Back from Spring Break

OMG! We had such a great time! We have some friends that own a cabin about 2 hours from where we live. They have let us stay there the past 3 years, and each time has been such a blessing. The kids, although they were a little sick, had a great time. Ben, however, looks like we beat him with a baseball bat. He's more of a shuffler than a walker, so when he 'walks' he trips easily. That's very apparent by his cuts and bruises. He survived though.

The kids just did so well. Ian even seemed to improve on his vocabulary. He was speaking so much more clearly and using a lot of really good sentences. We think that all the sensory input helped him out. He swung a lot on the swing, sledded down a hill of leaves, relaxed in a hammock, climbed up and down stairs, went on nature walks, and threw the football around with dad. They all were so tired by the end of each day that sleeping was never an issue!

Jim and I enjoyed the complete family time. We were able to focus ALL our attention on the kids. No phone calls, no computer, no cleaning and laundry all the time.......it was great.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention how Ian used the potty. At home, Ian sits down on the training potty (not ideal because he's actually too big for it). At the cabin they have shorter toilets. Ian must have caught onto this because he went tee-tee standing up! And he went A LOT! We would set the timer and he would go pretty much every time. We even came home with leftover pull-ups. So we've decided that next month we are going to get a shorter toilet. I think it's going to put the potty training into a fast gear. And hopefully it will be a push for when I start Benjamin too. We could just see the 'proud' look on Ian's face everytime he went standing up.

So that was our trip.

Dad Update; Argh! on Drugs; Nine Years; And Poop Galore

After a week of being with my dad, I'm back home now. The Lord let me leave with more peace than I thought I could have. During the day before I left, my dad was very coherent and his speech was great. He was very tired and sleepy still, but he didn't have many disoriented moments. They have him on Tylenol now instead of the morphine. His bandages are off to expose the staples (27 of them!). My mom said he had a very good and restful night last night. He was able to eat food (dysphasia diet), and his swallowing test came back clear. So please continue to be praying for a full recovery and for him to get out of ICU, and also for no other issues to arise. And keep praying for him to come to know the Lord as his Savior through all this.

Now the yuck part. We're still working on the medication stuff for Ian. It's been a bit of a contention area. I think we aren't giving it enough time, not to mention it doesn't seem really fair to judge it after only 3 weeks, when one of those weeks has been complete chaos for Ian...mom gone for a week, dad taking care of them, other caregivers taking care of them, and green snotty nose. Hmmmm, sounds like enough to throw ME over! So, we've taken him off the Strattera and have an appointment with the new neurologist on the 24th....hoping for a cancellation before then.

Today is our 9 year wedding anniversary! We both agree that we are even more in love now than when we first married. The Lord can do great and amazing things. He really has shown us a lot during our marriage, especially during these hard 3 years of our 3 childrens' diagnoses. I've decided that for us there are 2 options in our life circumstance....we either work together, or we don't. And our working together has to include the Lord as head of our marriage. He's much better at peace than we are. Anyhoo, I'm very fortunate to have Jim as my husband, best friend, and daddy of my children.

I can't forget to mention my darling Avery. In the last week she has twice disappeared to bathroom with us knowing. Then we hear a sweet little, "Mommy!" or "Daddy!" By the smell on our way to the bathroom, we know what to expect. Our little girl has gone poop completely on her own! I am sooo happy and soooo proud.

Out of Routine

I'm sitting here at my sister's computer 3 hours away from hubby and kids. I got a phone call Tuesday that my dad had a stroke. It was one of those, "Do I leave now or wait?" type things. After a couple more phone calls from my sister, I was ready to leave at 1am. However, that probably wouldn't have been the best idea in the state I was in. Plus I needed to feel like I had things 'in place' at home before I left for an unknown amount of time. Finally it was decided. My best friend came to stay the rest of the night (starting at 2am), so that Jim could go to work in the morning and prepare for a sub then come back home. The rest of the details would be worked out by my hubby, best friend, and grandma and papa. I set my alarm to wake up in 1 hour (which turned into and extra 1/2 hour), packed up, and took off north. Hardly any traffic and NO rush hour!!!!!

It's now Saturday and I'm still here. I'm very fortunate that I can still be here....thank you Zane and Grandma and Papa.....and of course, JIM!!!!! And also to my other good friends who have volunteered to help out when needed! My dad had an aneurism (could have spelled it wrong). Luckily it only had a leak and not an explosion. The neuro-surgeon did surgery on Thursday morning. Hopefully my dad will get out of ICU my tomorrow. I don't want to leave until he's out of ICU. He's really disoriented and confused. I thought by now, his faculties would be a little bit better. He does generally know where he is, what his name is, what year it is...when they ask him.

We're just waitin most of the time. My mom is hanging in there, but I think barely. I think when none of us kids are there, she probably feels relieved to cry.

So, if you're a prayer like me.....please ask Abba to heal my dad and give my mom an overwhelming peace that can only come from him. If I new 100% that my dad would be face to face with Jesus, I don't think I would be struggling so much with this. So, in light of that, please be praying also that the Lord draws my dad to Him during and after all this.

Oh, also be praying for Jim and the kids. They have been knocked out of their routines and don't have Mom there. This is the longest they've been without me. Jim's done a great job of trying to maintain some normalcy, but you know how it is.......mom's usually still the stable point. I am very proud of how Jim has been able to take over with everything so that I can be here. I know it's not easy for him. I love you, Jim!

Vomit Alert

If you get queasy at the mention of vomit you might not want to read on. :)

My children fooled me again. Ian seemed so much better on Saturday. If you hadn't seem him Friday, you'd never know he looked near death. Today we went to church and he was still great. Then, after, at grandma's he puked. Then, at home, he puked....twice in one hour! And I'm talking liquidy (cause he hasn't eaten much food), projectile vomit. Once on me, then second on the floor.

Avery was so cute. She came up and said, "Mama, Ian vomited?" "Yes, Avery, Ian vomited." "Mama, Ian barfed?" "Yes, Avery, Ian barfed." "Mama, Ian puked?" "Yes, Avery, Ian puked." I think she just wanted to play thesaurus.

Avery came home with 102.4 temperature. She went straight down for a nap. When she got up, she and Ian went outside and played.

Benjamin is acting like he's going to get sick, but I hope not. He's not eating well and is a bit whiney. I'm hoping he's just faking me out.

Hmm, wonder what they will be like tomorrow!

Sick? Hmmmm

During the night the other night, Ian woke up (not a shock), but he was whining and had a fever. The next morning, he woke up a bit whiny and really lethargic, so I took his temp. It was 100.something. He looked not so good. After being up for maybe 2 hours, he wanted to go night-night again. A short time later he came out in the living room, waited for me to get to him, then vomited. He was really warm at this point. So I called the dr. and got him an appointment for around 3:00pm. Sure enough as the day went on, he started acting a little bit better. But I thought, "No, don't cancel the appointment. Just see what happens up til time to go." Well, by the time I got him to the dr., he looked really bad. When they took his temp, it was 103.6. She tried to look in his throat, but he wouldn't let her. She got a small peek and said it looked red. So, she was going to swab for strep. I warned her that he would throw up. The tech was supposed to come in with a towel or gown or something. Did she? Nope. I warned her. Sure enough, as soon as she tried to swab, VOMIT. The doctor thought it could either be strep or flu, but since she didn't want to take any chances in case it was strep, she went ahead and treated him for that with antibiotic. He was pitiful the rest of the day.

Okay, so this was just yesterday. We divied out Avery and Benjamin in hopes of keeping them from catching it....praise God for friends and fam. And today.....you'd never even know he was sick! I think a lot of it has to do with the other kids being gone. We've enjoyed him being so enjoyable today. We still want to keep the others gone, just to be on the safe side. Our luck, we would get them home and Ian would start vomiting again. I'm also glad Avery is able to be out having fun without having to share attention or getting hit from him all the time. I know in time, their relationship will change for the better. They really do love each other, but I also think they enjoy time away from each other. Who likes to share attention anyway?

I just love my children!