Things are looking up

Well things seem to be going a bit better the last couple of weeks. Monday was another terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, which ended by Ben coming home from work early and taking charge of a certain little boy. Said little boy went back to Ben's office and came home several hours later with his math completed, a smile on his face, and an apology for his mom.
Even better, he was a perfect angel on Tuesday. Lessons went as smooth as silk, and he was happy and cooperative all day.
Today was overall pretty good. Lessons went very well, although I decided to let Ben handle math with Joseph again. One small incident involving a stolen grape soda and a certain little boy who ran away from his crippled mom and hid in his bedroom upstairs, where his mom cannot get to him! And then about 5 minutes (maybe not that long, but it felt like it) of ear-splitting door slams from upstairs. But then this little boy came back downstairs and played very nicely with his brothers and cousins, and also very nicely got ready for soccer and went to practice.
So, not perfect, but pretty good, overall.
Soccer was much better today. First, it was about 15 degrees cooler than last week. Second, I think I may be able to get the boys on a team with another league here in Austin that only has games on Saturdays, and whose season does not start until October! I'm not 100% sure yet (actually not sure at all), but I am hopeful. As it is, the boys' soccer schedule got rearranged because of the cancelled games due to the non-existent hurricane last weekend, so HALF of their games are on Sunday. It seems pretty dumb to have the boys on a team (and pay more than $300) for which they can only make half the practices and half the games. I talked to the coach after practice today and told him we were thinking about joining another team, and he was ok with that. So maybe there are some other options.
In any case, both boys seemed to have a better time today, and had an even better time when Ben played 2-on-1 soccer with them, and they beat him 10-0. And we skipped the drills practice.
It's been fun having Christine and her kiddos here. She's been a big help, especially during some of the drama with a certain little boy.
Mosey is feeling quite competitive with Elijah. It is very normal, I know, and a little annoying, but also pretty funny. All the rules that Mosey feels free to break without compunction when it's just him and me in the house, MUST now be followed to a T by Elijah and Lucy! (Sorry Elijah and Lucy!). There's also a fair bit of competition over toys, of course as soon as one child has a toy, that is the ONE toy that the other just cannot live without. It's good for Mosey to have this experience, though, and Elijah will probably go back home very grateful that he's the oldest in his family!
Tomorrow is the boys' first piano lesson, so I am nervously hoping it goes well. Please let this be something both boys can really enjoy!
Also another doctor's appointment in the morning. I am also nervously hoping my white counts will be up. The last 3 weeks, they have just plateaued out at a level that is not so hot. My other blood counts (red blood cells, platelets) have been doing fine. Well, I haven't had to get a blood transfusion anyway! (Hemoglobin 9.3, platelets 137, for those who care). My platelets are actually doing really great. But my white count has been hovering at around 2.1-2.3 for the past few weeks, and my neutrophil count has been down at 1.2-1.4. Not enough to land me back in the hospital, but definitely not where I want them to be. Certainly low enough for me to have to be really cautious about germs and sick people, which is no fun.
Finally, my hair is starting to grow back in a little! Just a very, very little, but hey, it's progress! The boys can no longer call me "bald mommy" with 100% truthfulness. Although they still do, and I still mostly am.