tick tock

Yep, I'm still ticking and tocking over here. I actually keep forgetting I have this box in me, but am often reminded by good friends and family concerned my heart will stop and they'll have to figure out how to raise all these boys!!! :) I am still fairly sure we have many guardian angels buffering our every move over here at our home. A couple examples...

1. Seth was hiding in a box on Friday. This happened to be the same box that Logan was trying to carve windows into with a butter knive. Seth came in screaming with blood dripping down his face (a very cool Halloween effect, by the way) and Logan hot on his tail with apologies and claims of innocence. Once I could verify the amount of blood was not related to the size of wound, I could laugh at it. Jared was still quite irate and I had to point out that this could very easily have been a story out of his childhood! After a moment, he started chuckling and recalled trimming the bushes while his brother was hiding inside.

2. Ethan was practicing his Indiana Jones whip move with a large stick when Seth came tearing up the driveway. It smacked right on the top the head right where yesterday's wound was trying to heal. And, started bleeding again. This time it was Ethan chasing him with apologies and claims of innocence.

We have (sometimes more jokingly than other times) decided that there are two forces working at our home. One is to eliminate us, (sometimes all at once and sometimes one at a time) and the other (and so far more succesful) is thwarting all those efforts! No pressure! Thankfully, we can chuckle about it all!

Too bad this good force doesn't prevent my boys from throwing up when they eat too much Halloween candy...

Back to school!

Ethan is in 3rd Grade and seems to be loving it. He is not a talker with school. Sometimes that good, sometimes I get a call from his teacher. He always has plenty to report with lunch and reccess... He's dong scouts and Hip Hop/Tap Dancing still as well. Very cool.

Logan started Kindergarten and is in heaven! He thinks it's the greatest thing ever! He has his two little girlfriends in class with him. At first, I was concerned that he'd get his feelings hurt when the two of them paired off, but he just plays the girly stuff with them. It's too funny!
Yesterday, Logan got into his first school fight. There was a boy on the playground who was "grumpy grumpy" and kept pushing Logan. He pushed back and told the kid to "stop it!" That got the attention of another boy who started hollering"fight, fight!" To hear Logan's version, he kept blocking and moving around until a teacher pulled the other kid off. He doesn't have any scrapes or bruises, but I also didn't get a call from the principle. Later, I heard him whisper to Ethan that he got a good punch in and the boy said, "OW!" It was so funny to see Ethan put his arm around his little brother and congratulate him on a fight well fought! This morning, however, Logan announced that he was going to work extra hard to make that boy his friend so he wouldn't be grumpy. Logan is such a cutie!

With the two little boys at home, they keep following me around for entertainment. At first I felt guilt that I must have been so busy before that they didn't even bother asking to play. Now, I realize how much Ethan and Logan play with them. I love that they hang out and like eachother! they have their moments, of course, but overall they're all happy together!

My achey-breakey heart

So, apparently I have a heart thing called Long QT Syndrome. Every step of this new reality has been a blessing. I passed out a couple times and totally discounted each one individually until I realized a pattern. After the last one, I already had on my to-do list to make an apt for Jared that afternoon so I went ahead and made a double apt so we could check my bloodwork (being totally convinced I was low on iron or something similar). He ended up testing my blood for a hundred things and also ordering ab EKG (heart) and EEG (brain) test. I got permission from everyone and went off to Girl's Camp and did the 4th Year Overnight Hike and everything. (I later used this reason over and over as an argument to why I did NOT have this thing..) I got back from Girl's Camp and went in to see the cardiologist on Tuesday because they found something on the EKG and Holter Monitor tests. I thought we were going in for a tilt table test, but we got there and he did another EKG. Comparing the 2 and hearing about how I was passing out got him concerned. He then told me there is something called "Long QT" that he is suspecting. I then whipped out the email from my mother describing how Long QT runs in our family. At that, he about jumped out of his seat while still maintaining that calm and under-control bedside manner he was taught about. He put me on the 2 week monitor and made another apt for the week after that came back to come up with options. I got the monitor on Wednesday afternoon. On Saturday, he called my cell phone to tell me he is not comfortable with waiting and that his scheduler would be calling me Monday to have me come in for surgery in the next couple weeks. By the time she called me Monday evening, I had my arguments for why I needed to wait the full couple weeks (Ethan's baptism, Logan's school testing, Parkin family reunion, just don't wanna, etc...). She heard all that and said well... you can come in tomorrow morning, or Friday morning. I politely said, "Friday, please." Bishop is fine with postponing the baptism a month, and I had no problem delegating or cancelling everything else.
I was a little crazy about having my home and life organized enough for someone else to come in and help. My Mom was gong to come out thursday evening and stay for a week to help. On Tuesday morning, before my surgery, my Grandpa Lorenzo passed away. Mom spent all week helping Grandmother, then played the piano for all the different memorials and the funeral.
On Thursday, my good friend Laurel came over and helped me finish the crazy stuff that didn't really need to be finished for any reason other than it made me feel better. Then, she helped get my kids in bed so we could meet all the company coming over that evening (Stake Presidency and Bishop). Then, she gave me a foot rub. Wow.
Friday morning, my good friend Becky had arranged to have her kids elsewhere so she could focus on having a great day with my kids. I went in for surgery at 6 and I think it was closer to 7 or 8 before wheeling me down there. I was reading a chick flick to keep my mind off the inevitable. I changed into my might-as-well-be-naked gown and laid on the table feeling very much exposed while all the funny blue people rushed around arguing. It was kinda funny. I guess I made one too many smart aleck remarks because that is the very lsat thing I remember. They must have pushed the drugs through the IV while I wasn't paying attention. Rude! I came out of surgery around 10 and took all the way until 4pm to wake up out of it. That was brief. I sorta dosed for the rest of the evening. Poor Jared hung out and was such a good sport. It seems Matt and Casey and Lyndie were there at one point, but it must not have been very good conversation for me to keep falling asleep like that! Just kidding! I had a hard time sleeping the rest of the night and ended up reacting to the antibiotics. Itchy city! It was terrible! Then, they gave me a dose of Benadryl an hour before the midnight dose. Then, it was two kinds of terrible. I hate Benadryl. And I hate being so stinking itchy. But, I do like having my heart beating...
So Saturday morning, they did an X-Ray to make sure the leads were still all the way down in my heart. They were not. The one side was too tight, so they had to go back in to fix it. I don't know if it was a case of not measuring it right the first time, or if I was more swollen than he expected. He did say I had a 90% chance of it healing just fine with no problems, but he wasn't real happy with those odds when remembering the whole Mom thing at home. I feel good about that decision. I pulled a stubborn streak, of course, and refused more anesthetics. I hate the way they make me feel and was still feeling the affects of it from the day before. They gave me local anesthetics, but held real still and did the whole thing with no drugs. I was totally awake for the whole thing. It was actually kind of cool to hear everything. I gave them permission to stick whatever they needed to in my IV the second they felt like I wasn't dealing with the pain well enough. The Dr said I was the first to actually make it through. Whee for me! It sure felt like they were taking turns punching me, but I made it through with my labor breathing techniques. Every time they asked if I doing ok, I just told them it was still easier than having a 10 pounder with no drugs! I had to keep my mood light to convince them I was good with no drugs. It worked great!
They gave me different antibiotics and that worked better. Whew! Dr. Som promised I could still go home on time, or at least close to that. He kept his word and released me at about 11pm. Better late than never. We got home and my sweet husband helped me wash my hair and get dressed in clean clothes. It felt so good to be in my own bed! Even if I did have a hard time sleeping! I just couldn't get comfortable. I finally used a small pillow to prop up my sore spot so I could try sleeping on my side. That worked a bit.
Since being home, I have enjoyed a mopped floor and cleaned out fridge from Laurel and Collette; fabulous dinner from Gayla and Tiffany, and dessert from Sarah; an awesome get-well poster from my boys and the Millers, a care package from Anna (including a frozen meal and many movies and treats and magazines) and Nicki (more magazines and treats); a beautiful collection of flowers and notes from different friends and neighbors that Sherri arranged. I'm overwhelmed. And it's been one day. Part of me hopes the last person (or the next person) to get sick in our ward doesn't get her feelings hurt with less, but the other more selfish part of me is LOVING this! I have gotten the nicest notes from sisters I thought were annoyed by me. I have received kind services from sisters I wouldn't think had or would give that time. I'm overwhelmed. I have a LOT of thank you notes to write. Fun!!!!!!
I am trying very hard to find the balance between being honest with how I'm feeling so I can get the care I need right now, and not whining and making life miserable for those surrounding me. I haven't figured that out yet. Jared is already acting tired of it all. Not a good sign.
Oh, and just in case my situation isn't sad enough, I am sitting in a bright flowery moo-moo and loving the breeze.
Peace-out.

Casts, Stitches and Miracles

Miracles. I feel like they are everywhere around me lately! For having almost 8 years worth of boys in our family, we have had relatively few ER trips. However, this last week, we've about come current with that quota. Logan has our first cast (Ethan broke his finger the last day of school after Kindegarten and needed surgery and pins to repair, but no cast.) Jacob has our first set of stitches (Seth had the first big bleeder wound but it was closed off with super-glue.) Jared had his foot crushed and is on crutches. He also helped in saving Seth's life when clear across the nation. So... now the stories...

Logan broke his arm. He was reaching in the chicken coop to gather eggs while Seth was holding the top up with all his 4 yr old might. That might just wasn't strong enough this time so the top came down on Logan's arm. He could still move all his fingers around, but could not twist his arm and was in pain everytime he tried. We took him into the after-hours care at his Pediatrician's Office (saving us a LOT of money and time and worry with an ER) and they sent us for an X-Ray, confirming a fracture. He got a green cast. It's waterproof, which makes my life WAY easier! Last Sunday, Jared was sitting there with his own sore foot when Logan's Primary Teacher came in with Logan and the cast. Logan had taken the cast off and was hitting the chairs with it like drumsticks. Bro. Mitchell was kind and clever enough to help get it back on with a little slippery soap. So today, when Logan slipped it off again, I decided he was ok. We were supposed to call for an appointment in the next few days. He doesn't hurt at all and can use his arm and fingers normally. We'll see how wrong I end up to be on that decision. We'll also see if Jared reverses that when he gets back from meetings this afternoon!

Jacob has stitches in his forehead. Right in the middle, up and down. It's pretty cool looking! He was standing behind the kids practicing TBall and caught the back-swing of a bat. It didn't seem to be too hard of a hit, it just caught him right. He was bleeding all over and the gap was big enough that I went ahead and took him into that same Ped office. Now, the other part of that story is that I had just barely finished a conversation with Pres Felix on my couch asking me to step in for Gayla as Stake Girl's Camp Director while she is ill. Camp is in a little over a month. Oh, and I had a meeting with everyone that evening at my house. I ended up arriving about 15 minutes late. I was happy to see them all sitting around and carrying on without me! That relieved a lot of pressure and stress.

Jared "squished" his foot. We have been working like mad to get these garden boxes in. Being June, it's a little late for that, but we've had such strange weather all Spring that we really had not been able to do it yet. I had already emptied 6 load-fulls of good garden dirt in the boxes (with help from Laurel) and had just picked up #7. I needed to leave the full trailer parked in the back so I could take Justin's Expedition to get washed up for his date that evening. That was our deal in letting me borrow it for dirt while he was at EFY. Anyway, so Jared came out to help me back it where I needed it. I had put down the support foot while Jared was unhitching it when the welding on the support brace broke, bringing the tip of the trailer right down on top of Jared's foot. Ouch. I had seen that it fell, but I didn't realize it landed on Jared until he started hollering to lift. I had that super-human strength that people talk about. Even empty, this thing was too heavy to manipulate if I hadn't moved the truck exactly where it needed to go. Filled with 2 units of dirt made it that much heavier. Anyway, I lifted it off. I didn't even realize I had lifted it at all when Jared fell over. I definately had unseen help. Whitney (our teenage babysitter and friend) was inside so I had Alyssa (Laurel's daughter, Ethan's age) run in and get her while I back the van up to take Jared to the Doctor. After getting him loaded up, I ran inside and grabbed all the kids on the way for a prayer. In my prayer I asked that he not be in too much pain, that I could find the right Doctor, etc... After finishing, Logan (or maybe it was Seth, I really can not remember) shouted up, "and make sure his foot isn't broken. In the name..." We are trying to fix that habit of adding addendums to other prayers, but it worked this time!! We were able to get him in with a Doctor in the AF clinic (again, avoiding the ER costs) and they were ready and waiting when we got there. They sent us straight to the X-Ray guy. He took lots of pictures and came saying he didn't trust himself, but it looked like the bones were NOT broken. Now, let me interject what the foot looked like at this time. Picture a very colorful football with bloody gouges in it and you're about there. It was absolutely grotesque. So we went up to see our Doctor who again did not trust himself and got a THIRD oppinion. Sure enough, the bone was not broken. They could see where it landed, "smushing" the bone. They could also see where many blood vessles had broken. At that point, nobody wanted to touch it. They didn't wrap it, stitch it, or anything. Needless to say, Jared was in some pain and could not put any pressure whatsoever on it. He had that numb and tingly sensation in it for days. It's been about 10 days now and he is still on crutches in a bit of pain. I'll take him in tomorrow to make sure we don't have nerve damage. At least it's not broken!

Always pay tithing first. We would have paid almost that much in ER bills this much if not for those little miracles. Jared earns enough to keep us comfortable, there is not much wiggle room.

This last story is still fresh in my mind and affecting me (and benefitting Jared, I might add). Jared was out of town for a business meeting a few days this week so I had the 4 boys (and all the animals...) at home. We actually had a great week. Sometimes when Jared is gone, I tend to lose patience faster. This times, I really felt under control and was quite pleased with all the fun stuff we were doing. On Thursday afternoon, the kids had earned a trip to the pool. We waited for Jacob's nap, then went. Right before leaving, Jared called me on my cell phone and said he felt really impressed to tell me to stick close to Seth. He didn't know why, nor did he know we were off to the pool. Anyway, so that had me a little worried. Jacob and I stuck to him like glue! Normally, I can sit in one place and play with Jacob and still have a view of the whole pool and all the exits. So this time, we were sitting on one side of the pony wall separating the area that the big slide empties into from the rest of the pool. I had my back against it and Seth was kinda hanging on the wall while Jacob and I were practicing dunking skills. We came up, saw that Seth was gone, looked over the wall and pulled out of the water in one big swoop. His eyes were big and looking up, but he didn't even cough when coming up, it had been that fast. At that moment, I had that overwhelming feeling of "that is why...". Looking around, the lifegaurd was up trying to help get something fixed at the top of the stairs for the slide, and nobody was around that area. I know I could have gotten that inspiration for my family. I have before. I am so grateful for a husband who was listening to the spirit that afternoon and followed through on calling me. I don't know if I had been too busy that day to hear it myself, but I like to think that I could have, but this was a another reminder for me. I have a tendancy to be too independant, especially when Jared is away. I think I'm rambling now. all in all - awesome week.

Farmer Jared

So, for the last couple months, we've really had this urgency. It usually comes and goes, but this time, it's really staying. We've been working really hard on food storage, emergency preparedness, and our garden and animals. I keep teasing Jared that he's a city boy from CA just trying to fit in here in rural small town, UT! To date, we have 4 egg-laying hens (for eggs) , 10 growing chicks (for meat and more hens), 30,000+ Bees (honey), 1 dog (for hunting and fun), a bunny hutch to be filled with rabbit for meat, and a goat pen (currently waiting for a very pregnant goat to give us kids). In our garden, we are growing lots of different things. We tried heirloom seeds this time so we can save the seeds and use them year after year. We are also in the process of ripping out that back two slabs of cement (they've been filled with the float, Dave's old car, and last year's mulch. It's time to go!!!) to make room for a small orchard of sorts. We'll have room for 6-8 fruit trees, depending on the variety. I'm super excited! It's funny because normally I'm the crazy one with the silly ideas. This is Jared. I support him, of course, but he's the Lead Crazy on this one!! I keep wondering if we need to move for more land, but I REALLY like where we're at, and I really don't feel we should go right now. With the new Trax going in right next to our existing tracks, we really won't have many options for selling this home until they come in and we can show it's not so bad. We may be here awhile. The nice thing about the train tracks is that we have far less car traffic. That, and with Trax coming, it will be a no-blow zone. Whee!! I am willing to deal with that trade!!
So, Jared now spends all him free time (and sometimes not so free) outside playing in the dirt. He used up some of his Hilton Honors points to "buy" a tiller. It works great - it's his favorite toy right now. He also wants to get a Chipper. Believe me, I want him to have one!! We have a couple piles of branches around the yard. They could chip it down and mulch it and make my yard look nicer! I have a thing about having a trashy yard.
This morning, we woke up to snow. We had a lot of snow this winter. I am ready for Spring. We started all our seeds inside so we wouldn't have to wait so long for produce.
This morning, "we" (ME) also woke up quite early with the kids. Seth woke up early (6ish) and couldn't go back to sleep, so he thought he'd wake up Jacob for company, Jacob came into my room. It's 8am and breakfast is done and I'm going to go back to bed!!!

sick-o

We are a relatively healthy bunch. In the 2.5 years we've lived in Utah, Ethan has never been to the Dr because he's sick! The other kids have had the occasional ear infection and Seth and I are prone to Strep Throat. That's it! (I guess mine turned into walking pneumonia when I was pregnant with Jacob and Jared was out of town. That was lovely.) Anyway, point being, we've really been blessed. This week, I guess it was Ethan's turn. It hit him hard and fast. They even tested him to verify and, sure enough, he tested positive for the nasty flu strain that is going around this year. He is miserable. I only hope that I'm training him to be a good sick boy so his wife is happy. Jared doesn't get sick often, but when he does... watch out!! It's good that it's not often, and that he seems to get better just as I'm arranging for the Looney Bin pick-up!! They say Ethan will be sick a solid 8-12 days. Augh!!! It's day 2, and I'm about done!!! And, if the other kids get sick as well?? Let's just say that I've already gone through a bag of my "emergency happy pills" (chocolate covered cinnamon bears from Pioneer Party are my FAVORITE!!!!) and I've been saving them!!! It wouldn't be as effective if I told him, but if Jared showed up with a bag, he would get some MAJOR bonus points!!!!

Sleep

This is a poem that my sister-in-law, Jennica wrote. While my kids are all in great sleeping starges right now, I certainly remember these nights!!!!
Sleep

Oh peaceful sleep where art Thou?
I have glimpsed thee in my wake,
I have felt Thee pass right by me,
before the dawn doth break.
I have watched Thee in my children,
when daylight duties call,
Thou whispers to their eyelids,
as soon as dusk doth fall.
Thou hast danced around my household,
leaving peace on some inside,
I see thy footprints resting,
on the face of those you find.
But beauty though thy peace doth leave,
I’ve a question on my mind:
Why with all your wandering,
dost thou leave me behind?
Thy wandering wakes the children,
who separately wake me,
And before the sun comes knocking,
I’ve still not calmed their pleas.
When the dawns rolls in beside me,
it brings with it my day,
which in even if you whisper,
there is no time to lay.
So please do me a favor,
though you may leave me behind,
and rest upon my children,
in one long space of time.
Take from me thy beauty,
in thy wanderings of night,
but also take my screaming children,
until the world doth light.