I think I see a pattern forming.  At night, I am just entirely too tired to blog.  I can see morning posts recapping the previous day to become the norm (as if it hasn't already).

Yesterday Marty woke up just utterly exhausted.  He has entirely quit sleeping.  I think I need to talk to his doctor about this.  I am highly concerned that all the medication he takes for sleep is not working.  He got up, asked if we had plans.  When I told him Roberta was coming, he asked me to call her.  He was just too tired for visitors.  He took my blanket and went downstairs to the dark, cool family room and took a nap.  He slept most of the morning away.

When he got up, I asked him if he was hungry.  He said he was.  I started to make him lunch, but he motioned he wanted to leave for lunch.  I told him we could go grab a quick bite to eat, but I needed to get back to work.  He wanted to know if we had time to go to Sam's.  He actually said, "Sam's".  Yahoo, new words!  Since I needed a few things from Sam's anyway, I agreed.  On the way there, I asked him what he wanted.  "hot dog" Yahoo, another new word.  When we got to Sam's, I asked if he needed me to order for him.  He insisted he could do it.  So, I headed off to pick up the few things I needed while he ate.  I'm not exactly sure how that conversation went with the cashier.  I do know he can say hot dog. 

Marty is gaining confidence to order things if it's a word he can say.  He is starting to figure out money.  The value of money is something I don't think he'll get for a while. Right now everything is expensive to  him, unless it's under $1.  If it's under $1 he wants to buy a lot of them, even if it's not really a great price.  Kind of funny the threshold his brain has.

For dinner last night we had a couple of small casseroles that friends had brought over.  Neither was large enough for the entire family, but together they were perfect.  We also had a Caesar salad and garlic bread to go with it.  Preparation for dinner consisted of heating the oven, putting the casseroles and garlic bread in the oven, opening the bag of salad and adding the dressing and croutons.  Before Marty even got to the salad preparation, he looked stressed.  I asked if he was okay.  He started pulling at his hair.  Even the thought of fixing dinner and these few steps are just too much.  Baby steps.  We will get this chef off and cooking eventually.

After dinner, Marty was able to facetime through the IPAD with his brother Jon.  It's the first time that they have talked.  I have known that Jon was super worried about Marty.  I was good for both of them to see and talk to each other.  It's just like old times with those two.  They really are good friends.  Marty's sense of humor is right there.  Jon said he didn't like the way the camera made him look fat.  Marty said, "not IPAD".  They exchanged a few more jabs before getting off.  I am thankful for technology that makes family so close.  Thousands of miles close almost instantly.

By the time Marty got off the computer, he was ready for bed.  Early to rise means early to bed.  I decided to take the opportunity to go to book group last night, even though I hadn't read the book.  The book they were discussing is "Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch.  I didn't realize it until it was too late, but it is a book based off a lecture given at Carnegie Mellon University.  The lecture is just over an hour long.  I started the lecture 30 minutes prior to book group.  I was intrigued.  I will eventually finish watching the lecture and reading the book. 



I love his analogy of a brick wall.  Brick walls are there to prove how badly we want something.  We hit brick walls all the time in our lives.  The question is, what do we do about that wall.  Do we retreat?  Do we find a way to go around it, over it, through it?  How we handle brick walls shows a lot about our character. 

It was a nice break to sit with friends and discuss life philosophies.  I was out entirely too late.  I realized after leaving there that I needed to put gas in the van before Addyson took it to seminary this morning.  I also needed to stop at the bank.  This didn't put me home until almost 11:30.  Since I was up with the girls early, I am now a we bit sleeping.  I can sense a 44 oz diet Cherry Pepsi in my near future.  These days I feel I'm awake on caffeine alone.  Perhaps a caffeine IV drip for Marty is in order as well.

Today we are headed with Addyson to Missouri State University in Springfield.  I'm excited for a little bit of a break.  Hoping for a little relaxation along the way.  I made sure we stayed in a place with a pool and a hot tub.  I even splurged and got a room with a hot tub in it.  I picture many hours spent pool side or in the hot tub this weekend.