Today is Stephanie's birthday. Today she is 13. Today, I have no more "children." I only have "teenagers."

Bollocks. They will always be my "children."

Did I just say "bollocks??" I've watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer too much haven't I?

Of course, I'm also depressed because the Red Sox dropped a double header to the Evil Empire last night. They had the second game won, but gave up 7 runs in a late inning.

We had a major meltdown Thursday night, that almost made me want to totally throw in the towel.

Stephanie was sick with a sinus infection this past week, and missed three days of school. Thursday afternoon, she did her make-up homework with no trouble and was all ready to go back to school on Friday, when, all of a sudden, she started begging us to write her a note to not have to go to aerobics class on Friday. Aerobics was what her and her mother picked instead of P.E. Mainly because Stephanie loves to exercise using exercise videos, which are largely aerobic in nature.

Well, Stephanie had decided, for whatever reason, that she didn't want to do this class. We had the biggest fight Thursday night that we have had since we started the gf/cf diet or any of these treatments. It was like we had gone all the way back to square one.

She wanted to live somewhere else. She wondered why I didn't care about her. (After which I reminded her how much money we had spent on all the treatments...) She wondered why I didn't love her.

The last 15 minutes before I went to work were 100% statements of defiance, consisting of three words, such as, "No I don't!" "Yes you will!" No I'm not!" "Yes you are!" If it hadn't been so gut-wrenching and heart-breaking, it would have been funny. But I was almost in tears the whole way to work. I was ready to give up.

Friday morning she started her period.

Now, we've experienced PMS with this kid before, but nothing like this. She was almost a week late, this time, by our counting, though.

When Christi got up, she wrote a letter to the school, explaining everything and asking for help to resolve this P.E. issue. I delivered the letter when I dropped Stephanie off to school. I spoke with the counselor, (who was wonderful, by the way) who said she would speak with both the aerobics coach and the assistant principal.

By the end of the day, there was a plan in place to change the schedule around a little and put Stephanie in a different P.E. class.

I also wrote Stephie an email from work telling her how much I love her and how much it hurts me when we have these fights.

Friday was much better. Things seem to have cooled down some.

We'll see how it goes. I'm still pretty down over the whole thing. I get encouragement from my buddies here at Diaryland, especially Fan4, Fightn4life, and Racecar.

You might wonder how I get encouragement from Racecar...she seems to be depressed, herself, much of the time. But I have really grown to have a love for this girl...(I hope I'm not embarassing her) because she needs all the encouragement she can get. But she keeps on plugging. Keeps on living, and refuses to give up in spite what seem to be insurmountable odds. She plays guitar, and she loves the Red Sox!! No wonder I like her so much. *big happy face here*

Enough gushing. I've got stuff to do. People are coming over later this morning for Stephanie's birthday...mostly grandparents. We had the official "party" at the Ballpark in Arlington last Saturday night. Stephanie got to have her face on the big video board on the scoreboard during the "Birthday Parade." Oh, excuse me...the "Dr. Pepper Birthday Parade." Everything has to have a freakin' sponsor now.

I heard the Yankees are going to build a new stadium. *HORRORS* *BLASPHEMY!!* They can't DO that!!! Even as much as I hate the Yankees, I have to confess that Yankee Stadium is a freakin' ICON!! It's like Fenway Park. What? Are they going to have "Verizon Field" now? "Bank of America Park?" "Suave Stadium??" Grrrr..... *picks up the phone to call George Steinbrenner* *puts it down, realizing that Steinbrenner would never listen to me* *also don't have Steinbrenner's phone number*

Ok. Sorry about that. Gotta go now.

TTFN, y'all, and thank you so much for reading, praying, and whatever else you do.

Missed anything?
The Beatles--Abbey Road/Alice Cooper--Killer - July 04, 2012
The Beatles Eponymous Album - June 26, 2012
Autism's False Prophets - February 12, 2011
Santana--Guitar God? - November 11, 2010
Tribute To the Red Sox - September 29, 2010