Another wrestling match! Another win!

Tonight was a match against West Jordan - where a lot of his cousins have attended or are attending so Alex had a whole bunch of people there just for him.

 

I apologize it's not the whole match, again.  I borrowed Colby's video camera and I had a tough time getting used to it and I recorded a bunch of short clips instead of the whole match.  And now the blog is constipated when I try to download more than one of the clips. 

 

A few things to know;  first of all this was not his best match.  In one of the videos you hear me telling my sister in law that this morning Alex's sugars were 21;  if you know anything about diabetes he shouldn't have been able to function tonight, let alone wrestle.  So you can tell he doesn't have a lot of energy, and personally it was hard to watch.  But he insisted he was going to wrestle tonight, and wrestle he did!  In fact, his coach saw me and one of his teachers helping him out to the car after his seizure this morning (he has mild ones with such low sugars) and Alex looked him straight on and said, "I'll be there to the game tonight!"  Coach just smiled and said, "I'm sure you will be buddy.  Just take care of business first!"

 

And notice the arm gesture Alex does at the beginning of the match.  He just made that up tonight and now the rest of the team has adopted it.  If they win, they raise their arms up into an X.  They are great guys!  That's them chanting his name a few times in the video.  I asked Alex where he got that gesture or what it means, but he couldn't tell me. 

 

Alex has another match next week - his last official meet. I will try to take better video next week and post it as well.  You will see a big difference in his strength.  Hopefully!  His sugars have been so bizarre I can't promise anything!! (During and the week after Christmas break Al's sugars were averaging 450 no matter how much insulin I gave him and these past few days I can't get his sugars above 50 no matter how much sugar or carbs I give him.)

 

I want to thank my family for all their support!  We have had so many people able to come watch some meets this season, and I hope the coaches will be willing to allow him to be on the team again next year.

 

Go Team Alex!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Al's first day of school - high school!!

 No, this isn't a mug shot, but I couldn't get him to smile.  He's a big sophmore in high school now.  No time for fun and games, I guess.

 He looks so small in such a big school!  I love the fact that his backpack is a Transformers one. 

And here he is with some of his friends and some peer tutors.  Mike and I take him to school because the bus drops kids off an hour before school starts and then the kids get breakfast there at school.  That would mess up his sugars in a serious way, so we just get him there with about 20 mins before school starts so he can still shmooze but not be there too early.

 

 

His teacher is Miss Heather, and so far so good!  They are doing well with his sugars - well, as well as can be expected.  He's a tough one when it comes to his sugars, and even though the docs would disagree with me, I know his sugars do wild swings with the change of seasons.  So they are having to learn real quick what to do for him.  And since his thyroid has been so wacky he isn't as able to tell you when he's low or high like he used to.  I think he just generally isn't quite himself, so it's hard for him to tell.  AND I've always said he doesn't regulate his temperature well (he gets cold so easlily and doesn't do well in heat) and their classroom hasn't been above 60 degrees this whole time.  Needless to say, he's been wearing lots of layers to school.

 

 

When we drop Al off (he's called Al at school because there is already an Alex and an Alec) we just call the classroom and a teacher comes and gets him at a certain door.  I walked him in the first day of school, and Mike took him the second day and the class phone wasn't working so Mike had to take him in.  First of all, Mike was appalled at how skimpy girls dress nowadays!  He said he had wished he had blinders on.  But he followed Al up to the classroom, hoping Al knew where he was going, but Mike said all the way in Al had groups of girls saying, "Hi Al!"  "Hey, Alex!"  "Good to see you Al!"  Second day of school and EVERYONE already knows his name. 

 

I had emailed the wrestling coach to see if Al could 'earn' going to wrestling practice once in a while.  That way he had something to look forward to AND it would hopefully cut down on his wrestling everyone he comes in contact with because I can say, "Nope. It's not wrestling practice."  Surprise, surprise!  The coach wants him on the team!  When I told the coach I didn't know if that was such a good idea because he didn't know anything about wrestling or the rules, moves, etc.  Coach said, "That's what practice is for!"  What a nice guy!!  Wrestling starts in November.  We will have to see how that goes. 

 

So Alex is a sophmore in high school!  I'm very proud of him and how he is trying to be a big kid.  I miss him around the house all day, but it is so good for him to be with other people other than just mom and a bunch of 3 year olds!

 

When he gets home from school - if he has earned it - he always wants to go next door and play their video games for 20 minutes.  Kelsey, his friend next door, is a sophmore, too and is becoming a busy high school kid so she's not home for his beck and call as much anymore.  So I texted her the other day to see if she was home and if Al could come over.  She wasn't and then I had to laugh; How many sophmore in high school get a text from their friend's mom asking if they can play?  I think these 2 are it!  Sure glad he has good friends!  One of the boys in our ward (Nash) is in Al's basketball class, and he is so excited to play against / with Nash because Nash is "real good!" 

 

Just for info sake, Al's classes that are integrated are basketball, art (drawing which he calls coloring), choir (he hasn't sang a note, yet), and ballroom dance!  His vote isn't in yet on dance class.  At first he loved it, but now that they are actually dancing - and much faster than his little body can move - it's a bit overwhelming!

 

Good luck Al!  Class of 2015!

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY McKALLISTER!!

The day was a rough one for Cali (and probably Josh, but he had work to take his mind a bit away from reality).  We first took Oak to a friend's party out by their house.  It's amazing how just driving in the car can wipe Cali out, so when we got home at lunch time she slept the rest of the afternoon away!  But her honey Josh had planned a birthday party for Mac; he had invited family and friends on the down-low to meet at Mac's park at 8 pm. 

 So when Cali and Josh pulled up...

 ...this is what she saw!...

There was a very bitter-sweet singing of Happy Birthday...

...then the releasing of balloons so McKallister and Quincy had something to play with in heaven.

(I love this picture with the big bunch of balloons in the upper left corner, a small bunch that Oak and Cali sent off together in the lower left corner and the moon in the upper right.)

Some of the balloons got stuck in the tree, not sure they wanted to leave the fun of the party!!  And who could blame them?... 

...all the kids, big and small, really had a great time at Mac's park...

...and they even got to run through some sprinklers...

and with a beautiful sunset to end the day...

...we got to be reminded again of our angel baby on his special day, and now he has his little brother with him forever!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY McKALLISTER!!  WE LOVE YOU!!!