and the thunder rolls

And the thunder rolls...that's one of my favorite songs by Garth Brooks. We spent the evening outside in the humidity, cutting the boys hair, pushing the youngin in a car, riding bikes, throwing footballs, roaming in the yard, picking up sand toys, and then the wind stopped blowing and all was calm.

And the thunder rolls

Two friends...

Mike tells me to come quickly, so I get to the patio to find Sophie, playing with a baby bird. I hurry and run to get the camera and start snapping 1000 50 pictures of this. I mean how often do you see your cat playing with a bird?

And then took her in her mouth! Sophie is declawed and it was the most graceful playing I have seen with a cat and bird. Well, wait, I guess I haven't actually seen a cat and bird play together.

Just to show you that she's ok, Mike went and got her. It was fun taking pictures of this bird. I have tried and tried to find new ways to play with my camera. I'm still trying to get the backgrounds blurred with the picture focused. However, the opposite happens. I can make the bird completely blurry and the background crisp. Guess I gotta practice more.

Sophie had to see the bird once we let her go. She played on the deck with her and sat with her. Finally, Mike took the bird to a tree and set her up there. Sophie went and checked it out later, but then came back.

Phone call with the vet

I received a post card from the vet saying our cats were due for their appointments in June, so I call to schedule and this is what I get.

Vet: "Can I place you on hold?"

Me: "Sure."

(long hold, like 8 minutes)

Vet: "You were on hold to schedule an appointment."

Me: "Yes."

Vet: "Ok, what day works best for you?"

Me: "Typically Fridays."

Vet: "Ok, we are probably full Friday. Would you like me to check?"

Me: "Umm, yes."

Vet: "Yes, you are on hold to schedule appointments for your two cats. We are full this week, how about next week?"

Me: "Um my 3 cats. Next Friday won't work."

Vet: "We are open until 8pm on Wednesdays."

Me: "What is the date next Wednesday?"

Vet: "I don't know, I don't have a calendar in front of me."

Me: "Oh, ok. What is your latest available?"

Vet: "I think our last appointment we take is 7pm."



Me: "Ok."



(Long silence, 1 minute)



Vet: "Would you like me to check?"

Me: (chuckling in disbelief) "Ummm, ya." (Isn't that the reason I called?

Vet: "Ok, hold please."

(Long silence, 5 minutes)

Vet: "You are on hold to schedule an appointment for your two cats. Wednesday at 7 is still available."

Me: "My 3 cats, yes. Great 7 will work."

Vet: "Ok, we'll see you on Friday."

Me: "I thought you said Wednesday."

Vet: "Yes, Wednesday at 7pm."

Aye yi yi. Yowsers. Strangest phone call I've had in awhile. When a person calls to schedule an appointment, isn't it usually the person answering the phone who is prepared to schedule an appointment? Maybe I'm wrong, but still....strange, strange, strange.

(OH and sorry about the spacing on here. Blogger is being a pain in my rear lately with spacing between my pictures and paragraphs. Also, very annoying.)

Wordless Wednesday

Jayden Today

Last night we called the hospital where Jayden had surgery because his site is looking swollen and there is a lot of drainage. It's hard to see how bad it is because there is still Tegaderm over it which is keeping the leakage in.

I called the doctor today and of course he's gone doing surgery today, so his nurse will call us first thing tomorrow.

Jayden is running a fever of 100.5 in one ear and 102.4 in the other ear. He took a 4 hour nap and when he woke up he came and laid down on the floor. I picked him up and gave him some Motrin to help with the fever. He was really crabby, so I put him back in bed and now he's sleeping again.

I don't know if he's got an ear infection or if his site from surgery is infected or what. Hopefully he'll come out of this quickly.

I'm headed to Sioux Falls for a doctor appointment for myself and then taking my oldest girls shopping for swimsuits. I hope we find one for each of them!

A Day at the Ocean Lake

We spent the afternoon visiting grandpa and grandma at the ocean lake today. It was an awesome day as the water was really calm and super clear. Jayden even had fun trying to stomp the waves. He couldn't get his tummy wet, so he couldn't go in, but that didn't stop the other kids from entering the frozen very cold water.

Grandpa brought out a few tubes to float on and this very old style knee board. The kids had a blast trying to balance on it and make it float!

Shawndra was so funny. She got herself into a halfway floating/balancing position and it cracked all of us up.

Of course, Shaylee and Shawndra tormented the water for hours (and each other). Before long, one said, "She flipped me." and all I could say is, "Aren't sisters great?"

I LOVE this picture of Dalton. What fun he had on the knee board.

Jayden's room

I told you I would post pictures of Jayden's room. Here they are. His bedding is new and the blue curtains came out of our room.

He needs a bedrail or else he rolls out of bed.

The lamp matches his bedding. And his basketball hoop is from his birthday, which he absolutely loves.
Now we just need to figure out what colors to paint. Any ideas?

Made some progress

We made some progress today with Jayden's room. He is officially sleeping in a big boy bed (twin bed). After I purchased some really cute bedding from Pottery Barn at a rummage sale, I was more than excited to put him in it. So today we bought a frame and put a twin mattress and boxspring together and got the crib out of his room. Granted he had been sleeping in the toddler bed portion of his crib. He is sound asleep and looking like such an angel.

We went to a friend of mine's wedding dance for awhile tonight. She looked so beautiful and I fell in love with the colors of her wedding (black, pink, and white). It was gorgeous. Plus she had a candy buffet with little baskets you used to scoop candy into them. It was really cool.

Overall, today was a good day. I'll get some pictures up of Jayden's room sometime soon.

The Good and the Careful

I will begin with the good news first regarding the surgery. But first, you have to check out this cute little poser before he got his Mic-Key button removed and his Gastrostomy closed.

The surgery itself went well overall. But I have to tell you, surgery is still scary for me. I have a really hard time accepting the fact that my baby is getting put under anesthesia and will be cut open. Plus, it's very hard to watch him be active and fall asleep within seconds.

We began in the room with some medicine to help calm him because he was very agitated and the doctors thought it would be better for him to not be so combative. It worked great. He was extremely calm and awake, just taking in everything. We gave him the medicine in the hospital room and then headed straight to the OR. Along the way, we stopped and dropped Mike off in the holding area (sounds funny, I know). But only, one parent could go to the OR. I volunteered.

When I got in there with him he was busy checking out the room and kept looking back and forth between me, the equipment, and all the people in blue scrubs and masks. I should mention that I was covered in blue scrubs as well, including the mask. I think that was kind of hard for Jayden because he couldn't see my mouth or smile. But again, the medicine kept him calm. I put him down on the table and they put the mask over his face. It didn't take long for the tears to start rolling down my face. I'm such a softie when it comes to him. Anyhow, within 30 seconds and about 3 cries, he was asleep and they sent me to the holding area where I cried some more. When I finally had it together, we headed to the waiting area.

It took forever for the surgery to start. I kept wondering if the pager was working and was thinking it couldn't be, since it hadn't started. Everyone else in the waiting area had pagers that were beeping, but then, mine started to beep. Surgery had started.

Before surgery started they had to run Zyvox through his IV because he has tested MRSA positive. When I put him on the table, they didn't have the medicine yet. So they had to wait for that medicine to come down and run through him for 30 minutes. That's why it took so long.

Surgery was over within 40 minutes and the doctor came to talk to us right in the waiting room. We asked lots of questions about how it went, how the incision looked, and how long we would be staying. Then he asked me if I wanted to see him. I jumped up and said yes! So off to recovery we went. As we were walking in, the doctor told me to keep my eyes forward because there were other patients where I was walking and their families weren't back there. He led me to a small corner area where Jayden was being held. He was still sound asleep and was receiving oxygen. Without the oxygen he started to desat, which they figured was because of the anesthesia and pain medicines. He eventually came out of that. The nurse asked if I wanted to hold him, which of course I did.

I sat down with him and held him close. He was very floppy as he hadn't woke up yet. I touched his toes and rubbed his hair and looked at how long his eyes lashes were. Then I started looking at his legs and I noticed purple dots from a marker on his legs. I was confused. He was having surgery on his tummy, so where were there markings on his legs. I asked the nurse and she didn't know either. She thought maybe it was where he would be strapped to the table during surgery and suggested I ask the doctor later. Well, I kind of forgot for the time being.

We headed back up to the room finally where he watched the whole way up. He was still very groggy, but trying so hard to see everything going on. This is his tiny incision. The doctor made the original hole into the shape of an eye in order to close it. Then he closed all four layers starting with the stomach, then the muscle, then the fat, and then the outer layer. All of the stitches are on the inside and will dissolve on their own.
Back to the marking on his legs....later on that day the doctor came up and told us he finally had a change to fully examine Jayden while he was asleep and wondered if we had ever noticed the size difference between his legs. We had definitely noticed and had mentioned it to our family physical, who was not concerned as he was using both legs fine. The doctor in Sioux Falls hadn't had a chance to fully examine him in almost two years because Jayden throws such terrible tantrums at the sight of any health care provider.

Anyhow, the doctor had actually found a tape measure and was measuring both legs in length and in width. It seems right now the legs are very similar in length, but not in circumference. The picture below shows the difference. The bottom leg is much bigger than the top leg.

The doctor began to explain what he thought was going and told us right away that he had already consulted with the Vascular Surgeon. It seems it could be one of two things at this point. Two years ago, when this all began, he had a central line placed in his groin for easy blood draws and for easy injections of medicine. Doctor thinks the venous vessel in his leg or groin was damaged from that. He figures it is either completely clotted off or is narrow, which has caused the blood vessels around it to bridge around it. There is still blood flow to the leg, but the pressures aren't equal, and they should be. He explained some positive and negative pressures based on how we breathe and that his right leg is probably having to work harder to get the blood back to his heart.

This picture is what the doctor drew on our board. It shows the heart at the top with the vessel coming down to both legs. In the picture, on the left, is the possible scenario that is going on. It shows the bridge bowing out to get passed the damaged vessel. Because the right leg (left in picture) is working so hard, it is bigger or more swollen. I feel like it's worse after the surgery. The doctor says I will think that because now that we talked about it, I will always notice it. I had already noticed this before (obviously).

What will we do from here? Well as of right now, the Vascular Surgeon does not think we need to stretch the vessel, nor did he want to dig in to him right after surgery. However, we need to watch his legs and make sure they are not changing in length compared to the other one, or getting any bigger. Possible tests that could be done would be injecting dye into his vein to see where it goes to see what the probem is or to do an MRI. But again, they want to wait for awhile, since he is not showing any symptoms or problems with his leg.

The other thing that could be going on is a Hemangioma, but the doctor is almost certain it is not. I heard the word "oma" and immediately went into a brief whirl wind of "cancer". Doctor said oma means lump, not necessarily cancer. I was relieved to hear this. But still knowing there is something wrong with his leg is bothersome to me.

The doctor also said that when children have problems with their central lines they can usually tell right away if there is going to be a probelm. Rarely, does it go on much later and present a problem. He also mentioned that some children have lost their leg due to the venous being damaged, but tried to comfort me immediately by saying that happens right away. Yuck, it still makes me sick to think about this.

We have to watch his leg closely and when we go back in two weeks, they will have more of an idea of what they should do from here on out. Doctor wanted to consult with the VS again. I do know that Jayden does not lead with that leg, but brings it equal to the other one. When I mentioned this, the doctor said that's because he's right handed, so he will automatically lead with that leg. Doctors almost always have an answer for everything, don't they?

Jayden, peacefully watching me outside his crib in the hospital. He looks like such an angel.

Anyhow, as of right now, Jayden is doing well. We are home and he is playing. He's seemed like himself since shortly before lunch. Now mom and dad just need to learn to not over react to his leg and to pray for guidance on what to pursue with it and pray the doctors know what direction to take, if any.

(After being interruppted many times during this post, I hope I covered everything.)

Resting Comfortably

Another quick update...

I got to go to the recovery room to hold Jayden while he was waking up. That was awesome. Although he is still extremely tired and is sleeping mostly. I actually hope he continues to sleep because we found out after surgery he will not be allowed to eat or drink until tomorrow. This morning was rough without his morning milk, so hopefully he can stay calm.

Surgery went well and his incision looks really good. It's strange to see his tummy without a button. I'll update more when I have more time, or tomorrow when we are home. Just know that right now he is snoozing peacefully and resting comfortably.

In the OR

Jayden is in the OR right now. We are in the waiting room where there is a computer. I got to go back with him to the OR until he went to sleep. It was extremely difficult watching him go to sleep, but it always is. They had given him some medicine to help calm him before hand, so he wasn't putting up much of a fight at all. He was looking around back and forth at everything. When they put the mask on, he started to cry. About 30 seconds later, he was asleep and they sent us to the waiting room. That's it for now. I hope my Tweets are coming through.

Surgery tomorrow

On May 3rd, 2007, our lives changed forever. We were told our baby needed to have Nissenfundoplication (stomach wrap), G-Tube (feeding tube), and his Malrotated Bowels fixed. Never did I imagine that my 10 week old baby would under go major surgery and have a tube coming from his tummy. I cried and cried and cried. I didn't know what the right thing to do was.

My baby was turning blue and going limp in my arms. After a really bad attack, while we were at Children's Hospital, resulting in him being bagged, I was told that he was going to have this surgery done whether it is at that hospital or any other hospital of my choice. They would fly us wherever we wanted to go. So the next day, he went into surgery. And this is the result.

Today was his appointment prior to surgery tomorrow. Today was the day where we were given the final yes to proceed with the surgery. We went in, I of course was extremely nervous, and Jayden of course was extremely upset. The trauma of the many, many doctor appointments and hospital stays has caused him to go into a terrible frenzy whenever he sees the room he's going into.

Today we got a paramedic intern who did not weigh him naked. I knew he had to be weighed naked. I have lived the past 2 years with a child who has a hard time eating, a hard time gaining weight, and has a long history of required naked baby weights. So after he was already really ticked about the weight and height, we went back to the dreaded room for the naked weight. Thus began the terrible tantrum which resulted in him hitting, kicking, pinching, slapping, and pulling on my hair. It's extremely exhausting as nothing will calm him down. Finally, after explaining everything to the nurse while he's screaming, and 30 minutes later, he calmed down enough for the doctor to come in and examine him.

The appointment went well after that. The doctor said we could go ahead with the procedure tomorrow even though there is a slight cold going on and he's on antibiocs. So now, after 2 years, his Mic-Key button will be coming out and he will have his Gastrostomy closed. In the pictures to follow, you can see Jayden's Mic-Key button on his tummy. That will come out and the hole going into his stomach will be closed.

"Jayden, where's your button?"

We will check in at 7:30am tomorrow morning with surgery starting at 9am. Mike and I will get to go with him to the holding area and visit with anesthesia. Then when it's time to go to the OR, one of us gets to go with him until they put him under by putting a mask on his face. At that point, we get kicked out to the waiting area. We will have our beeper to indicate when surgery starts and when it ends. When Jayden gets taken to the recovery area, assuming all things go as planned, they will come get one of us and we will be able to be there when he wakes up. I'm anxious for this because we have never gotten to go back with him.

The actual surgery goes as follows. They will take out the button and stitch up four layers. The first layer is the stomach, then the muscle, then the fat, and finally the outer skin. There will be no stitches on the outside. All of the stitches will be dissolveable and on the inside.

The one factor with this surgery is the fact that Jayden has been MRSA positive twice now. Because of this he will have some IV antibiotics that are different from anything he's taken that will help him in fighting the MRSA so he doesn't get an infection in his wound.

Jayden and I will spend the night in the hospital tomorrow night and should be able to come home on Friday. The doctor even told us that most kids don't need pain medicine when the come home. I am so optimisitic about this.

As happy as I am about the Mic-Key button coming out, I am scared. It's very scary to watch your baby go under anesthesia and into surgery. Of course, I don't want him to suffer any pain either. He is in good hands, with great doctors, and GOD will be looking over him. Many people are praying for him as we close this chapter of our lives.

I also get nervous because we are losing this security we have learned to be accustomed to. Even though we don't use it, we know it's there in case he needs the calories or fluids for hydration. With the button being removed and the hole being closed, we lose this security. I should add, he has not needed to use the button since July 7th of last year, except for one night when he was very sick and needed the fluids.

I feel like I'm rambling at this point. I hope I have covered all of the basics here. I should add one funny story about today. As the doctor was feeling his "male parts" Jayden was getting very upset at the squeezing and pushing going on and started to fuss. The look on his face was like, "what is he doing mom". In the middle of him getting agitated the doctor said, "now you don't want to be squirming around when someone is squeezing your testicles". What's funny about that, is the look on Shaylee's face. It was priceless!

Onward to Shaylee....

She does not need surgery (yet)! The doctors were missing a few tests that somehow didn't make it down there for today, but they don't suspect it is her gall bladder. They explained when she had the HIDA scan done and injected the medicine, that she should have experience a higher level of pain. She did not have a reaction to the medicine. The doctors said they gave her a very high dose. I was also told that even though the HIDA scan was abnormal, she could have a normal one from here on out.

So what's wrong with her, you ask? Well...

They think it could be constipation, which she did suffer from around age 4-5 and had to take medicine to help. Even if you go to the bathroom everyday, but don't empty your colon completely it can cause a back-up, so when she eats, the colon starts to contract to start digesting the food. The contracting of the colon is what is causing her pain. She will be starting on some medicine and has a follow up appointment in 3 weeks. Her doctor said if they are on the right track her pain should lesson or go away in the next 3 weeks. This is promising to us as it made sense when they were explaining it, however, it is another trial withouth a definite answer. Isn't science and medicine great?

Tomorrow we will head to Sioux Falls to begin a new chapter of our lives and hopefully move forward with Jayden and Shaylee's health. Any prayers tomorrow would be appreciated by our entire family.

I will update Twitter tomorrow, until I can post. I don't know if the hospital's computer will block Blogger. I hope not.

Ha! Twitter!

I swore I would never get Twitter. I told myself I didn't need it and it would be useless to me. But then I started following some people on Twitter and their updates and it looked fun, so I created an account. From there, I still didn't use my account, but had one. Now that was plain silly. So why now, did I start updating my Twitter?

Well....because it's fun....and because it's a great way for family and friends to stay up to date on the tiny things as they happen.

But there's another reason....

I love blogging and I love reading other blogs. Many of the blogs I follow are families with sick children or children who have went on to be with Jesus. So many of the blogs I keep up with also have Twitter and it's just little tidbits into their day or moment. Or it can serve a very important purpose. It can be updated from my phone, as I sit in a waiting room, while my children are in surgery, when I am not able to make phone calls. It can be updated when surgery is in progress, complete, or whenever. I have personally received updates from Twitter regarding people while they are in surgery, and it's a really nice way of knowing what's going on without being directly there.

So, as we progress towards the doctors today to learn more about surgery tomorrow and to learn more about what will happen with Shaylee, I can update to Twitter for you all to see before I am able to actually post to my blog. (We all know life can get busy and sometimes those get delayed.)

I encourage those of you who are praying for us and who are anxiously awaiting the progress to follow me on Twitter, either through my blog, through following me on Twitter under the updates, or even by getting your own account and officially following me. Like I mentioned last night in a "tweet" you can set up your cell phone to receive my updates as a text, or simply go to twitter.com to follow.

If you have any questions about Twitter, please ask, and I can explain further what you need to do. But it's pretty self-explanatory.

I'm nervous, anxious, hopeful, skeptical, optimisitic, and greatful for what is about to happen today. To finally get answers. To finally see the light at the end of tunnel. The time is nearing very soon to leave.

I will post an official update when I am home and have time. Until then, watch Twitter for updates.

Night before appointments

Tomorrow is the big of "biggest" days, I suppose. I will be taking Shaylee and Jayden to Sioux Falls to see the doctors about surgery/surgeries on Thursday. The appointments start at 2pm. I will update tomorrow as to what is happening on Thursday. Shaylee has had some rough nights lately, so I hope they can get her situation figured out tomorrow.

Not Me! Monday

It's Not Me Monday where you can admit (or not) what you have done this week in a crazy, untrue way.This blog carnival was created by McMama and you can view her blog here and see what many, many others havedone (or not) this week.

I did not freak out and hold my breath when I was down loading pictures onto the computer because of a picture of a snake. I mean, really, what's wrong with a picture of a 4 foot snake coiled up on a rock outside MY front door. And of course, it was not my husband who took the picture. My children did not tell me that they had this snake in the house on Mother's Day while I was sleeping, which led to me telling them I would definitely, under NO circumstances, ever, harm them if they did not bring that creepy thing near me. Not me!!

While looking out my window, I know I did not see with my own eyes, another snake and my cat playing with it. Of course not.

My husband did not think I was a bit crazed as I yanked and pulled on the garden hose to attempt to drown the hole. I certainly did not jump and scream so loud that you could barely hear my voice when that creepy thing popped it's head out of the hole. That would be down right silly of me, so I honestly did not do that.

This weekend was not spent almost completely wasted because I am a procrastinator. Seriously, I would never ever waste time not doing one of my many home-owner projects that need to get done. Of course not, there's always next weekend!

I did not post a very interesting, thought provoking, rambling of words here, about my children having surgery on Thursday. I would never put some of my personal feelings on a public blog such as this. Nope, Not Me!

It's your turn to tell me what you did not do this week. Have at it, it's fun, I promise!

Celebrating

We went to a surprise 50th birthday party tonight for Mike's aunt Marla. It was a decent day/evening, but was a bit on the chilly side. However, it was still fun. Jayden sure liked the cat and crawling up and down the steps. By the time we left, he was starting to get down the steps like a big boy.

The kids played Ladderball and Bean Bags. They also got to play with the horses and explore the woods. I'm still knocking on wood that they didn't bring home any "ticky" critters.

D.A.R.E Graduation for Shaylee

In fifth grade, all of the students go through the D.A.R.E program to teach the kids about drugs and alcohol and saying no. Today was graduation. There were two classes graduating. Shaylee got to do the welcome and introduction and she did an awesome job. Her teacher is always bragging about her and how well she reads. In fact, her teacher says she is her favorite student and tries to call on her whenever there will be long readings because Shaylee reads so well. Needless to say, she did awesome today! Her voice was clear and she was so confident.

She got to shake Officer Pike's hand when she finished. You can see how proud she is by the look on her face.

Mrs. Ristesund (her teacher) handed out the certificate.

Then she proceeded on to shake Officer Pike's hand.
Then it was the State's Attorney, Clyde Calhoon.
And afterwards I snapped a couple of cute pictures.

She was definitely happy. We are so proud of her. Now hopefully this information will stick with her when the times are tougher in a few years. Yikes! Scary thoughts....

Are we ready?

In one week, we will be arriving at the hospital with one, maybe two of my children for possible surgery. I have anxiously awaited this day for Jayden to go in and have his gastostomy (G-tube) closed. (You can see a picture here.) But now that the actual time has been set and the end is near, I am afraid.

I am not sure if I am ready. I am not sure if Jayden is ready. I never believed myself to become dependent on a feeding tube or to become afraid to have it removed. By having the tube in place, I believe it provides a sense of security, that knowing if for some reason again he stops eating we could go back and use it for nutrition and hydration. Two years ago I coudln't wait for the day for the tube to be removed. Now, I am not sure if I a ready.

Jayden doesn't eat well. Some meals he takes three bites of food and other meals he eats nothing. He seems to be getting most of his calories through the Pediasure or Whole Milk he drinks. Considering the tube is still in place, and could very well be in place for the rest of his life, I question how ready we are to remove it? I have prayed about this, and my head is still racing. I am not sure if I am ready.

The surgery is elective, meaning, it's not a required surgery that has to be done. His tube could literally stay there forever. When I question why not take it out, it's because we haven't used it in almost a year, aside from one night to hydrate him. Yes, it's a huge benefit to have the tube. When children are sick and won't eat or drink, we still have the option to feed him through his tube and to keep him hydrated. On the other hand, why take it out? Well, he doesn't use it, he's gaining weight at what the doctors say is a good rate, and it does cause him some discomfort externally when his skin gets raw. I am not sure If I am ready.

Jayden's surgeon told me at our last appointment if I have any hesitation about removing it, then we should leave it in. But I cannot decipher the difference between realistic hesitation, security, and/or fear of the unknown. It is realistic that we could have the tube removed and he would need it again and have to go through surgery again to put it in. The doctors have told us that this has happened in the past. It is definitely a security knowing it is there, knowing it could keep him healthy if he refuses to eat all together. And of course, fear of the unknown is a common fear for anyone. I do not remember my baby without his tube. It's a part of him. It's his button. I am not sure if I am ready.

We will visit with the surgeon next Wednesday and go over the surgery details. I hope after that appointment and we have a definitive answer that I will feel at peace with the decision. All in all, we want what is best for Jayden. Does he need the tube when he doesn't use it? Will he continue to gain weight when the tube is out even though it is not a source of caloric intake NOW? Will he feel as if he's missing a part of him, since he's grown up with it?

As if worrying about one child isn't enough, my oldest daughter, Shaylee will be seeing the same surgeon, the same day, along with the gastroenterologist about removing her gall bladder. After an abnormal HIDA scan she will probably need it removed, but needs to see a pediatric surgeon because the surgeons here will not see her as she is too young and it is so rare for her gall bladder to be failing.

It is possible that two of my children will be having surgery the same day. How does a mother prepare for that? How does a mother know where she should be? If one baby is in surgery and one is in recovery, where am I needed?

I am not sure if I am ready for any of this. I am scared, scared of the unknown.

Children Learn What They Live

(I have a button on my sidebar about Praying For Kayleigh. Sweet Kayleigh went to be with Jesus on Monday night. She was just a few short weeks from spending an entire year in the NICU.)

I love this poem. I hand it out to the families I work with. It's so simple, yet has such a huge meaning.

If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.
If a child learns to feel shame, he learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement he learns confidence
If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate.
If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice.
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself.
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship, he learns to find love in the world.


I also love the Toddler's Creed.

If I want it, it's mine.
If I give it to you and change my mind later, it's mine.
If I take it away from you, it's mine.
If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.
If it's mine, it will never belong to anybody else, no matter what.
If we are building something together, all the pieces are mine.
If it looks just like mine, it's mine.

Not Me Monday!

Please visit MckMama to see what everyone else has been not doing this week. You can even join in on the fun, even if it is the first time. Believe me, it's addicting and so much fun!

I really disklike cuddling with my baby. In fact, I dislike it so much that I do not do it ever. I mean it. Never, ever, do I cuddle with him. Especially when he's sleeping. Ok, so maybe it's been well over a year since he's actually slept on me, which really made me not like this even more. I mean really, who would want to cuddle with an adorable baby like this? Not me!

I did not grimace or cringe at all when I found these innocent blue marks all over my kitchen counter. I knew when a child is working on a school project to let them use their creativity and leave them be unless they ask for help, which is why I was definitely not suprised to see this.

I was certainly not laughing when I found the culprit. Because of all people, or ahem, critters, I knew that my kittens are always, always innocent whenever anything is wrong. That's why I did not insist on taking this picture of my innocent kitten. See?

I did not eat many Tootsie Rolls this weekend, even though I could not taste a single one of them. Well, maybe I could taste one, but certainly not the other million umpteen that I ate. This darn cold has not gotten the best of me. Nope, not me!

While at my mother-in-laws, I heard one of my kids say their brat was really spicy. I certainly did not shrug it off as nothing. I would never do such a thing. When I took a bite of my brat and about choked on the spice itself, I did not almost, under any circumstances eat my own words about the brats being spicy. I would never give in to such silliness. After watching my husband take a bite of my brat to later watch his eyes roll around in their own tears did not make me laugh or giggle one bit. That would be down right cruel of me.

Now it's YOUR turn. Join in. I promise, you'll have fun not admitting what you've done.

2 more birthdays

Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday to Craig and Mary.
Happy Birthday to you.

How old are you?
How old are you?
How ollllddd are youuuuu?
102?

Haha, just kidding. I hope you two enjoy your birthdays.

I am a mother

I'd like to say it's been an enjoyable Mother's Day, but this year was a bit different than past years. Not really, but somewhat. I'm into a more settled way of life. I mean I was married last year at this time also, but now I'm settled. You know, like, I'm no longer in school, I'm not working two jobs, and I'm actually home now. Plus I have a lovely cold...the kind where you can't breathe through your nose, you can't smell, and you can barely taste. But who am I to complain?

I have six wonderful kids. Six kids, some I've personally birthed, and some I have become a mother to through marriage. Either way, I am a mother to six kids. I'd like to say I'm a good mom. My kids can come to me with questions or thought about the day and my kids can tell me when they don't feel good. But sometimes when I look at other moms, I feel like I'm not doing the best I could be doing. However, I'm still a mom. I am someone who for them to look up to and someone for them to learn from.

I spent most of the morning and early afternoon in and out of bed. This cold has caused me to feel like I don't live in my own body. I feel like I'm in here, but can't see out, or that I am out and can't see in. I don't know, but I do know that this cold has caused me to be extremely tired. I'm going to flip a cartwheel when I can smell and breathe again....well, ok, maybe not a cartwheel, but I just might go back to my old feisty self. Good and bad.

The rest of the evening was spent at my mom's house and at my mother-in-laws house. Both were enjoyable. We gave all of our mom's pictures of us in frames, which was really nice for everyone because we NEVER get our pictures taken and actually give them out. We've been asked numerous times for pictures and have finally gotten them done. (Thanks to the timer on my camera, a box of crackers and a picnic table.) Yep that's right, I used my timer on my not so cheap camera while balancing it on a box of crackers on top of a picnic table. Hey....they turned out pretty good, don't you think?

I have no idea how I got so lucky to have everyone looking at the camera with halfway decent expressions on their faces considering I had just run from the camera and jumped into the picture. It was a great time though.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday Dad! I hope your

day is great!

no title

I am beyond frustrated with blogger tonight. I have tried and tried to upload my pictures and it's not cooperating to say the least. There's nothing more frustrating to me to wait and wait for the pictures to appear and to have it go to a "not found" screen 5 minutes later. Ugh. I will try again tomorrow.

Mike and I and the two youngins made a quick trip to Sioux Falls today. We spent a bucket load of money at Sam's Club. Don't worry, their stock will stay good as long as we keep doing this for them. Ha ha! We seen the dumbest thing ever while we were there. A car was backing out of its parking spot, which was 2nd from the front (Yay!). We were asking ourselves if it was handicap, but it didn't look like it, so we were very excited to get a close spot considering it was raining cats and dogs. Anyhow, this car which, remember, was parked 2nd to the end, pulled back into a spot that was on the end, in other words, it moved over one spot. Good thing they went to all that work because I'd hate for them to walk an extra 10 steps!

The kittens went to the vet today and got their first shots, which they didn't like at all. But they're fine this evening. They're leaping around like always.

Again, I'll try loading those pictures tomorrow. I'm too "fed up" with trying right now. G'night!

changes

We finally got the results of Shaylee's HIDA scan and it was abnormal. I was not prepared for this, nor was it what I was expecting. I was told her injection fraction was at 19% and normal is anything greater than 35%. She did test negative for acute gall bladder. The surgeon here in town won't see her because she is a child, so she has an appointment in Sioux Falls on May 20th.
It will be up to him if he takes out her gall bladder. At this point, I'm not sure what our other options consist of. We do know that it is extremely rare for a child to need their gall bladder removed.

The ironic part of the news we received today is the date of the appointment. I have had an appointment scheduled for Jayden to see Dr. K for over a month. His appointment is May 20th at 2:30pm. Then when I receive the phone call from M she tells me that Shaylee will be seeing Dr. K in Sioux Falls on May 20th at 2:00pm. How ironic is that that M was able to call the doctor's office, schedule a new appointment for a new patient, and get it to be a back to back appointment with my son, which they have no clue they are related. Is that possible?

The other kicker to this is Jayden will most likely be having surgery on the 21st. It is scheduled, but anything can change up to that time, especially when he sees Dr. K. At his appointment the doctor will look him over and discuss the procedure and how it goes. Dr. K will have the ultimate decision on whether he will operate or not. Now how ironic would it be if Shaylee ended up having her surgery the same day as Jayden? Wow, I never thought I would imagine two of my kids going into surgery at the same time. How does a mother do that?

The next piece of news, Jayden had a meeting for his IFSP. They have decided to increase his speech therapy to twice a week. We're hoping now that he has turned 2 that his speech will explode, which is very typical at this age. Either it will, or it won't. We vote for the first one. We also will be starting to use some pictures to offer him choices and using a few signs (sign language) to help him communicate. I have been using a couple with him (eat, all done, more). Hopefully he'll catch on and be able to communicate in his own way so he's not so frustrated.

Not Me Monday!!

After almost two full months with no Not Me Mondays, they are officially back! I am so excited to tell you about the things I did not do this week. You should join in because it's so fun!




MckMama is the whole reason this blog carnival exists and when her youngest of 4 became extremely ill with SVT, this sharade came to an abrupt halt. Many, probably millions, of prayers were said for this family. Please visit Mckmama's blog to read about what others have not done this week as well.

As for me......

I did not add hundreds and hundreds to MckMama's stat counter this week, nor any other week. Never would I have hit refresh over and over to see if there was a newer update or tweet.

Since our family ventured off to the zoo yesterday I thought it might be a nice day to take a few pictures of our family using my very nice Canon and it's timer. I definitely did not balance it on top of a box of crackers, on top of an electrical box. And some random kids did not go running through our pictures as it snapped 10 in a row. I really wouldn't bore you with showing you random kids running through my pictures.

It was certainly not windy yesterday because South Dakota is never windy. Therefore, my very expensive camera did not go tumbling to the green ground below. And my face does NOT show any shock on it as I am witnessing it crash down to the ground.

Of course it would only be suitable if it captured one final picture in it's resting place, which caused my family to look like they are really not upside down. Haha, I mean really? Oh and that's not the inevitable green electrical box taking up most of the picture.

My oldest son did not holler out "Look dad, I know how to milk a cow!" as he crawled under a statue cow and started pulling on its udders. Of course, not loud enough for EVERYONE within 2 miles to hear.

I did not find myself my husband scooping poop out of the bath tub simply because my two year old felt the need to go at that moment. Three. Times. This. Week.


Now, what about you? What was your week like? This is your chance to join in!

zoo pictures

Since it's late (again) and I haven't gotten around to really picking out any pictures, here's a few from the zoo yesterday. There will be more coming later in the week.

Jayden loved feeding the animals.

I did not.

There was a baby monkey. He was so cute! And the mom was very loving and protective.

Shortly into the trip, I got them all (finally) together for a few pictures.