Friday, February 26, 2010

Lighter Side...maybe

My last post was HEAVY! I know that, it was not a lot of fun to re-read. It was hard. So I figured I need something lighter. Today my girlfriend, who is one of my verbal diarhea victms on a regular basis (all my friends are now nodding in agreement, trying to figure out which of them in particular that I am talking about.... I am going to give you all a second to ponder if it was you.......) said soemthing that made me laugh. She was talking about a friend who said something about things he did not want to know/do before he died i.e. he did not really want to know what it felt like to be shot. That made me giggle, becasue Greg and I do that kind of thing a lot. Usually while looking up, at least on my part as to include God in the conversation. Things like I will still hurt for my friend whose daughter is really sick, I don't need my kid to get sick to feel so awful and hurt for her.



So here it is, the beginning of my UNBUCKET LIST...aka things I am good without doing/having/knowing about. And just for the record, I am not tempting fate here! I am merely stating fact.



1. Having a critically ill child. My heart has had its fill with one of my babies being premature. That was more than enough, and I ache for any Mom or Dad or family who has to deal with this.



2. Major car accident.



3. Knowing what it feels like to have been shot by a bullet or stabbed by a knife. I am making this one thing...........and if you have to ask why, you are a fool.



4. Cancer. I don't want it, I don't want anyone I know or love to have it. Probably the most unrealistic thing on this list.



5. drowning. I live water. But not to breathe it.


I think for now this is a good start. I am pretty sure there ar more that will be added at a later date, but one thing is for sure.....I bet I got ya thinking!

Friday, February 19, 2010

My MAP

My mom is the youngest of 7. By alot! I can recall as kid thinking that people who thought their grandparents were old were weird. Their grandparents were the same age as my aunts and uncles, my Grandma on the other hand was OLD. In April of 2008 my mom's oldest sister, Mary Ann, got really sick. She was having a problem with afib (her heart not beating right) and then she got a whopping case of pnuemonia. It took until June to get her back to semi healthy and to be able to worry about the afib and the problem it was casuing. In July of 2008 Mary Ann had massive open heart surgery. She had rheumatic fever as a child and it damaged her heart valves. She was drasticly ill with the pneumonia and then had barely recovered when she had to have the surgery. But someone up there didn't want her then, and apparently isn't ready for her now yet either. She pulled through the pnuemonia and the heart surgery, in which she had a valve replaced, one repaired and had a pacemaker put in. When she came home from the hospital she weighed 88 pounds. 88 pounds! I think my left leg weighs that much. Skip to today, just about 18 months later, and as far as she has come, as much as she has healed and as well as she has been feeling, she is having open heart surgery again! While we were at Disneyland, she had a TIA (very minor stroke). I knew that should not be happening. I do not pretend to be a know it all (ok, maybe I do once is a while!) but I know that strokes are generally caused by blood clots and she is on blood thinners, so there should be no clots. So I threw a fit at my mom (a very small fit, ranked by my abilities) and told her we had to get Mary Ann up to SLC, so we could get her into see her heart doctors. We flew home on Monday night and Tuesday morning we were at LDS hospital to see Dr. Miner. We had not idea, that that visit would lead us back to surgery. Dr. Miner ordered and ECHO and they found a booger on her heart valve. The new one. The one she just had replaced in July 2008. Wanting more info, Dr. Miner sent us to IMC for a 3-d TEE (trens-esophogial ECHO) with Dr. Horton. I figured they would set an appointment for us, oh no! I was told to go now and they would be waiting for us. Even with a crystal ball, I would not have guessed how this all would end. Dr. Horton is "the man" when it come to heart scans. He is the director of the ECHO program at IMC and it awesome. He did the TEE, said all looked good, it must have just been a weird angle and allowed us to go home. 8 hours later. We got to LDS at 8:30 am and I pulled out of IMC's parking lot at 4:26pm. A very long day. The next day, I got a call from Dr. Horton. Himself. Not his nurse, not his staff, but HIM. That alone threw up red flashing lights. He said he understood we had an appt with heart failure on Thursday and would we mind if he did a follow up echo just to be safe. Things were not sitting well with him and he just wanted to be sure. No biggie I said, we did the ECHO with the appointment and it still looked good. So he let her leave the hospital, but NOT go home to Price, he said she needed to stay in SLC, just to be safe, and would we mind coming back one more time just to be safe, in one week, to make sure that this booger was gone gone and all was well. Sure, we have come this far, why not. So fast forward a nice weekend, My brother and his wife went out of town (for the first time since the twins were born) and left the boys with my mom and aunt. It was nice for everyone. On Monday, my Uncle John made the trip down from the monestary to visit with his sister's and come see the kiddies. The rest of the week was blessedly uneventful. Roll on up to Thursday morning. My mom took the day off to take Mary Ann to her appointment. My kids had spent about 15 hours without me the previous week while I took care of Mary Ann, and not that they really minded, but I could tell we were all out of sorts and just getting back on track. So Mom took her. And am I ever glad she did. Damned if that booger wasn't back. So after the ECHO, Dr. Horton decided that it was another TEE, which we did, and yep, there is was. Which is REALLY bad! It should NOT be coming and going. So now we had a whole new issue, and these awesome doctors, made the hardest call. They decided that it must be some kind of infection, and that the only way to get rid of it and make sure she doesn't have a major stroke is to replace the valve! What!?!?!?!? Seemed like it took 20 seconds to go from seems to be okay to the world crumbling. I am worried, afraid and scared. The Doc's had her admitted to the hospital directly from her appointment on Thursday to ween her from her blood thinners in a safer environment.....i.e. if she were to throw another chunk of that infection booger she was where she needs to be. And she is now first on Dr. Clayson's surgery list on Monday. I am torn. I want her to be okay, but I do not want her to suffer in anyway! I am at a bit of a loss right now, I pray for what is best, knowing that is not necessiraly what I really want. Because what is best and what I want can be seen as polar opposites. I want her to be okay, I want my children to have more time with her, but I do not want her to have to endure surgery after surgery. I know she is wildly healthier this time. Good grief she is up to a wopping 133 pounds (she would so beat me if she knew I just posted her weight for the world to see! Good thing she cannot even turn a computer on huh!). 400 times stronger and so much better..........but I still worry. The last time we did this, one of her doctors looked at her some months after surgery and told her he really hadn't expected her to make it off the surgical table. When we started this whole thing, Lex was 4 months old and Mary Ann could not hold her on her lap, and now she picks up my 2 year old. I know she is healthier, I know she is stronger. Problem is I'm not. I am not stronger, and I am not ready to loose her. So, here is to Monday, a smooth surgery, a great team of doctors, and to my sweet Aunt. I love you and can't wait for you to be better (AGAIN), to play checker with Nathan and play-doh with Lex. To snarl at my cat to get away, or ask if he is still alive becasue he is sleping on his back and to tell me I am just mean enough to make you do what ever it is you don't want to do. That's what I am here for...........................

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Disneyland 2010

Minnie Mouse taking care to be gentle with Nathan's casted arm. She kissed it better too!
Grandma, Grandpa, Nathan and Lex hanging out on the pier at California Adventure

Nathan and Minnie Mouse (at like 11 at night)


Lex, Nathan and Jolli at Pooh's Hunny Pots

( I loaded the pics in the wrong order and am to lazy to delete and reload! Sorry!)

I got the hair-brained idea a while ago that the grandparents (both my mom and Greg's parents) should go to Disneyland with us. Our trip was originally scheduled for the first week in December of 2009, but due to some issues that my in-laws had with another trip we had to postpone to Feburary. We did get some rain while we were there, and I got a roaring case of the 24 hour stomach flu, but all in all it was such a fun trip. By far one of the highlights was that Greg's best friend from school, Jeff, was able to meet us there with his family, that is his daughter Jolli in the picture with my kiddies. We spent our days riding everything we could. We flew in on Wednesday afternoon, got checked in to our hotel and had some lunch and headed off to the park. It was a fun afternoon and evening with very little crowd. I will never forget walking thru Cinderella's castle on Thursday morning and having Lex bouncing in her stroller yelling "ride, ride, Ali ride!" It was a hoot. It did not take her long to figure out what she liked and wanted to do. I have to get the rest of the pictures from Grandpa, he has a much better camera then I, so I just let him take all the photos this year. I also got a few on my mom's camera that I need to get from her, too.
I didn't go to Disneyland for my first time until I was 15 (I turned 15, the day after we were there) and seeing that this was Nathan's THIRD trip, I really wanted my mom (and Greg's parents) to see what it was to see the place thru a child's eyes. Needless to say my children DID NOT dissapoint. This was Alexandra's 2nd trip, but seeing that she was only 9 months old last time we were there, it was pretty much the first time for her. She loved getting to ride the rides. Everything was new and exciting, and by darn that kid has NO fear. She was game for anything. The only thing it took her a minute to warm up to was the characters who were people. Goofy, Mickey......no problem. Mulan and the other princesses took a second for her to decide they were in fact okay. It was hilarious to watch, as are most things "Ali".


Nathan was a trooper. Even though this was his third trip, it is safe to say it is the first time he had done the mouse with a cast. I, foolishly, thought it might slow him down. I was sooooo wrong. And for that I am greatful. Never even gave it a second thought. And by far, one of my favorite pictures is of Minnie Mouse, late at night (like after 11) as he and I walked back to the hotel just the 2 of us. We stopped on Sunday, our last night becasue we had not gotten a picture with her, and she was a doll. She looked at his arm and made all the motions to ask what was wrong. We told her and she kissed it better and patted it sweetly and really took quite a bit of time with him. Nate was smitten with it all and as you can see in the picture, he just was super happy. Despite being exhausted. It was one of those mommy moments for me, that seem to happen less often as he grows into such an amazing boy from the little boy he has been. WOW, sappy moment! Sorry 'bout that !
Greg and I had a wonderful time. There is something so wonderful about watching grandparents and grandchildren, especially when it is your parents and your children! I loved that! It was so great to have them there. And then to be able to add the Clay family to the mix was like icing on the cake for me. The last time we saw Jeff, he was one of the best men at our wedding and now he is married, and a dad. Onica, Jolli, and Oliver were so much fun to get to know and so wonderful to be able to include in our family!
So big thanks to everyone for going along with my crazy idea. I think it was wonderful! And I hope we can do it all again! And really, if you have young kids and parents...you need to haul them to Southern California and have some fun too. (Man, that mouse needs to send me an endorsement check!)

Monday, February 1, 2010

Parent Teacher Conference

I would say it seems a bit much to have a parent teacher conference for preschool, but when you are involved in a preschool that is as academic as the one we have chosen, I find it to be a good thing. I had Nathan's last Friday after preschool becasuse we will be out of town when they are holding the official PTC's. And the good news is that he is doing very well. Mrs. Francis (who is a delight) said that Nathan is one of the advanced readers and that he is pretty much a spongue, in that he learns so quickly and seems to be so interested in everything. She really had nothing bad to say about him. She did have a few observations though, and they really made me laugh out loud. The first of these being how they are at playtime. Last year Nathan was one of only 3 boys in his class. This year he is one of NINE! How she does that I will never know! But the boys play, and as Mrs Francis put it there is a LOT of testostterone going on. (SO FUNNY) And that Nathan plays very well, but that he tends to get LOUD. As in he will talk over all the other kids. It made me laugh out loud. I looked her square in the face and told her (as I giggled) that I had absolutley no idea where he got that from! She also said that he is the informer (so and so is running, so and so broke a crayon, etc....which makes me crazy and is something we have been working on home. So all is well, and our kid is a smarty pants.