School Is On!

We finished our first lapbook! This is on the Creation study we did over the summer.

Amber started back to A.L. last week, Austin started his P.E. class at A.L. last week, and Austin and I are now homeschooling full time!

Both kids had a hard time opening their eyes at 6:00 a.m. Actually, I did too! But that is getting better.

Amber is now driving to school, of course. Well, I think it was the third day of school, she could NOT find her keys. We tore the house apart looking for them. Just as I was getting ready to take her myself, she found her keys. In her bed, under her pillow. Errrrr. ?!?!

Austin gets on his bus for P.E./Life Skills at 7:15 a.m. and is home by 9:15 a.m. Anyone who really knows Austin knows this bus ride is his favorite part of the day. Most kids hate the bus. Austin LOVES the bus! He is ready to get to work when he gets home though, thank goodness. He has been working hard on his reading program and time, money, and calculator. We started our study on the Tower of Babel, map making, and rocks. So far so good!

Eye Gaze System

Today Austin got his eye gaze system! It is so-00-00 cool! It looks like a minature laptop mounted upright. Underneath the screen is a small camera. The camera reads his eye movements, so he can then use his eye to move the cursor and then dwell for 1 second on the spot he wants to click on. He played tic-tac-toe against the computer and did great!

We have been working on Bible studies and Reading, and this week we added on Math. We worked on some money, time, and calculator. He is doing great. I am so lucky to have such an enthusiastic little learner.

Of course, after "school" he gets to pick a playstation game, and that is a big motivator for him to get his work done!

Tuesday he will get to ride the bus to his adaptive P.E. class. He is very excited about getting on the bus and seeing some of his friends at their new school.

Amber decided to go to her friend's house and dye her hair more blonde. Well, it turned out white with orange stripes (where her low lights were). I about died when she walked in the door! She just couldn't understand why I didn't like it! Ummmm...we all do this at 16 right? I should stay calm as I drag her in to the salon to get it fixed. Gggrrrr.

Sammy is feeling a little better, but he has a ways to go. He will play a little bit now, but he is still sneezing and has goopy eyes.

Ahhhh.....Home!

We made it home yesterday afternoon. That has to have been our shortest stay ever!

Surgery went well. The doctor found some "grungy" tissue that he sent to the lab. This did not show infection, thank God. He did have it sent in for cultures, however. The doctor thinks because this incision has been open so many times, it just was not healing. When he opened it up, it was just a cavity. Very little blood supply was getting to the area. So he filled the cavity with collagen, and stitched him up heavy duty.

It felt so-oo-oo good to sleep in my own bed last night. Austin is STILL sleeping. I'm sure he is thankful to be sleeping in a quiet room with no one poking at him every half hour.

Immediately after I got home, I took Sammy to the vet. He has been sneezing and wheezing ever since we got home from vacation. Poor baby. He had a 103 degree temperature. Vet says he caught an influenza from the kennel. He got a shot of antibiotics and some pills to take home.

In the Hospital Again

Well, Austin laid around most of the weekend. All Friday, Saturday, and half of Sunday. We watched movies and played Game Cube.

Unfortunately, after being up all day yesterday, he sprung another leak this morning! They decided to admit him, and will probably be doing surgery tomorrow to stitch the catheter again and revise his incision.

Austin doesn't seem to mind too much. We were betting which floor he would go to this time. I bet 5th floor and he bet 6th. We are on 5th! Mom won! Let's see... we have been on 6th floor five times and this will only be our second time on 5th.

I was suppose to get the bills mailed today, get to the bank, get the dog to the vet, and get the kids to registration. I didn't get any of it done! Kevin took Amber to registration, and he was thankful that nobody else was there and it only took about 15 minutes.

Spinal Fluid Leak

I took Austin to the doctor this morning. It has been six weeks since his baclofen pump surgery, but he had a small amount of orange-colored fluid leaking from his incision. It was like the size of a pin hole. I only noticed it because there was orange "stuff" on the back of his pants.

Well he was leaking spinal fluid. Evidentally the tissue wasn't quite healed by the time his Steri-Strips came off, and he eventually sprung a leak! They stitched him up and gave us antibiotics "just in case." We don't want an infection again!

This was so bizarre. The physician's assistant asked a gal in the office to come help hold Austin on his side while she stitched his back. I was holding his shoulder area. The PA and I were just chatting away when...bam! The gal holding Austin's legs passed out and fell straight backward! I've never seen anything like it! She hit her head hard on the wall too. The doctor came in and took her in another room to check her out. It was crazy. I guess watching the procedure made her woozy. Supposedly she is starting school next week to be a physician's assistant. I don't know if she is gonna make it?

Austin is suppose to lie on his back as much as possible over the weekend. He is not real happy about it. It will be a movie weekend.

I'm starting to fill out my homeschool paperwork for the school district. I'm also trying to get a schedule and lesson plans organized. Boy, I am gonna be learning right along with Austin when it comes to the bible/social studies/science! It will be fun though. I'm still very excited about it. I had my first phone consultation with our special needs homeschool consultant, Sharon Hensley. She had some nice ideas for me, especially pertaining to comprehension.

We already started our reading program, and Austin is doing SO good with it! I'm very proud of him. And he really LOVES to learn. That helps!

We went shopping for school clothes this week. Austin got a Mario shirt and a Snape shirt (from Harry Potter). Amber got some things from her favorite stores: Hollister, American Eagle, and Pac Sun. Thank goodness there were some sales. That girl needs a job!