1) Ben and Alex went trick-or-treating with their friends. I'm glad they don't think they are too old to join in on the fun. We had fun with our neighbors at the I-don't-know-how-many-years annual bonfire. We couldn't ask for more fun friends and neighbors. Is it just me or does it seem that adults enjoy Halloween WAY more than our parents did when we grew up? It's definitely one of my most favorite holidays because you get together with people you enjoy being with, without any added pressure or stress. Why? For fun just plain fun.
Dori had a blast at his birthday party! BEE! Everything was honey bee theme. I found an Etsy shop that custom made baby clothes so we had a bow-tie shirt made in his party color with DORIAN 7 on it. When they lady saw the age and the small size she sent me a message thinking I had submitted a typo in the order form. When I explained to her she happily made him this amazing little shirt and her child even handmade a birthday card for Dori wishing him a happy birthday. He looked so handsome!
2) Ben's select basketball team has been doing very well and remains undefeated in their division. Today they won their tournament and Ben very proudly wore his medal to dinner and was telling everyone about how got kicked right in the jewels and was down for quite a while. From my point of view it was very painful to watch, and on top of that Ben was called for a foul on the play.
3) Alex is really enjoying his elective class at school. He signed up for cooking and I'm really glad there's a few other boys in the class too. The bonus of all of it is that he brings home the recipes and he promised to make bean dip for tomorrow. YUM!
4) Dori continues to do well. Since it's officially cold/flu season this is the time of year we are very antsy about people washing their hands and not coughing/sneezing around him. Now that it's cooler outside I also want him to go on walks in the stroller more since he LOVES leaving the house and going out and about. The kicker is that he can't be out when the pollen/allergens are too bad because then he gets congested really bad and that can sometimes snowball into more serious issues. It's always a delicate balancing act with him.
5) Yesterday Dori had a new day-shift nurse start. He is a guy. Dori has NEVER had a male home health nurse before so he is enjoying the novelty of it all. He called him grandpa all day yesterday so we were trying to teach him his real name, but he still has called him grandpa all day today too. His nurse is YOUNG... maybe in his 20's I figure so there's no way he should be thinking "grandpa" so it's pretty funny. Better for him to call him "grandpa" than "papi" or "daddy". HA HA!!
6) The saga of firing nurses is always an ongoing issue but thankfully the agency has been able to quickly bring people through that we've been able to screen and weed out so we haven't gone too many days with nobody covering any shifts. When Chris comes home from work on days we haven't had any coverage he knows to tread lightly, especially if I'm still in the same jammies and slippers from 6:50 AM when he left. I've still been able to keep working and I'm thankful for my clients and speaker bureaus that keep my pipeline alive between my family responsibilities. I have a huge admiration for mothers that work full time and manage to keep their household running smoothly because I can't imagine working 40+ hours per week AND managing all the things with Chris and the boys at home.
7) The boys are doing a great job in learning their Spanish modules online for school, but I strongly regret stopping speaking to them in Spanish when they were two years old. I should have stuck with it. Hind sight is always 20/20, I should have known better. It makes me cringe when they don't know stuff because it could be an easy A for them if I would have stayed the course with them. Oh well!
8) How about those ROYALS?!?!?!. The Royals did a phenomenal job and it brought me back so many wonderful memories from watching the Royals win the World Series in 1985 when I watched it with my sister and parents in KC. I cried before the start of the last game just thinking of it. Reminded me of how much I miss my parents. I was very blessed to have been raised in such a wonderful town! I know my parents were celebrating in Heaven!
9) I've been walking around like a harlot who can't walk in heels for months. It has nothing to do with high heels. I finally went to my orthopedic doctor and after X-rays to my back, hip and neck it shows that basically my bones/joints are crap. I fully expected my back to continue to deteriorate from the injuries and hardware in there from my plane crash 20 years ago -- but everything else is just new wear and tear. Specifically I have new bone growth/calcification in my right hip (same leg where my femur was broken) -- my body has overcompensated for the bad leg by putting more pressure on my hip. My lower/mid back has created more discomfort to the point that when I wake up it takes me a couple of hours to be able to walk completely upright (I need to stay a little hunched over for it not to bother me). Like typical Ramirez fashion I've learned to power through and have tried my best to feel better (hot epsom salt baths, naps, wearing flats, vodka, laying down and more vodka!), but the doctor said I need to try 6 weeks of physical therapy to help the situation. He said if he operated it would only created other issues and would not increase mobility so it's up to me (and my Physical Therapist) to make things slightly better. I told the boys I will trick out my scooter and add hydraulics to it so that it's "cool". Alex told me this morning "it's ok Mami, I won't be embarrassed." I said "if you act like you are I'll just run over you." I hope he remembers that when I visit him in college and I'm in a neon-light-decorated scooter.
10) Chris is great and has managed to convince his friends from work (JD and Monica) to move to our neighborhood. I think his master plan is to have as many work guys move into our neighborhood as possible and that would be super great because all his friends from work are pretty fun. I've crashed their "guys lunches" many times and it's fun to be around a bunch of dudes. Dudes=no drama. No drama= peace of mind.
11) Ben and Alex are enjoying playing football for their 6th grade St Rita's Spartan team. The games are really fun and the kids are all such sweet hearts. The play offs begin this weekend so we're excited to see how far our team can go for the DPL title (Dallas Parochial League). Go Spartans!
12) We had a great time at our annual philanthropic Halloween party. Everyone really stepped it up and showed up in some amazing costumes! This year we allocated all the funds to the North Texas Make-a-Wish Foundation and were proud to provide them a sizable collection of donations that will allow many children in our area to have their own dreams come true. Thank you to all our friends that came and had a blast for a great cause.
Alex helped with the "haunted entry" of the party with other kids for about an hour until they were dismissed.
Chris and I wanted to get our money's worth from these authentic German clothes so we sported them as our Halloween costumes. Cha-ching!
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