Teacher appreciation gone all wrong...

I know I haven't posted in here for over a year...Sheesh, but this story was too long for Facebook, and too crazy to not write down.

After coming back from track break, we were told teacher appreciation week would be the following week, which is different than the rest of the world, since we are on Track 1, and it happens while we are out of school.  I became overwhelmed with everything else that comes along with starting school again after being out for 4 weeks, I completely spaced teacher appreciation.  That's not like me...I have a kill them with kindness philosophy when it comes to teachers, and I have never once missed every single day of teacher appreciation.  In fact, last year I was the room parent so I was coordinating it!!!

Anyway, I realized yesterday that I had missed the first 3 days...bringing in a book, school supply, and writing a little note to the teacher.  I decided to pack those all into one present plus today is "spoil the teacher day".  Perfect.

Last night I went out with my friend, but since my phone is on the fritz and won't charge correctly it had died, so I decided that I would just go to the store in the morning with the kids and let them help pick out their teacher presents (although they didn't remind me or even seem to notice that they were the only ones not participating in teacher appreciation week...weird!  I chalk it up to that we are the only track doing this right now).

So this morning we woke up particularly early.  School gates open at 7:35am, so we left the house at 6:45 to go to the store.  Maya's hair was not looking pretty, but I didn't want to have the battle so we just left it as is and went to the store.

The first stop was to get a cart.  Aaron ran to the lineup of carts and asked, "PLEEEEASE can I push the cart??????"  I said sure, and he couldn't get the cart loose.  He stayed put and I tried to get them un-jammed.  I pulled harder and BAM, it came loose and hit Aaron square in the face.  I thought he was bleeding at first...I was showering him with apologies and hugs.  I finally got a look at it and his lip had swelled up and there was a huge blood blister.  Ugh... Poor guy.

We walked to the seasonal isle of Smiths and put a few things in a bucket and picked out some gift cards and then walked to the self checkout since it was the only thing open at this time in the morning.  Aaron wanted to scan the items, and Maya wanted to help.  Maya was grabbing items out of the cart and handing them to Aaron to scan.  The only breakable thing in the cart was a candle, and I heard Maya say, "Wow this is heavy!!!" then CRASH it shattered into a million pieces.  Maya ran and hid screaming, "I'm such a BAD GIRL!!!!!"  The checker immediately came over telling her accidents happen and it's ok.  I tried to re-assure her too, that it was just an accident and it's not a big deal.  Connor was contemplating, and later told me that he felt bad for whichever teacher was going to be left out of having the candle.

On top of that, we were in a hurry to get the kids to school.  I went and bought another candle to replace the broken one and put everything together for the kids to bring to their teachers.  As I was putting together the bags in the back of the car, the kids had chosen some donuts to eat before school.  I went to get into the car and I look at Connor and he looks like he's about to cry.  I asked him what was wrong and he said it felt like his throat was closing up.  I looked at the donut and it was strawberry.  The frosting was pink, and I suspected that he might be allergic to red dye.  I gave him some water and told him to stop eating it.  After a few minutes he started to feel much better, and I was so grateful.  I don't know if I could handle any more this morning.

In the end, the kids are off to school with some awesome presents for their teachers.  Aaron was sucking in his lip so no one could see his blood blister though...and I feel so bad for him.  He's going to be embarrassed all day and have to tell them that his mom gave him a fat lip.  What a terrible morning!

When it rains it POURS!!!! PART 4

So this is where my story brings us today.  Yesterday Aaron woke up screaming and his eyes were really puffy.

First let's backtrack...

The day before was Presidents Day, a fun day off was my goal!  First we hiked up our favorite mountain with Brody!!  Aaron said at the top of the mountain, "It's really quiet up here!"  I told him that's why I loved going up there.  To have peace and quiet.

Next we took a bike ride down to Port O Subs for lunch.  Connor enjoyed the ride down very much, but the ride, well I should say walk, up the hill back home was not as enjoyable.

Then we took a dip in the hot tub, which smelled a little chemically.  After talking to Brian he said he had thrown shock in yesterday, but it should be ok since the pump ran all night.

So back to the next day...

Connor had one eye that was puffy and both of Aaron's eyes were almost sealed shut.  After doing some research I had decided that it was chemical conjunctivitis caused by the chemicals in the spa.  That type of pink eye is not contagious, so I sent Connor to school since he wasn't too bad, but Aaron would probably get sent home anyway, so I had him stay home.

The day went on and I flushed his eye out.  He seemed ok.  Aaron fell asleep early at 6 and he woke up at 8pm screaming.  Now it was time to bring him to the doctor.  His eyes were weeping so badly.

That's when I remember the Nowclinic.  We were able to get onto the app on our ipad, meet with a doctor via webcam, and he could see that it was pink eye and prescribed medicine.

So now we're home after a second day of sealed shut eyes (thankfully Connor has made a full recovery).  Let's hope after 4 eyedrops Aaron will be good to go to batting practice tonight.  And this is the end of the storm.

When it rains it pours! PART 3

So we got through the concussion scare!  No big deal.  Thursday I get a call from the school saying Aaron had a "gash" in his ear from falling off the monkey bars.

I asked if he would have to go to the doctor and the nurse said, "Yes for sure".

I called Brian who found out what urgent care could take care of stitches or glue.  The location that had seen Aaron last month for an ear infection could, so I picked him up, and saw what happened.  I have no idea how such a gash could have happened not by a screw or something else, but his ear was torn pretty well.

Aaron said it didn't hurt until he got a good look in the mirror and then burst into tears.

Once we got to Urgent care, the tears stopped, and oblivious Aaron returned.  The nurse was really sweet with Aaron and after cleaning up the wound she saw that she could glue it rather than stitch (which Aaron was getting really nervous about).  She said it would leave less of a scar.  After gluing we canceled gymnastics and Aaron was as good as new.

We couldn't put any sort of anti-bacterial on the glue, and after a few days it seemed like it was filling with pus.  I waited a couple days, and now it looks like it is healing well, and the glue probably kept most of the infection out.

This had to be the last of my bad luck right??

wrong...

When it rains it pours PART 2

My grandpa left with my parents on Monday.  The next weekend we played a little baseball with the family, practicing for the upcoming season.  The boys were doing well, practicing catching.  Then we started to practice pop flies.  Aaron got right under one, in the perfect position, and it landed right on the top of his head and flew straight up in the air about 10 feet.

I screamed.

He cried and cried, but never passed out.  Finally when he calmed down I felt his head and there wasn't even a bump.  His eyes seemed to be dilating fine so I kept an eye on him through the night.

The next morning he woke up screaming, "I'm so dizzy!  I'm so dizzy!  The room is spinning!!!"

He couldn't lift up his head.  I checked the clock and it was 7am.  I rushed him to walk ins at our pediatrician's office.  BIG MISTAKE.  The sick room was filled with flu patients.  I asked to wait on the well side.  3 hours later I called for an appointment.  It was 9:00am and the next appointment was 9:30.  What a joke!

The doctor said we should take a wait and see approach.  When I got home I called Brian and he said, "What if he has a subdural hematoma???"  So I remembered from my grandpa I could get an appointment at the ER.  I made the appointment, and the nurse called.  She said better safe than sorry, so I knew I was doing the right thing.

The doctor didn't want to scan him, but just wait and see.  By that point Aaron was totally fine.  Just another long day of doctors and hospitals that seems like I can't get away from.

When it rains it pours!!

Here I am again trying to get back into my blog.  I hope to post a few things that happened last year as well.  I'm hoping by writing things down it means that I have come to the end of hard times, and soon will have good things happening.

It all began in January when my 95 year old grandpa came to visit me.  Everything was great until one morning I had gone to the Newman Center.  When I came home it was about 9:30 and I noticed my grandpa's door was open but there was no grandpa to be found!  I went into his room and heard him snoring.  It was odd because he normally doesn't take such an early nap.  He was fully dressed so I knew he had gotten up.  I called my sister and when I got off the phone with her I heard him coughing.  When I went in he looked all twisted in the bed.  I don't know how to describe it except he looked like he couldn't get comfortable, and I knew something was wrong.

I immediately asked him if I should call 911 and he said no.  I said I would take him to the doctor, and he also said no.  So I called my Dad, who told me to tell him that he said he has to go.  When I went back into the room he was up on his walker shaking and unsteady.

He said, "I need to go to the doctor".

That made me happy.  But the first thing I noticed is how unsteady he was.  My grandpa can still walk to the grocery store and even ride a tricycle, so this was unlike him.  I didn't think he could make it to the car.  I kept asking if I should call 911 and he kept saying "No" stubbornly.  He slowly hobbled to the car and I thanked God he made it safely.

I rushed him to the emergency room, and called my sister in law, Emily, to pick up my kids.  My sister Marylou then said she would pick them up bring them to gymnastics that evening.  After 5 hours in triage with my grandpa and Maya (thank goodness she was an angel, even without any entertainment) the doctor came in.  He didn't tell us anything but just said, "We will take good care of you".  When he left my grandpa said, "We need to go get the nurse.  She needs to discharge us."  He was already tired of being there.

I was confused.  At that point they moved him into a bed, and the nurse said I should go run some errands.  I asked what was going on, if they got the results of his tests.  She said, "Oh, I can't believe your nurse didn't tell you.  He has pneumonia!  He is being admitted."

I left to get my kids from my sister, assuring grandpa I would be back.  Brian was out of town on business, so I was going to bring the kids into the ER with me that night.  I called my other sister in law Katie and she said she would take them overnight for me.  So I decided that was best and dropped them off there.  Marylou said she would go with me to check on Grandpa.

Grandpa was so happy to see Marylou and I.  I think at this point he was sick and confused and scared.  He's not good at expressing how he is feeling.  The hospital he was at is very busy, so they didn't have a bed ready for him.  We turned on some cartoons (he asked for the shows that the kids watch, but we could only find adult cartoons at that point...but he got a good laugh out of it, so that was good).  We left around 10pm that night tucking him in.  We didn't know he was having terrible back pain and ended up having morphine for the pain that night.

In the morning my friend Molly offered to take Maya all day, so that I could go to the hospital without her.  My grandpa was still in the ER.  I brought him a large coffee, which he was happy about.  I brought him some magazines to read and music to listen to.  At this point he was very emotional.  Crying about everything we talked about.  He said he hoped he would make it home for Superbowl (which is actually pretty funny because ne NEVER watches sports).  At this point he was in the hallway waiting for a bed.  Thankfully it was next to the nurses station.  After speaking (and crying) with my mom a few times she decided to take a few days off of work to help me take care of him.  At first I didn't know if it was necessary, but soon I saw her help would be so helpful.

My mother in law came around 2pm and I left to pick up the kids.  That night my sister in law Ingrid came and watched the kids so I could go at 7 to take care of grandpa again and thankfully he was moved to a room.  That night my mom flew in at 9, and we went to see grandpa.  We tucked him in, and went home to get my mom a good nights sleep since she wasn't feeling well herself.  Good thing Grandpa had an alarm on him because he could barely walk to the bathroom, and needed assistance.  I was afraid to leave him and he might fall if we weren't there.

The next day we brought Maya to the hospital with us.  She noticed the tune that the bed alarm made right away and started singing "Mary had a little lamb!"  and started cracking up.  She was very well behaved for being in the hospital for more than 5 hours strait.  My mom stayed the whole day with him, since it seemed to be very important to make sure we were there when doctors were coming in.  There never seemed to be a dull moment!  He had IV's go bad, help with brushing his teeth, finding his glasses, spilling water... it seemed like there was always something to help him with.  I had to leave to pick up my boys from school.

My Aunt Dee drove in that evening, and my sister Marylou brought my mom home that night after having some good laughs and a game of scrabble, I heard!  The next day I stayed as long as I could with Maya, but she was getting a little restless at the doctor.  Thankfully Brian was now home, and Dee made Spaghetti for Grandpa so he would have food when he got home.  That night Dee put grandpa to bed, and stopped him from getting more morphine for back pain related to the pneumonia, and suggested Tylenol instead - which did work, so that was good.

Saturday morning he was doing much better.  The physical therapist said he was walking well.  We met with a speech therapist because they found out that his pneumonia was caused by aspiration (coughing) not bacteria.  They were giving him some tips on eating and swallowing so it wouldn't happen again.  He was released at 2pm (right during Connor's basketball game), and my mom spent one night with him before going home.

Each day he got better and better. He did make it home for the superbowl as he had hoped and watched it with Marylou and her boyfriend.  He was a little concerned that he was sleeping so much, but he hadn't had a good full nights sleep since he had been at the hospital.

The next week my parents came back on Thursday, on a trip they had already planned, and besides being extremely weak in the mornings he was doing pretty well.  I was sad that it might be the last time my grandpa would be able to travel here, but thankful when my parents brought him home on the plane.  We survived it!!!

Now he is currently doing much better and building his strength.  I'm waiting to hear back from him on whether his chest x-ray has come back clear, but I know he will make a full recovery.

Down it goes!

Maya has been fascinated lately with what goes down the toilet.  She likes to take bits of toilet paper and flush it down, which I was totally fine with her experimenting with that.  The other day I heard her scream, "BUBBLE GUPPIES!!!!!"  and she came running to me in the next room.  She said, "Bubble guppies down the toilet!"  When I went to the bathroom, sure enough, there was the bubble guppies toothpaste at the bottom of the toilet bowl.  She had been flushing, so I think she wanted it to go down.

The next morning I heard the boys talking about how slow the toilet was flushing.  I went in and saw how slow it was going down.  I looked around the bathroom and noticed that the flosser bag was empty.  I thought that must be what happened and told Brian in the morning.  Thankfully that bathroom is upstairs, and only gets used in the mornings so it actually wasn't clogged.  I knew that we had to get whatever was down there out of it though.

Of course days went by until one morning Connor decided to use the toilet for #2 which clogged the toilet.  After Brian tried to snake the toilet he told me to call a plumber.  I decided instead of spending $200 I would do the job myself.  After turning off the water and letting the toilet drain as much as possible I lifted up the toilet and this is what I saw underneath:

After putting on rubber gloves I grabbed about 100 flossers Maya must have flushed down!!!!!  Brian helped me later that night to put a new wax ring on, and the toilet is back in business.  Thankfully after explaining and showing her the toilet Maya has not flushed anything down again (Knock on porcelain!!!!!!)

Legoland and the Twoderwear Dilemma!

For Spring Break we decided to go to one of our favorite places, LEGOLAND.  The boys were more excited about Legoland that Disneyland!  We stayed at a hotel right across the street, so we didn't even have to drive there.  We ate breakfast, and walked right on over.  The day couldn't have gone more flawlessly!  Maya took a 2 and a half hour nap, and really no meltdowns!!

About halfway through our trip we decided to get our normal ice cream in mid evil land.  As we watched the jousting knights.  As we sat there, Aaron was complaining that his rear was sweaty.  Brian asked him if he changed his underwear this morning (he had dressed himself).

He responded, "YEAH!  Ugh....I think...Yes...hmmmm."

We all laughed, and it was nice that the boys can dress themselves now.  It makes it much easier in the mornings for sure.

We decided to go swimming in the water slides part of the park, and Brian took the boys into the bathroom to change.  When they came out Brian was cracking up.  He showed me Aaron's underwear and said, I think this is why he couldn't remember if he CHANGED his underwear... He showed me two pairs of underwear together!  He must have just put on a pair over his old pair.  No wonder he was sweaty!!!  So he did put a new pair on, just forgot to take off the old.  That gave us a pretty good laugh!  Love my boys!