About my dad....

It's only been a month and yet, never ceases to amaze me how much can happen in just a few weeks. Lately, our lives have been consumed with:

1. My dad's accident
2. Unexpected hospitalization for Rylee
3. Friends/couples get-away to Lake Powell

The drama of #2 and the desperately needed #3 will be addressed in a later blog. But, since my sister already typed most of this up, I thought it was easy enough to tell about #1, I guess in honor of Father's Day. What a year. Seriously!

Here are some details on my dad's conditions and what's gone on this past month.

My dad was in an induced coma for a week after the accident to help expediate the healing of his ribs so he could start breathing on his own. They kept him in intensive care for 10 days and then moved him to the recovery floor for 3 or 4 days, where they kept him extremely and sometimes comically medicated. Can you say hallucinations? You wouldn't believe some of the stuff he was saying- it made me uncomfortable to see him like that.

My dad was released from the hospital on Tuesday, June 9th. Since then, my mom has become his full time nurse- helping him with everything from eating, getting up, bathroom, etc. His right hand is broken and has pins in it and his left side is practically debilitated right now with all the pain. He will be going to lots of therapy for his hand, is still a little beat up on his face- but got most of his stitches out, and his left side is painfully sore(with 7 broken ribs and a broken scapula) . He can get up and down really slowly and has been glad to be at home. He is still weak, but improving everyday. It's a miracle that he is still alive and still has full use of his brain and all his organs.

It has been difficult to see him in so much pain and hard to watch him endure this trial. It is hard to watch your parents suffer. He has said that this is the most difficult thing he has ever had to overcome and has been humbling to become so dependent. I have never seen my dad in a condition even close to what he's in right now and he's been through some crap in his day. A few years ago (the night Jus & I got engaged to be exact), he was in a farm accident where a jack slipped and a loader fell on his hand, cutting the tips off of two of his fingers. It was like, he went to the hospital, got stitched up, came home, put a grocery bag over his bandaged hand (minus two finger tips) and went out to work. Never missed a beat- never dwelled on it, never felt sorry for himself, never let it hold him back. This accident has come with a lot more suffering and he won't be out of the woods for awhile. It will at least be another couple of months until the ribs are just a little healed. He's got a long road ahead.

We, as a family, have so much appreciated everyone's thoughts, prayers, cards, gifts, food and phone calls from our neighbors, community and friends. Thanks to each one of you who has been so caring and considerate of all of us! We're once again reminded of our blessings, despite the trial. It really could have been so much worse.

A lot to say for May

AHHH! Life never slows down. I feel like I have so much to do on any given day. I can't even get to what has to be done, let alone what I want to get done. I'm sure many of you can relate.

So....May came and went. Proved to be another crazy month. Here's an attempt to keep our life up-to-date.

{P.S. I had a quarterly enrichment meeting tonight and had a sister tell me that she never gets a chance to talk to me because I'm always running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. Should I have said thanks? Certainly how I feel almost 100% of the time.}

Rylee's Surgery: {May 15}

Rylee's surgery to replace her central line with a port went well. This is her playing in the waiting room before it happened. I really like having a children's hospital fairly close by. They have so many things for the kids to play and do while you wait, which we did a lot of. Initially she was scheduled for 7:30 am. I always prefer being first case- makes it much easier with the no eating or drinking thing. Plus...if you're not, you always get pushed back, which is what happened. 7:30 turned to 9:15, turned to 10:45, turned to 12:15 and finally at 12:30 she was taken back. Such is life.

The port was placed on her left chest. She'll have about a 1 inch scar from the incision. They also stitched up the hole that the line came out of, which will leave a mark as well. Battle wounds I guess. She did run a fever most of the day after surgery and it made us nervous for a little while, but we were able to get it down with Tylenol and dodged having to go to the ER. Things healed up pretty good and she had her first treatment with the port on Tuesday. I was a little anxious about how treatment would go with the new mechanism, but it was actually fine. We put some numbing cream on her before we go so she doesn't feel the poke. She was a little restless and it was different then what she's used to but her appointment was right during her nap and this week she's on steroids, so it always throws her a little off. She tends to get much more agitated, emotional and aggressive on steroids.

On our way out of Primary's, the kids threw a pennie in the fountain for good luck. I'm hoping that things continue to go well with the port. Hopefully Rylee will only have to endure one more surgery- when we're done with all of this & she gets to have the port removed!

In other Rylee news- Last Sunday we were part of the PCMC Telethon and had a short 3 minute interview. They showed some pictures of Rylee at the hospital and I told them our story and such. It went by really quick and ended when Rylee got a little restless at the end (or feisty as the newscaster declared). We got a free T-Shirt and snacks for our gig.

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Jace's Preschool Graduation: {May 21}

It seems just like yesterday that I sent Jace out the door for his first day of preschool and now he's a preschool graduate. It has been so fun for Jace to be part of Discovery Preschool. He has met friends, made projects, went on field trips and has learned so much.

He did preschool with 3 other kids from our neighborhood and they had so much fun with their little carpool. It's pure entertainment being the driver- hearing them talk about all that is important in the life of 4 year olds.

Jace had a few parts in his program. He had to tell a joke, say a few words in Portuguese and thank everyone for coming and invite them to get a refreshment at the end. Then the whole class recited poems, sang songs, did the pledge and showed off some other fun stuff from Preschool.

Jace has grown up a ton this year. He is so responsible and makes a good big brother. He's concerned about keeping the rules and wants to make sure that others do the same. When I'd drive carpool, one of the kids put their feet on our car seats and Jace got right after them. He's all--"My dad doesn't like it when you put your feet on the seats because it gets them all dirty." He told another friend that his dad doesn't like it when you eat treats out of the treat bucket. Jus told Jace that he's giving his dad a bad wrap with his friends.

Here's Jace with our carpool group- 3 of his best buddies (Cannon, David and Halli Jo). They had 10 kids total in their class and his teacher was Mrs. Broadhead. I'm so glad that Jace had the opportunity to have something of his own this year. He always looked forward to going to school and it was a great support system and distraction for him in the midst of everything else that was going on.

We still haven't made a final decision about whether or not to send Jace to Kindergarten in the fall or wait another year. He did really well on the Kindergarten screening and his preschool teacher thinks he's ready, but...we're still wondering about being the youngest boy thing and stuff like that. What to do?

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Jaden- 3 Months in May

Our little bear turned another month older. This month brought a lot of milestones and a little bit more peace for mom. I think we've finally got him to a pretty content stage (knock on wood). He still has episodes every now and again and he's still a spitter-upper, but he'll be content for longer periods of time now.

In May, Jaden started smiling, laughing out loud and can roll from his tummy to his back (happens a lot during naps). He has also rolled from his back to his tummy, but it was when he was steaming mad at something. I've seen him do it a couple of times.

He likes it when people talk to him and he'll coo and blow bubbles back. He loves to be held and likes it when you blow on his face or tickle his upper thighs. He's ticklish on his thighs and below his chin on his chest. He likes to be raised in the air up and down. Loves to kick around in the bath. He's been trying out his swing, duck bouncer, Sesame Street play mobil and Bumbo seat. He likes to lay on the floor and kick around or lay on his stomach and raise himself up with his arms. He's a strong little guy.

He still continues to get mauled every day. The other kids just can't get enough of him. He got to venture out to Bear World with us this month and also had his first night apart from us- my mom watched him when we took Rylee down for her surgery and he did great.

He's growing every day. Funny how fast it goes by.

Other May news:

~Jus & I celebrated our 7 year anniversary on May 24

~My dad got in a motorcycle accident on May 27

~Enjoyed a fun Memorial Day weekend with my family {more to come later}

Goodbye May 2009....Bring on June