said it included my eyes. He released me and told me to take baby steps and start walking. I walked back to the car with Paul, then we went to Wal-Mart, I waved at the welcomer. She came up and said, wow, you don’t need a cart today do you? I didn’t think I looked all that bad, but I know I am looking better.

Then it was time to get home and give Paul time to study for the next final.

May 4, 2010

Paul didn’t actually have a final today. He went to the learning center and worked on his math. I think he is making progress. Then tonight he had to continue to study for the Math test tomorrow.

I had Kathy for a couple of hours today while her dad ran some errands. She had missed two days of school. She was very agitated today. I couldn’t get her to calm down. So we finally went to the office. I played some meditation music. I could feel the tension slipping out of her body. It took over an hour but then Kathy was ready to explore. She knows where I keep my crystals and wanted to look at each one of them today. She is especially drawn to snowflake obsidian. When she had examined the entire contents of the box she asked to play with my tuning forks. Finally she was ready to just watch some Sponge Bob. I really do not understand what kids see in that cartoon. I let her watch a full episode on the computer in the office. Her dad came to take her home, and she reluctantly left. Paul missed Kathy this time. He was sad, but he did get a lot of work done today.

He drove me to a little park not far away. I wanted to walk on fairly level ground. I was going to walk to the Gazebo, but someone was painting it. So we walked and found a place to rest, then walked a little further. I probably was able to walk about 3 blocks. That is a little further than the doctor wanted me to go on my first day, but it was so pretty outside and no humidity. I really love this little park. The walk way is a circle so I can take baby steps until I can lengthen my stride.

May 5, 2010

Paul’s Math test, that seemed to relieve a lot of pressure today. When he got home he had to go to work on programming. He had six programs that had to be completed and turned in by noon tomorrow.

I fixed leftover spaghetti and feed Paul. Spaghetti is always better the second night it seems. While Paul was working on his programs, I washed dishes and did a load of clothes. That was all and I am exhausted. It seems like my steps are even smaller than baby steps.

May 6, 2010

Paul has his last two finals today. Yippee. He is finished with the semester. We finally got my red headed granddaughter’s present mailed off. We went to eat at the South Side Grill. It was in celebration of the end of the testing this week. Then we went to Wal-Mart. I did my walking in the store tonight. I know I walked more than 3 blocks. I did some more cleaning at home and that was the limit to my baby steps.

Kathy’s dad called. He took Kathy to the specialist and she is going to have her adenoids removed and tubes put into her ear. I hope that helps with the earaches.

May 7, 2010

Paul only gets three days off between spring and summer at school. The celebration today consisted of no alarm clock. Now, I got a little grumpy here today. I have been stuck in the house, and usually that was ok because of my limited mobility. But today, I wanted out.
Late in the afternoon it was clear that we weren’t going anywhere. I took the car and went to the park while Paul took one more nap. I have so much trouble getting the car in position to drive. It was made for someone with long legs, and my legs are very short (opps that is a secret) Anyway I left in a mad mood. But walking and drinking in nature is very calming. This little park has many irises blooming. There is a trellis with a rose vine growing all over it and you can see little buds forming. I actually was able to walk to the end of the circle and back. I took time to sit in the park and call a friend. She and I haven’t talked for a while. She couldn’t understand my gravel voice. We talked for about an hour. I felt much better going home, except that I had taken giant steps today and was very sore.

When I got home Paul wanted to go get something to eat, but I couldn’t walk anymore. So he went and brought home some yummy Quizmo sandwiches and we watched TV together.

We called my oldest grandson and sang him happy birthday. He sent a text saying thanks, but my birthday is tomorrow. Yep that is when I realized I had lost a few days lately.

May 8, 2010

We bought a video tower, a desk, and a storage cabinet at the first of the Spring semester. Paul had never had the time to put them together. Today he put up the video tower and I rearranged all the DVDs. We now have room for a few new ones. My man is really a movie nut. Then he put the cupboard together. I cleared the table and put things away that hadn’t been away since we moved here. The cupboard is almost full, it won’t take long to fill it to overflow.

I really did too much yesterday, so it was a quiet day for me. Paul decided that hamburgers sound really good and he was right. Hamburgers did sound good. So Paul went and bought them and we ate while watching a movie. They really tasted yummy.

Just before bed I started having trouble with my stomach. It was a sleepless night for me.
May 9, 2010

Happy Mother’s Day.
When I woke up at 6 am to get ready for church, my stomach went on strike. I was perplexed. I didn’t know why I was having trouble. Paul woke up with the same problem.
My sister called and took me shopping with her. I love these shopping trips; we get a lot of chatting done while she is in and out of stores. I was telling her about my poor old stomach. Wow, it always takes fresh eyes to see what is right in front of my tired old eyes. But my sister knew right away what was wrong.

Paul and I have changed our eating habits. We no longer drink carbonated drinks, sugar is gone. We eat very little red meat and I don’t usually eat bread. We are juicing more and just in general working on a healthier lifestyle. We have tried to lower our fat intake. What I didn’t see was that the meal we chose was very greasy and pretty unhealthy and boy did our bodies tell us about our bad choice. So I guess we now know, greasy burgers and fries will make us sick and so we will not eat them anymore. I really am going to miss those greasy things.

Each of my children contacted me today. I talked first to my son, the Fed Ex driver. He was in a very good mood. Then I called Sandy and thanked her for the text and my email. Then I called Tom and thanked him for the text and the facebook wishes. Then I chatted a while with my son the teacher on Skype. My daughter sent a facebook wish too. I also heard from my oldest grandson.

Paul fixed a great dinner, we had pork roast, potatoes and green beans. He also made me a smoothie for a snack in front of the tv.

Just before going to bed I got another call from my son, the Fed Ex driver. He had JUST found out that he and his girl were having a baby. He really sounded excited and she does too. This will be our thirteenth grandbaby. We are pretty excited, I love my grandbabies, but I thought that my kids were not giving me anymore. It was a happy surprise.

Tomorrow Paul start Summer term and I start walking the neighborhood. Little baby steps will soon become giant strides.