Thursday, April 29, 2010

Opening Week - Part Deux

Another night of Winter Ball. While the rain held for Caz's Opener, it was about 7 degrees above freezing. I would have had trouble trotting out one of my football teams in that weather. I can't believe some of the kids were in short sleeves. The game was well played. It actually resembles baseball. It was more like a Sox/Evil Empire game in length though. How many 3-2 games, winning run came in the last inning, with 1 hit? Caz walked to lead off. He stole second, then third. On the steal of third, he came home on the overthrow to the outfield. The kid is plain fast. No one is going to catch this kid.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Opening Week

Preseason is over and the regular season is here.

Coco's RiverBandits opened last night in the rain and cold. Winter ball. Such is baseball in New England.

Coco played catcher for the first time last night. He was one of the few kids that got the message from Coach that players that want to catch, have to wear a cup. Although it's an awkward thing for a young boy at first, there are enough of my football team on the RiverBandits roster to provide Coach with some catchers to choose from. It's funny how the Mom's defer that responsibility to the Dads (which makes sense, leave it to the ones familiar with the equipment). I think a few Dads got chewed out at home after the game last night. Anyway, Coco went 1-2 (single) and applied the tag at second base to throw out a steal attempt. I asked him after the game, before bed, "So. I take it you are liking baseball again?"

The sheepish reply was, "Yes."

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Recuperation

The family is doing well with my recovery period from knee surgery. The boys continue to be great helpers. They are very cordial with my requests. I try to limit them, but sometimes the requests can come at inopportune times for the boys. Their world is what they are doing at that particular time, playing, drawing, reading, XBox, etc. They rank things differently than Demi or I do. I don't want to be a burden either. Being couped up for this long is not easy. Sounds great in theory: movies, reading, and sitting in the sun on the deck. But not being able to the do the little things for myself is frustrating. Just getting a glass of water, when I want it, is not easy right now. But the boys and Demi have been great. The boys are enthusiastic helpers. And in the midst of it all, we were still facing issues with the renovations. The floors have limited access to the main floor twice now while I have had my surgery. I can't say enough about how the family has persevered through it all. I am grateful to all of them. Maybe, just maybe, the hard work put in parenting is showing a bit.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Post-Op

Surgery went well. Recovery was the longest part. I had to have a spinal due to genetic issues I have with anesthesia (and likely the boys have). A spinal takes a while to wear off. I laid in a recovery room until 11:30 AM or so. When I was able to come home, Coco was the first face I saw. It's school vacation week, and it is a beautiful day. Both boys really should have been out playing. Caz was over at a friend's house. Coco was reading on the porch, waiting for me to come home. He hopped right up to help me up onto the porch and into seat. He went to get me a drink. Coco was just awesome. I got tired and went up to bed to lay down. I rewarded Coco by letting him grab The Return of the King on DVD to watch with me. I slept through the vast majority of it after taking a Vicodin. Coco watched it all though. And then stayed for the Bruins, who went into double OT. The pamphlet the hospital gave me included instructions for me to have a Recovery Buddy for at least the first 24 hours. Coco was happy to be that for me and did an outstanding job.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Pre-Op

Tomorrow I go under the knife. Actually, it's only a scope, to clean out my right knee. It's long overdue. I have cartilage in there, one large piece under my knee cap. I don't seem to be anxious about it. I look forward to having it fixed. However, Coco seemed to be a bit worried about me having surgery. Last night he was asking questions about it. So tonight during bedtime I let him ask whatever he wanted. He clammed up a bit. I explained what was happening and that the procedure was routine these days. Coco asked me what I meant by that. He seemed OK when I told him it is something they do all the time now. And I do not believe that I was just talking to make myself feel better. Caz wished me luck but didn't seem to concerned. I didn't even think that the boys might have a hard time with it. I am glad I don't have to go into it with them upset.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Happy 11th Caz!

Happy Birthday to my oldest son. Caz is 11 today. He's turning into quite the little man.

I actually looked at the current college tuition rates. Talk about your sticker shock. I almost had a coronary. This is going way too fast.