Get Well Soon!

Thursday my mom had triple bypass surgery & she did great! She spent less than 24 hours in ICU and all her tubes were removed today, just 48 hours after the operation. According to the nurses & doctors that is as good as it gets. They are hoping to have her home on Monday! Praise God for His faithfulness and His healing hand.



I decided this afternoon that Isaac & Caleb should make my mom something for her recovery. Of course, they are not actually going to help but I thought if I painted their hands & feet that at least I could say they touched the picture. So after supper Zach & I were ready to tackle this project. We determined the best way to do this was to strip the kids down, paint their hand & foot and then throw them immediately into the bathtub. It was getting late & I was concerned about getting Caleb to bed as quickly as possible so I thought it would be best to do his first. I didn't really think about it being a two person job and that I couldn't actually leave Caleb in the bathtub by himself to help Zach with Isaac so I had Caleb stripped before Zach could tell me how bad an idea it was. Then my cheap side kicked in & I decided not to put Caleb back in a diaper for 30 seconds...so I let him crawl on the floor naked until we got Isaac done. About 2 minutes later, Caleb had peed on the carpet. I didn't really mind considering it was just pee but Zach was a little more agitated. We were almost done with Isaac so I said "keep going." About 3 minutes later Zach starts yelling "he's pooping, he pooping!" AHHHHHH!!!! That's a problem!

What a mess!!! I quickly picked Caleb up & took him into the bathroom where I proceeded to put his feet in the toilet because they were all poopy! However, his butt was still poopy so now there was poop on the rim of toilet & Caleb was not impressed that he was partially in the toilet. Zach is yelling at me...I'm trying to do what I think is best but my attempts are failing miserably. Finally I just put Caleb in the clean bath water that I had just run. Caleb LOVES the bath so he started splashing & playing. He was not happy when I quickly washed him off & took him back out. So needless to say, Zach put a diaper on that child for less than 5 minutes of use. :)

I finished painting Isaac's hand & got him all cleaned up. Then we tried to get Caleb's prints but it is much harder to make a baby do what you want! His foot print was pretty good but his hand print is terrible. He wouldn't open his hand up to be painted! Oh well.

I'd like to say the excitement ended there but it didn't. We put Caleb & Isaac in the bath when we were finished. Zach cleaned up Caleb & then Caleb determined that standing was better than sitting and ended up falling. He had to get out of the bathtub then. I was busy getting him ready for bed and Zach was letting Isaac play in the tub while he finished cleaning up some of the previous mess. When Zach went back to get Isaac out...Isaac had pooped in the tub! I have gone 3 years without a child pooping in the tub and now my streak is officially over. So I cleaned poop out of the tub...again. What a night!

I hope my mom enjoys the picture and I know she will think the story is hilarious. I will have to wait to tell it until it no longer hurts to laugh though! :)

The past four days...

Just a little disclaimer before you start reading...this post is going to be really long. A LOT has happened the past four days & it has been emotionally draining for me. This is the first that I've tried to put it into words so if you weren't looking at reading a novel...you should probably just take the shortened version. Here are the main events: Isaac fell & hit his head causing us to be on concussion watch, my mom had an angio & has severe blockages in her heart & will be having triple bypass surgery, Caleb's turning 1!

Now the whole story...

I spent the week taking Isaac to different doctor appointments because I guess that is what happens when you have a 3 year old. Wednesday we went to the dentist. I was surprised because they were actually going to clean his teeth with all the different tools. Isaac wouldn't let them of course but if he would have been willing... Instead they just counted his teeth, 30 in all. I learned that you don't take an almost 1 year old to these appointments. Isaac wouldn't get in the chair so I had to put Caleb down so I could sit with Isaac for a minute. A minute was all Caleb needed to escape down the hall!

On Thursday morning we went to the eye doctor because Isaac didn't do so well on his vision screening at his 3 year checkup. I think he was just disinterested in telling the nurse the shapes he had told her 1000 times before. Anyway, we went to the same eye dr that I go to and he is actually our old neighbor. He said Isaac's vision is just fine and wanted to dialate Isaac's eyes to get a baseline to compare in future years. Isaac allowed him to put the drops in and therefore had his eyes dialated. I've had my eyes dialated many times before & it didn't really register with me that he wouldn't be able to see the greatest. When we were ready to leave I picked Caleb up & Isaac ran in front of me to the door. I opened it for him & and he proceeded to run out...missing the step down. He fell & smacked his head hard on the concrete. He immediately had a mark & was crying hysterically. I froze for a moment because I had Caleb in my arms & I knew I needed to get to Isaac but if I put Caleb down he would crawl into the street. I managed to wedge Caleb in between my feet so I could pick up Isaac. My van was parked down the street & I knew Isaac wasn't walking there by himself so my next thought was "How am I going to carry both of these children to the van". I did it and thank God my van has automatic doors so all I had to do was push a button. I managed to get them both in but couldn't get Isaac calmed down. Our house is only 7-8 blocks from the eye doctor so I quickly drove home & got some ice for the goose egg that was on Isaac's head. I called my mom who is a nurse & asked her what I needed to be looking for and she reassured me that if he didn't lose consciousness (which he didn't) that he was probably ok and to watch him for signs of sleepiness or vomiting. Ok...I can do that.

I took a deep breath & determined that we would need to go grab something to eat from Burger King because it was getting late. I called Zach & told him what had happened and in the middle of my conversation I heard Isaac snoring. I looked back & he was out. I tried to wake him up but he wasn't responding. At this point I am in the Burger King drive thru & I can feel the panic starting to well up. I quickly got our food & called my mother back. She informed me that I needed to call our dr. It was lunch hour so our doctor wasn't in the office but they asked me all the questions & determined I needed to get to the ER immediately. More panic welling up...tears...everything. I hadn't fed Caleb a bottle & I didn't have any of his solids with me so I had to run home first. I called Zach again and told him what was happening. He agreed to meet me at the hospital. I quickly ran in the house & grabbed what I needed for Caleb to eat & then ran back inside when Zach told me that I would need stuff for naptime. Finally we were on the road. Isaac partially woke up when we got to the south side of Des Moines but he was extremely disoriented and made no sense when he talked.

We got into the ER & the doctors checked him, gave him some motrin & had him drink some apple juice. He hadn't eaten anything but he only wanted to lay on Zach's shoulder so we just did the apple juice. They observed him for a little over an hour to see if he would vomit. He started to "perk" up after about 90 minutes so they decided to send him home. They told us to watch for any vomiting & if he napped more than normal. I took a breath of relief & we got in the van to come home. About 10 minutes after we left...Isaac puked in the car. Immediately that sense of panic returned but after a phone call back to the ER they assured me that I only needed to bring him back if he vomited again. Great. We stopped & got Isaac some water & crackers and he ate them. When we got home he wanted to play outside while Zach grilled. He seemed like our normal little guy again.

We have all been sick with cough & snotty nose so we had scheduled a dr. appt for the boys prior to all this craziness. Thursday evening we saw Isaac's regular dr & he seemed to think Isaac would be fine. All my boys...Zach included, are now on antibiotics though. Praise God Isaac's fall was just a fall & not more serious.

While we were in the midst of all that craziness my mom had a stress test done Wednesday & they thought she might have some blockage in her heart. They sent her to a cardiologist on Thursday & the cardiologist sent her for an angio on Friday. They told her she would probably be getting a stint to correct the blockage but there was a small chance they would need to do bypass surgery. I'm good with the small chance and I was already overwhelmed with Isaac's day so I didn't put too much into my mom's procedure. Friday morning, Isaac was his usual energetic self so my focus shifted. My dad called mid morning and said they couldn't do the stint because the artery on the front of my mom's heart was 95% blocked with 60% blockage further down, the artery across her heart was 60% blocked, & the artery on the back side of her heart was 99% blocked with 70% blockage further down. Triple bypass surgery is necessary but they didn't know when. I knew I couldn't stick around my house so I made plans to go up to the hospital. By the time I got there they had decided to do the surgery next Thursday & send my mom home in the mean time. Praise God there is zero damage to her heart right now & this surgery will keep her heart healthy, hopefully for a long time. Its still scary though.

I'm still in the middle of processing this. Part of me says "don't make a big deal of it and it won't be a big deal." But another part says "you can't get through this without your friends & family so tell them and allow them to walk beside you through this." I guess that is the part that is winning the arguement! I ask for your prayers 1) for my mom as she doesn't want this (none of us do) but has to wait 5 more days until the surgery. She's sleeping but also having trouble with her mind racing. She knows she is in God's hands & that He has brought her to this point but she's human. 2) Pray the surgery will go well and there would be no complications. Pray that my mom will spend minimal time in the intensive care unit so she can be home as quickly as possible. 3) Pray for my dad. He is rock solid & strong but this has to be scary for him as well. He will never tell anyone though so pray that he will be able to outlet his emotions as well. 4) Pray for my family. I have 2 older brothers and my mom has 3 sisters & 1 brother who will be sitting in the waiting room on Thursday. 5) Pray for me as I process this. I am scared. Emotions that I have buried since my grandmas death are staring me in the face. My first reaction is to deny & run away but I know that God has more for me in this.

If those two things weren't enough we also had Caleb's 1st birthday party on Saturday! It was good to have a bright spot in an otherwise gray time. My mom was able to come down and we all had a really fun time.

Thanks for taking the time to read all of this...I told you it would be extremely long!

Caleb's birthday

My baby is turning 1 tomorrow and we had our family party yesterday afternoon to celebrate. Zach's parents & grandparents were here along with my mom & dad and my sister in-law Sarah. My brothers couldn't make it due to busy schedules.

I opened most of Caleb's presents because he was too busy trying to eat the cards or trying to open the presents brought for Isaac. We got lots of clothes for the summer, some books, & a ball for Caleb to play with.

After some lunch we decided to try the birthday cake. Once again, I baked this cake & frosted it and Zach did the decorating. Before going any further I need to tell you that Caleb is still not eating table food because he doesn't like the texture. When I try to feed him something new his response is usually 1) won't open his mouth or push away the food with his hands OR 2) if I get the food into his mouth he typically spits it out or GAGS & THROWS UP!!! So I wasn't expecting him to eat the cake either & my prediction was correct. He definitely played in the cake and wiped it all over his face. It looks like he ate cake but...he didn't. I tried to put some in his mouth with my finger & with a fork but no luck. He wouldn't open up.

We put the cake in front of him & he had no idea what to do

Trying to put a piece in his mouth

He looks like he ate cake but really he just played in it!

We bought Isaac some squirt guns and so tons of fun was had by all, including the grandpas. I'm not sure who liked them more...Isaac or mommy & daddy! The squirt guns came in this backpack that Isaac also loves & wears everywhere!

Isaac's Birthday

We have been meaning to post this for a while as Isaac's birthday was on April 18th. We had my parents and sister over one weekend, some friends over on Monday the 18th, and Regina's parents and brothers came the next weekend. Isaac ended up having 3 birthday parties, which he enjoyed a lot. Below are pictures from some of the parties.

Isaac and Grandpa Leif putting together a barn that Grandpa made for Isaac.
Isaac with his Thomas cake that we made.

Isaac opening a present, a Thomas book.

We had a Easter egg hunt with Isaac and his cousins. Isaac found one!

Isaac found another one! He walked right by this one the first time.

Isaac blowing out a candle.

Caleb looking at Isaac, who is in Caleb's crib.

We have another party to get ready for next weekend. It is Caleb's birthday on May 23rd and we are having the party on the 21st. Should be another fun time. I wonder what Isaac will think when the presents are not for him.