Welcome 2nd Grade!!

No more sleeping late for us! It's back to school time!

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Lincoln Road

On Saturday, we decided to head out to So. Beach, despite the holiday weekend. SoBe is notoriously crowded and crazy on this particular weekend. We got there fairly early, so Lincoln Road wasn't that crowded. Figured everybody was sleeping it off.

Here's T with my absolute favorite fountain there. Beautiful tile and mosaic work from the 1950's.

Anyway, we had some lunch and then went to the movies to see Shrek, the Final Chapter...the non-3D version as T still has an aversion to movies with glasses. Came home, and had a relaxing evening at home.

Not sure what's up for today. T has been campaigning for some beach action. Odd of that are low, but we might make it to the kite park across from Haulover beach. Picked up a kite at target yesterday. Kite flying is always lots of fun...if we can get the damn thing into the air....

Meanwhile, USB port still on the blink. I now take pics with my iphone, email them to me, then save them to my computer. Bit more complicated, but it appears to work, we we're back in business!

Monday, May 24, 2010

Monday Update

Wow, its amazing how quickly time is flying. T's last day of school is in about 2.5 weeks, on June 8. A Tuesday. She'll have her end of year show and "graduation" and then is off for the summer. I have signed her up for summer camp, which is conveniently located on the school's grounds. Sounds like she'll be having alot of fun. That starts on Monday, 6/14.

We had a blessedly calm weekend.

On Friday we went to dinner at Benihana's. t promptly put her fingers on the hot grill, then proceeded to spend the rest of the evening with her finger in my cold diet coke. Luckily, no real damage was done to her fingers. Not even a blister. I hadn't realized that the grill was on and heating up, until dot went to grab her hands off and spilled her wine all over the grill. It all went up with a big whoosh of steam and bubbles when the cold wine hit the really hot middle of the grill. Luckily, the sides of the grill, where T planted her fingers, was not as hot. Yikes.

Funny, how compared to my parents' lunacy...our "calm weekend" now includes things like this! Its all about perspective, right?

Did some shopping for summer camp sneakers for T, and on Sunday helped my dad organize info for his taxes. Dot is in Houston this week, and will return at the end of the week, so I'm praying nothing explodes.

I'm annoyed b/c I think something is wrong with the USB ports in my laptop. Both of them. I can't download photos, nor sync my phone. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

I'm finding that its really not that much fun blogging, without photos, right? Hopefully I'll figure something out soon.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Blast from the Past

Check out what I found in my email in box this morning! My friend marie sent it to me when she discovered it in her old photos. This photos was one of our first days home from china, at the end of January, 2006. T was approximately 10 months old. Sophie was about the same age as Taylor is now.

I know its cliche, but boy does time fly.

In other family news, I gave my dad his first memory pill today. Pray that it helps. Also confirmed yesterday that my mom has 90 more days in the nursing home, before we have to start paying through the nose. Hopefully we can achieve some peace before then, but I think its doubtful. Sigh. Posted by Picasa

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Pogo-Stickin' Fool

Well, T got her summer vacation present a bit early this year. We went tearing off to toys r us this morning, and obtained her first-ever... POGO STICK!
Given the fact that Dot and I know from experience that she would probably never be able to do a "real" one yet, we found this one by fisher price, which has that nice big base on it. When she gets better at in...you can take it off and convert it to a real pogo stick.

I don't think T will be that adept at this, until she gains some weight. She could barely make the thing bounce.

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Friday, May 14, 2010

If it Can Go Wrong, It Will Go Wrong...

that seems to be the family motto for 2010. Turns out the court sent all the pleadings to my dad, with alot of nasty facts in it regarding his conduct. He called earlier screaming at me. Shit has hit the fan. Leonor will come over early tomorrow to stay with T, while Dot and I go over and talk to him.

Guess we were living in a dream world to think that it would all go smoothly. Nothing has gone smoothly this year. Who knows how this will turn out. I'm once again living with the constant feeling that I want to throw up, yet can't.

Wish us luck.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

As Good as One Can Expect

Well, the deed is done. My sissy and I are the temporary legal guardians of my mother. We informed my dad, who did not object. We stated the legal reasons it is a good idea, if something were to happen to him. He doesn't realize, yet, that if we disagree on her treatment, we win. When that happens, that's when the shit will hit the fan, so to speak. The temp will hopefully be made permanent on 6/28. Meanwhile, I'm working on getting an appt for him, but the damned docs failed to return my calls. Very frustrating.

My mom was transported to a Nursing/Rehab facility. Its right near their home on NE 2 Ave, across from Barry College. Sinai Plaza is its name.

Meanwhile, I'm so exhausted I can't even tell you. Went to work today, but literally could not think. Luckily, I have lots of busy work I can do for the next day or two, to hopefully de-stress some.

That's it from here.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Mother's Day 2010

Mother's day photo before I threatened T that if she didn't smile, she would never again play the Wii game...
Mother's day photo after such threat was made.
Photo taken by T, holding the camera out in front of us.
Mom opening her present.

We're back home now, hoping for a relaxing evening before the stress of tomorrow. We'll wake up, drop off T, drive to the hospital to pick up the competancy report, drive to get finger printed, and then go to the courthouse...all before 10:00 a.m.

Wish us luck!

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Saturday, May 8, 2010

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Can you spot T performing with her class at the Mother's Day Tea Party? They were very good.
Here's T with her friend Lauren.
Friday after meeting with the lawyer, Dot T and I went out for dinner. T had her favorite M&M Sundae. She eats the M&M, whip cream, and a bit of hot chocolate, and leaves the rest for Dot and I. Yummy!

If you're not interested in the details of my mom, read no further. Otherwise:

My sweet mom remains in the hospital. Turns out she has a Left Atrial Fibrulation. The top left chamber on the left in her heart vibrates at times, instead of fully beating correctly. That allows the blood to pool and possibly clot. The clot could then cause either a heart attack or travel to her brain to cause a stroke. Drugs like anti-coagulants and blood thinners can help the situation. However, the biggest risk of blood thinners is if she falls (or my dad drops her). B/c her blood would be so thin, there would be a high risk of hemorraging in the brain. Yikes. That's just more evidence for the judge on why the guardianship must be granted. Court is on monday. We'll see how it goes.

Meanwhile, its looking like my mom will be release sometime next week, probably to Villa Maria "for rehab" we're telling my dad. We'll then work on his issues.

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Thursday, May 6, 2010

The madness continues...

Today was a totally stressful day. Spent the bulk of it speaking to various professionals and trying to figure out the best way to deal not just with my mom, but also my dad. Everybody has different advice and ways of approaching it all.

I spent the whole day chasing a Competancy report on my mom. The hospital was giving me grief b/c I'm not listed as the primary surrogate. My dad is, so they wouldn't release anything to me. Took like 8 or 9 phone calls to figure that out. Then the doc said it would be ready, I called everyone to inform, and then he call me back and said would take longer and they needed to evaluate my mom more before reporting. Therefore, had to call everyone back and update them again.

High point of the day as that I was able to attend the mother's day celebration at T's school. T placed a crown on my head, and gave me gifts that she made in school: a beautiful jeweled broach, a poem with her handprint, and a photo of her in a frame decorated by her (my fav!).

Because of the tardy comp report, court is now on monday instead of Friday. Guess at the end of the day its a good thing. Decisions made that are rushed are usually not the best. What I was thinking this morning, I'm now rethinking.

Guess time will tell.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

And So It Begins...

Well, I went to speak with a lawyer on Monday about what options are available to deal with my parents. Things literally spun out of control this weekend, and I truly believe that my father is putting my mother at risk. Suffice it to say, since Thursday night, he had her on the floor approximately 8 or more times. I arrived on Tuesday morning to find my mother on the floor. My father was acting like nothing was wrong. His response? "Yeah, I think your mother wanted to sleep on the floor".

Oy. When told that she doesn't have the capacity to lower both rails and put herself on the floor, he said he couldn't remember how she got there. I truly don't think he was lying. I called the Dr., and took her to the ER.

My mom had a pain in her side that wouldn't go away since Sat., that I was afraid was either broken ribs, bruised ribs, or perhaps internal injuries. Xray has ruled out broken ribs. She has a very bad UTI, that may be left over from her bad blatter infection that she had upon discharge from St. Cats. Perhaps it was never cured, don't know. They stated that she has a heart arrithmia (sp?), and her blood pressure wildly fluctuates from way too high to way too low.

I've also asked that a psychiatrist evaluate her and write a report for competancy, as I need one to establish an Emergency Temporary Guardianship. I fully expect that it will be converted to a permanent one, eventually.

So, what's the plan?

She'll remain in the hospital hopefully til at least Friday afternoon. We'll probably be in court Friday morning. If she's not discharged to a rehab facility, then I'm taking her back to my house, with the aid. If my father wants to visit, he is welcome, but we need the authority to throw him out if he starts his nonsense. Once my mom is safe, I plan to get my dad some evaluation and treatment. That will be very hard b/c he doesn't believe anything is wrong.

My ultimate goal is to move my mom back into her home with him with the aid assisting both of them, and he would cooperate and stop his nonsence. After all, despite everything that she doesn't remember, my mom would rather be in her own home with him. I fully recognize that. However, if he were to act up once she's home, I need the ability and legal authority to yank her from the house.

How well will all of this go? I shudder to speculate. I suspect I may have to seek a guardianship over him in the near future, and force treatment on him. My heart is breaking.

So, please wish us luck that this goes as smoothly as possible.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

HAPPY MAY DAY

Happy May Day, Everyone! Let's start with the highs: Today we went to a scene from our past: my old elementary school, where T's idol Sophie made her First Holy Communion. I got T a special dress for the occasion, and she looked beautiful, if I do say so myself. In this first picture, we were taking a break from the really, really long ceremony to get some snacks from the car. In all the excitement T refused breakfast and was hungry...and getting grumpy.


After the ceremony wherein Sophie looked like a princess and had the prettiest dress, in my opinion, we went to a party at a nearby club. T got to sit at a table with all of the big kids...and Nick...and was in her glory.
The highlight of the day, as far as T is concerned, is that the Hoffman girls, who are teenagers but look like models, took her under their wing. Their dad even got into the act, and he and T were dancing machines. She was having the time of her life. As my friends send me more an better pics taken with a real camera vs. my iphone, I'll post some more.
Meanwhile, things at 123 street are precarious. T and I were participaing in much needed retail therapy last night, when the call came in. Icoline asking me to come to the house b/c my dad was throwing her out. He is literally out of his mind and control. I was able to talk him down, and Ico remains there, but we had to spend the night there. I got NO sleep and am a walking zombie today.

I will be making appointments this week coming up to speak with a geriatric social worker and also an attorney, to find out what my options are for putting an end to the lunacy and legally taking control. That will be really ugly and I suspect will be occurring sooner than I ever thought.

Luckily when the call came in, we were making our last purchase, which was Sophie's gift. We had to wake up before 7:00 a.m. to leave for my house to get ready for the event, as our clothes were still at my house. Apparently after I left, my mom fell out of bed due to my idiot father. He is just so sick and doesn't evn know it. Sad.

So, after the ceremony, we returned to 123 street and Dot grocery shopped, then she and T went to her house for a little water therapy in her condo's pool. I'm home alone trolling the web, watching House, and catnapping. Dot goes away next week M - Th. I fully expect my dad will go off the deep end again, and the agnecy will be sending a replacement.

that's it for now...

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A marvelous plan was made in the stars,
to create a miracle across the ocean so far....
Then entwine and weave all the hopes and labor,
it would take to bring us this joy called "Taylor"....
Now three lives are blessed and somewhere in the stars,
the planners are smiling, as we all are.
-Anon.




Taylor's Gal Pals

How Long We've Been a Family: