My how time flies!

TB had athroscopic shoulder surgery Tuesday morning and I haven't been online much since then. He's doing really well! The surgeon told me that they did quite a bit of repairs: there was a large tear and two smaller ones in or around his rotator cuff; removed bone spurs and free floating "matter" (ew, what was it? broken off pieces of arthritic bone spur?); and snipped part of his biceps. He came home looking like he was wearing half of a football player's gear! You can see a picture of TB and read his post here. He describes the gear really well! I am really happy this time around because he's in a lot less pain than he was after the first time he had shoulder surgery (on the other side). It bothers him but not nearly so much. He is still having pain in his back and neck so we have a ways to go before he's feeling a whole lot better.

Heidi moved back in on Wednesday. She wasn't happy living at Marianne's house. I kind of had a feeling that would happen. When I went to help drive back some of her stuff, Mari's mother came out to talk to me--like I didn't know my own daughter! She warned me to stay on top of Heidi about taking her "happy" pills. Ha! She also said Heidi wasn't getting along because she would get so angry and scream. I said, I told you about that. Duh. Then she tells me that Heidi hasn't saved any money for college and that she probably won't be able to afford to go because she'd get turned down for financial aid because of her poor grades the last semester she'd gone. Apparently she didn't know that Heidi filed an appeal to be reconsidered because of her circumstances at the time. :P She told me I had to stay on top of her to make sure she calls to follow up! Please!

That night, Kristin was up all night--not because she was yakking or anything but because she couldn't sleep. The next day, she was having mood swings, rapid cycling between being high and low. That was a little scary.

I totally missed cats in boxes day for Feline Friday. Oh well...

We had Little T with us on Friday and that was a lot of fun! Here are some pictures of my two building engineers:


T and TB played with Lincoln logs in the afternoon when it grew too hot and we became too tired to go walking again


The Little T sideways look


TB the Builder


Surprise!


Tickle Tickle!

I'm really relieved that things went so well. We'd picked him up Monday afternoon and had to tote him around on some errands. He was terrific on the trips to the doctors' offices but then had a meltdown at the library that was pretty awful. :( It's a long story but we finally had to call Kennan to come get him because he'd planted his little heinie in front of the library sliding doors and we couldn't budge him! Reasoning didn't work, bribery didn't work, a swat on the butt didn't work and neither of us were strong enough to pick him up and carry him. We're concerned about being able to keep him safe as he gets bigger and stronger--it isn't all the time, but he's definitely got some oppositional defiant issues going on. :(

And...I weighed myself and found I'd lost another 2-1/2 lbs. Yay, me!

Little Mr. Poopyhead

Yesterday we saw Little T again for his weekly scheduled visit with his mother. Before she arrived, he was getting a kick out of playing hide'n'seek with his Uncle Bill. After about 20 minutes of this, though, Bill had to leave for work.

Once Linda arrived, TB asked if they'd like to go for a walk in the woods. There are lots of cleared paths and TB's been walking there a lot, snapping pictures of wildlife and the lake from a more rustic point of view.

Little T was very enthusiastic about going until he realized he wasn't familiar with the route. He got very upset and wanted to go back into the house. TB and Linda were cool with it, assuring him he could go "his" way if he wanted. T went upstairs and laid down on the floor outside Billy's room. He didn't mind me taking these pictures though.







It took a long time for his mother to persuade him to come on down and pick an activity he wanted to do. He couldn't seem to make up his mind. Oh well...I guess it was just one of those poopyhead days we all get from time to time!

Little T's Spring Concert and Party!/Updates

A little update on our Tomas. On Tuesday, we went to see him perform with his classmates and 1st and 3rd graders for the school's spring concert. Oh, these little ones were wonderful, enthusiastically belting out "Jeremiah was a bullfrog"! They were so well behaved and I was so proud of my little grandson!

Yesterday was T's classroom party and TB and I gladly joined in the fun. All the kids rotated around the classroom to try different activities.



One activity was to bounce up and down a short stretch of the classroom. T has never wanted to do that before so everyone was thrilled when he decided to give it a try!



Kennan and T played catch.



T and I read a story together.

TB isn't in any of these pictures because he was behind the camera. He's lost almost 150 pounds and looks great. Here he is!




For a comparison, check out these pictures of TB taken just a couple of weeks ago! Way to go, TB!

As for me, it's day 11 of this shake diet thing and I'm hanging in. For several days, I didn't even feel that hungry. Today Bill cooked and made extra meals for himself and the hunger hit me. I've been a little irritable but otherwise just fine!