Levi turns 9

Chris surprised Levi one Saturday with a trip to the motorcycle shop to buy a new helmet for his birthday. Since this requires careful fitting on his actual HEAD,  the gift wasn't that much of a surprise once they got there.

What Levi didn't know is that there was a specific reason he needed a new helmet, in addition to his head growing. (By the way, he is already into an adult sized helmet. Our little Jimmy Neutron head!)

Chris had him come out to the barn with the new helmet (like we could have gotten him to take it off) and sent him on a treasure hunt.

He looked and looked, but the treasure was well hidden.

Then he realized that a large tarp was draped over something.....a blue shiny wheeled something!

A new 4-wheeler!!!!

He was very happy and excited (and a wee bit nervous since this was a gas-powered machine)

Daddy showed him how to operate the clutch, gas and brakes.  Levi decided that riding in 1st gear at first would be a smart move since this one is so much bigger and more powerful than his old 4-wheeler.

 He quickly got the hang of it and started zipping around our land. Back behind the pond, past the trees, 

all over the place. 

 Too bad it was so beastly hot, but still, he had a blast!

Daddy snuck in a turn to test out the clutch and shifting. Seems it needs some adjustments but that's no problem for our own Mr. Fix-it.

Challenges....

  There has been a lot going on here that I have not written about. Sometimes, some things are just too painful to share with the big wide world until after I can process them accordingly. Ashley has a thyroid disease that was diagnosed at the age of 8 years old. It is hereditary and requires that she get supplemental thyroid hormone every day. Unfortunately, as she moved around and switched doctors, they failed to increase the amount of hormone as she grew. The result was that her thyroid gland became enlarged and nodular and she had symptoms of low thyroid hormone like hair loss, lethargy, dry skin, apathy, and depression. We finally found a doctor at Texas Children's in Dallas (Hey Dr. Lopez!) that understood and began to treat her in the right way. That meant slowly increasing the amount of supplemental hormone until she felt great but did not have too much in her system.
  In the meantime, they decided to biopsy her thyroid to get a closer look at the thyroid tissue. On the first biopsy it came back as 'multi-nuclear neoplasia' but inconclusive. This is BAD. Very scary. We had to wait several months before we could biopsy again. All the time we worried about CANCER, thinking about her aunt (my sister) who had thyroid cancer.
  Just a week ago she went in for the re-test. The doctor took a very close look at her thyroid with ultrasound. Good news! The nodules are gone and the only odd area is a heterogenous area due to long term inflammation from her condition. This is the best news ever. They will keep a close eye on her. Ultrasounds several times a year and a lot of follow up.

We are so relieved. So happy. So thankful!!!!!!

Life here...

While we were getting ready for church one Sunday, as I went to help Seth on with his shoes and socks, this is what I found.....

Filthy feet! 

He had snuck out of the house and run around in the yard bare-footed. 

Oh man.....

The boys made a special shirt for Daddy for Father's Day

Chris helping me make decorations for Levi's Birthday party

I love this man soooo much!

 Passive-Aggressive RAD behavior.

Look Mommy, I can dress myself! I am so big. Aren't you proud of me?

But he had pulled all of the clothes off the racks and walked on them, making a huge mess. 

Proud? Not so much.....

The answer

Levi's knees!  He was holding the camera in his lap and accidentally shot a picture. I had no idea he was so hairy!!

Guessing Game

Today I took a few minutes to download the most recent photos off of my camera. When looking at them I discovered this picture. 

And had to scratch my head. 

And try not to get mad.

And figure it out.

Do you know what it is? 

I was able to figure out WHO took the picture and then find out WHAT this is a picture of. I will tell you all later, after you scratch your heads and try not to get mad......and it is NOT what I (or you) thought it was at first glance.

Down for the count

Since Friday night I have been up many, many times a night. Ahren is sick, really sick. And so am I. Oh wait. I am the Mom, I am not supposed to be sick! Ok, well, then. I am just not totally functioning.

Ahren: Double severe ear infection, sinus infection, asthma issues and high fevers. I spent over an hour last night, after giving him both Tylenol and Advil, wiping him down with cool wet cloths just to keep his fever under 102F. He slept on the couch and me on the floor next to it. No, wait, I didn't actually sleep as much as I twisted and turned and listened to him breathe.

On Saturday night I was up from midnight until 6:30 am. That's when Chris took over and I got to sleep a couple more hours. When I say up, I mean never closing my eyes. He can stop breathing in an instant, totally silent. I watched him breathe. And struggle. And cry. And beg for relief from the pain. Oh my breaking heart!!!!

Today the two of us stayed home. We didn't do much, but we didn't sleep. He wouldn't sleep so I didn't sleep. i tried to rest but frankly I really have no idea what I did all day. Shoot, the house isn't clean, no laundry done, i don't watch soap operas. I have no idea where today went.

I am hoping some sleep tonight might cure me. If not....I might just become a Zombie.....

I am the expert!

Warning: heavy use of sarcasm in the following.......ye be warned!

Well, as I see it, having been dealing with children with issues for more than 17 years I have become an expert. I know everything I have learned in 17 years, although I am subject to forgetting key things at times. I have earned all of my lessons pretty much the hard way. Trial and error, heavy on the error. I've even been to college, which unfortunately only taught me how to deal with egghead neurotic types and not so much my kids. I pat myself on the back when I have sudden moments of brilliant inspiration. OK. MOMENT of inspiration, but it was a good one! And I never, ever give up........more than three times a day.

See? Definitely expert material. So as my own resident expert, I give you the following new diagnoses that I have discovered:

NMD - stands for noise modulation deficiency. Characterized by the ability to scream in your face 'I love you' at a decibel level guaranteed to cause permanent hearing damage, followed by answering important questions in a voice so quiet that intergalactic sonar could not detect it.

RAM - Random Acts of Madness - I have talked about this before. The chewing through the cable to the WII nunchuk, cutting a hole in a shirt just because there were scissors, leaping off the top of the headboard to grab the shelf attached to the wall, ripping it out of the drywall and crashing to the floor, peeing off the top of the slide in a wide arching pattern which included his brothers head, etc etc.

OCOB - Obsessive Compulsive Obnoxious Behavior - constant nose picking leading to daily bloody noses, chewing on the neck of the shirt, shredding food like a little feral animal, constantly holding and rubbing his private area to the point he made the skin irritated (Dude, it isn't going anywhere! let it go!!!) and twisting and stretching his shirt with his arms. All of these are unconscious behaviors and incredibly hard to break and pretty much socially unacceptable.

CNP - Constant Noise Production - the inability to stop making noise for more than 2 seconds at a time. If a child runs out of things to talk about, he will begin to count with numbers, recite the alphabet or name off everything he sees around him. This is especially likely in a closed environment like a vehicle.

ULS - Unique Language Skills - the ability to SAY things without making any sense whatsoever. I think many politicians actually have this. An example would be, "Lily was the school for beaver monday klink." This is usually followed by the expectation of an answer. When a suitable answer is not forthcoming, the child will repeat the sentence louder and louder, with great indignity and frustration.

CMS - Conflicting memory Skills - this is characterized by the child who suddenly cannot remember how to drink from a glass, put on socks, or not jump on the furniture, but can seemingly remember the one time 9 months ago you mentioned that you thought having a picnic is lots of fun and wants to know if you are going TODAY, cuz you said so.

SSSH - Super-Sonic Selective hearing - This is the child who cannot hear you yell at him 15 times to put his shoes on, but if you attempt to whisper one teeny-tiny thing in another room to your husband suddenly springs up asking all sorts of questions about what you said.

And last but not least -

KLS - Klingon Love Syndrome - this child just LOVES you so much they have to squish your face for big sloppy kisses, hug you hard and at the most inconvenient times, practically knock you over rushing to greet you and hug you, and has to sit on top of you or climb you while you try and eat, potty, or put on makeup. This child is always one step behind you and often trips you and gets in the way while trying to work around the house. This is the child who gets stepped on and knocked over constantly, but it never slows them down. They are little Love Sponge Weebles.

Now, if you seriously want expert advice or information, please seek a true professional. Not a nut case like me!!!!

Fun pictures

This is how Levi sleeps every night. Buried in a bed of boxers. 

Sorry about the big slimy finger print in the center of the lens. I didn't realize someone had boogered it until I downloaded the pics.

I am fierce! I am dangerous! I am Crawfish Crusader!!!

Well, not so fierce that little boys didn't carry them around.

These were 'rescues' from a crawfish boil we went to recently. They eventually were set free in our pond.

Gee, they figured out a new talent. I am so proud. Now I have to worry about footprints to clean off the doorways in additions to handprints. Sweet......

I have the feeling that this is the mastermind behind this new talent.

Not quite tall enough to really master this. Thank goodness!!! I have to scrape this kids off the ceiling often enough as it is.

Awww, readers....

Reba, you are so faithful to me. I read but rarely comment on your blog. I am a BAD bloggy friend! Just know I do love you and think you are amazing!!!!!

Cut the bottoms out of the pockets? BRILLIANT!!!! I was going to sew them all shut, but this is easier. of course whoever gets our hand-me-downs is going to wonder.....

I snorted out loud at the 'tampon nun-chucks' comment. What an inventive little boy! I bet the teacher could hardly keep a straight face. I know I would have had to leave the room and laugh out loud in the hallway!

This weekend has been kept on the low down here. The only special event was a party for a little boy yesterday. Levi and Seth went, and Ahren got to stay home with a fever, cough and boogery (is that a word?) nose. He sneezed at one point and it was so bad I had to change his shirt. YUCK!

I am finally starting to feel like blogging again. Sometimes I just get so deep into the day-by-day here that I feel like I am unable to reach the surface and find the sunlight.

Consequences

Well, we waited to see what would happen to our little deviant, and nothing happened. I was not sure if I was happy or mad. So on Friday, during the kindergarten program, I sought out the school counselor and asked her about it. She was shocked there had been no consequences and agreed with me that they had to happen or Seth would never understand this was wrong. We went straight to the school 'enforcer', I'm not sure what her title is, but she is in charge of the consequences. We talked and we all agreed that something had to happen for him to learn from this. So on Tuesday, the first day back at school, he will be sent to 'In School Suspension' where he gets to do school work all day long and not socialize with his peers. He works alone, eats alone, plays alone. Plus, the rest of the school has their end-of-the-year awards assembly which he will miss.

I feel good and bad. Good for me to make sure he learned a lesson. Bad for this Mama Bear that she is not protecting her cub. Overall, this is good. Just hard for me.

Oh, and little man does not have have a backpack anymore or pants with pockets. This is to ensure he cannot carry anything to school or home from school he shouldn't. Hahahahahahah

Big Knife Update

I think I have finally calmed down. Mostly. Here is how the crime went down.....

Thursday morning, while getting everything ready in the morning, Seth somehow managed to climb up the kitchen cupboards, and get the knife off a rack that is higher than my head. He then climbed down and hid the knife in his backpack. All of this without detection by me or his brothers, who are known as the 'tattle squad'. Once he got to school, they have to wait in the gym for the first bell. This is when he pulled out the knife to show off to his friends. Ahren happened to be there and promptly told. He told the other kids in the class, he told the bigger kids, he told the girls, he told the janitor and then he told the teacher. That would be hilarious, but.....well, yeah. Pretty hilarious.

The gym teacher took away the knife and Seth didn't seem upset or sad. She asked him if he knew it was wrong and he said he did, but no sign of emotion. (Boy does that scream RAD or what?) The gym teacher contacted Seth's kindergarten teacher but then had to go to another school for the day, which meant she had to wait until the next day to call me. Now we know why I didn't hear from them right away. Budget cuts...

The gym teacher called me on Friday and we had a wonderful talk. She did not know any of Seth's 'issues' and so she was treating this like any small boy trying to show off and did something dumb. She asked me how we wanted to handle it. For a moment I wondered if we could just hush it up and hide it. But then the rational part of my brain kicked in and I KNEW we had to give him serious consequences. I told her to turn the knife over to the school police and we would handle the consequences that would result. She thanked me for being such a level headed parent and doing the right thing. All I could think of was how horrible it would be to be trying to handle something like this when he is 17 years old and has been bailed out by mommy all his life.

We will find out on Monday what the punishment is. I am worried but confident. The whole 'zero-tolerance policy' thing has me concerned, but i know the staff at our school is smart, level-headed, and empathetic.

Now, I have a few ideas about how to handle the school punishment the best way for Seth to actually LEARN something from this. If they try and scare him, he will just shut down and not hear anything or learn anything. For years his only emotions that he felt and understood were fear and anger. He would fall back onto old habits and it would be a huge failure. We have worked so hard in the last year to teach him emotions, how to understand his and others and how to deal with them. If they show him how sad they are, how disappointed they are, they have a chance of hitting him in a soft spot and making an impact.

How is Seth doing? He is scared and anxious. it is sinking in that this is a big deal. He has been stuck to me like glue all weekend. He is shredding his food and picking his nose, both signs of high anxiety levels. I have been hugging him and telling him that although I cannot fix this, that I will be there with him and we will face this together. He is responding to that and instead of pushing me away, he is leaning on me and being vulnerable.

Me? I just want to cry.

*%%$&$@#^ Dog Gone It!!!

  I want to say some very, very bad words, but I promised myself a long time ago to clean up my language so that little ears and mouths did not follow suit. I am regretting that promise today!

  Today, my 6 year old son took a knife to school. Not just any knife. Heck no, it couldn't have been a PlayDoh knife or a butter knife. It had to be a big pocket knife of the pop-out scary bladed variety. The gym teacher caught him showing it to other kids and took it away.

  They have not contacted me yet. Luckily I have two brothers to tattle on him so I have a head's up on this. I am worried about the 'zero-tolerance' policy.  What happens to a 6 year old who brings a weapon to school? I am a mess. Alternative school? Suspension? Court????

  How did he get this knife? He saw where his Daddy kept it, figured out how to arrange furniture to climb that high, and planned a time when he could accomplish this feat without being seen. In short, this was pre-meditated. By a child with poor impulse control and anger management issues. I think I might hyperventilate.

Poop I can handle.
Pee I can handle.
Lying I can handle.
So many things I can handle.
But this?

Help!

Mother's Day 2012

Where do you go on Mother's Day when you want to have fun with the family and not fight big crowds?

Space Center Houston!

We rode the trams and went on the tours.

Who knew the rockets were so huge? Even this picture doesn't do them justice.

Earth to Levi, can you hear me???

There is a really awful joke here, but I am resisting, resisting, resisting.......

We ate lunch.

We watched shows and demonstrations and learned so much.

The weather was awesome that day.

I got to hold my honey's hand and sneak a few kisses.

Mission Control where all space missions are now run from. There is another room in this same building that controls the International Space Station.

Seth worked really hard all day to NOT have fun. Ahren was trying to imitate him for the camera.....

but he couldn't keep a straight face. Seth failed at his endeavor and had a good time in spite of himself.

Real rockets. Wow!

This one below is taller than the Statue of Liberty. It is really hard to see the enormity of these in a picture.

You know when the boosters separate from the rocket after the fuel is spent? Well this is what it looks like. On TV it seems so small....LOL!

It was an awesome day, exactly what I was hoping for. No crowds, lots of fun, and good family time.

Bad A$$ Barbie

Kaytee's nickname was Barbie in high school. I think you can see why. But now she has a new nickname...

Meet Bad A$$ Barbie!

I always worry about my girls and their ability to defend themselves and keep themselves safe. To that end, Kaytee and I have taken self-defense classes together, and she has been taking a Body Combat class for over a year. She is long and lean but very strong.

Recently, she was at the pool with a bunch of friends and one of the guys in the group was complaining about this other girl that would not leave him alone. This other girl liked him and would not take No for an answer. He is a good friend of Kaytee's but nothing more. When Kaytee and her two girlfriends got up to leave, the guy stood up, gave her a hug and a peck on the cheek to say goodbye. As the girls walked out of the pool, this other girl came up behind them and punched Kaytee from behind, a true sucker punch.

And then Kaytee did what she has trained to do. Without thinking, she whirled around, lowered her center of gravity and put her weight into one punch aimed at disabling her attacker. She didn't know who it was, but she hit the girl square in the face and then ran away. (Our martial arts master has taught us to disable the attacker and get away, not to fight.) Kaytee ran to her friends apartment crying. She was terrified and terribly upset. She had no idea in the heat of the moment who had attacked her. After a little while, another freind came to tell her that it was this other jealous girl who was the attacker. There were many witnesses at the pool who saw the whole thing.

The next day Kaytee learned that the girl had to get stitches and that she was postin a bunch of garbage about Kaytee. Kaytee ignored it. Then the following Friday night Kaytee was at a graduation celebration and that girl and her friends were there. Kaytee was a little nervous, worried that the girl would attack her again. Instead, a guy came up to Kaytee and begged her not to beat that girl up, please don't start anything. Kaytee laughed out loud because she would NEVER do that! Apparently the girl talked a lot of trash but was actually scared.

Things are fine now. Kaytee earned her new nickname and the other girl has calmed down. Me? I am proud of my daughter for being able to defend herself but also for doing the right thing. Master Foster would be proud of her too!

My home is full of laughter

Never a dull moment, never a boring day.

We love it.

From Levi:
chicken tastes good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Funny Bone is Broken!

I seriously need an infusion of funny. Head back, mouth open, big guffaw laughter funny. Americas Funniest Videos the guy gets scared by a prank and screams like a girl and runs in place funny. Anything other than 'look at that tantrum, for no reason, funny'. That one is getting old.

Things I never imagined I would hear myself saying:

"Son, get out of my makeup."

"Put my bra down."

"That red thing is the dog's weanie. Do not touch it!"

"Get your foot out of your brothers underwear. "

We are experiencing the 'end of the school year' antsies. No one wants to get out of bed in the mornings, unless it is a weekend, at which time they vault out of bed at dawn minus two and make tons of noise. No one wants to finish their homework. No one wants to get dressed. No one wants to do what they need to do to get out the door in the mornings. Ahem.....that might actually be me. I'm not admitting to anything.

Yesterday one small boy did his best to impersonate Eeyore. Woe is me. Everything is awful. Life is bad. etc. I asked him to find his shoes and he proceeded around the house with his face pointed at the ceiling whining and moaning and NOT finding his shoes. Well heck, I didn't wear them! I am NOT going to find them for him. He can go to school with baggies on his feet. In the meantime, in his OCD manner, he had been asking for 36 hours to be allowed to sharpen a pencil. Every 20 minutes, without fail, never giving up. (Exactly what the charm was in sharpening a pencil, I have NO idea) So I told him if he got his shoes on, he could sharpen his pencil. He then stomped harder around the room, found the shoes sitting within eyesight (I saw them the whole time) shoved them on his feet and grabbed his pencil. I let him sharpen it and he was the happiest camper you ever did see.

I have a joke for you. It's not exactly PC but not dirty either. My Mom told it to me, so it can't be too bad.

An elderly couple visits the doctor because the husband is not feeling well.
The doctor announces that he is going to need a urine specimen, a fecal specimen and a semen specimen.
The wife says, 'Fred, give him your underwear."

Elder humor. Gotta love it!

Refreshed....maybe

I didn't realize I took such a long break. Well, a break from blogging, not so much a break from everything else.  Life continues to kick my bohonkus quite well these days. I think I will do short bullet-type points to update.

My Dad is healing beautifully, gaining strength and stamina each day, and is as ornery as ever. He has an enormous scar from his breast bone to below his belly button. I am trying to convince him to get a tattoo of a zipper pull at the top of it. How cool would that be?

There was very little fall-out after my last trip, even though I was gone 10 days. A little whining, a little clingy-ness, but no major blowups. I had been holding my breath waiting for it, but at this point I think it is just not going to happen.

Ahren is going through a growth spurt. Every time that happens he regresses in both gross and fine motor skills. he is 6 years old and still struggles to dress himself, button his pants and get his own shoes on. I have been trying to find OT available for him in our area but no luck. The closest one is 45 minutes away and has no openings that fit our current schedule.  I think we will go for a summer round of OT when I can have more flexibility in our schedule. Right now he has speech therapy at school and neuro-visual therapy on Saturdays. Ahren also passed his first kidney stone this week. That was NO FUN for anyone! The nephrologist had told us he would be at risk of stones. Whatever the 'thing' is he has, it affects his kidneys and he has frequent crystals in his urine. He drinks a lot of water and that helps, but it was still a risk. Now we are scheduled for an ultrasound to see if he has more hiding in there. This poor kid gets the short end of every stick and yet he is soooo happy!

Seth is in neuro-visual therapy now, too. It has been shown to help with PTSD in soldiers so I figured it was worth a try. He loves it and enjoys the one-on-one attention. He is still going to ABA therapy once a week too. (ABA is applied behavioral analysis).  He has been doing amazingly well since Christmas time, but recently has had difficulty keeping his hands to himself at home and school. He will pretend to 'play' with someone or tickle them and then WAH, they start crying. He pinches or 'accidentally' smacks them, or they mysteriously run into his fist real hard or his foot just happens to jump out and connect with someone's leg. He is always innocent! Ahren is his usual target, since Ahren doesn't fight back. Ahren just cries. The funny hting is, Ahren is 3 inches taller and outweighs him by almost 20 pounds. If Ahren wanted to, he could clean Seth's clock but good. Seth does NOT hit Levi. Levi puts up with a lot, but it only took once for him to hit back and Seth has never tried it again. Those natural consequences, gotta love them!

Levi is just Levi. Sweet, caring, inciteful and hilarious. Chris bought him a Nook color and I loaded it up with non-fiction books. He goes to bed with it, walks around in the mornings with it in his hands and only gives it up when I drop him off at school. He also has an Ipod touch that he loves. He is just like his father, obsessed with electronics!

Kaytee is working 20+ hours a week, recently got a promotion and soon will be receiving a raise. She is carrying 5 classes in her schedule and getting all A's and B's. She loves life on the A&M campus and her job.

Ashley is the first student ever at her special magnet school to be accepted into a dual-certification program her senior year. She earned her CNA (certified nursing assistant) this year, and next year will earn her pharmacy tech certification and EMT certification. She has goals and a plan for her future.

Spring has sprung and I am making a mad effort at reclaiming our burned up, dried out landscaping. We lost a lot of plants in the record-breaking heat and drought last year. It is going to take a lot of hard work. And money. Ugh!!!

Tata folks. I am off to an appointment and work. I get to see my favorite little guy this afternoon. Big blue eyes, blonde hair and an impish grin. I can't wait to get him in a big hug!!!

On Being Away from Home....

  The last trip was only 5 days. This time it stretches to ten whole days. I am feeling odd, disconnected, unsettled. I also feel guilty. Guilty for leaving my sweet, adorable husband to deal with everything. Guilty for enjoying quiet time to read and knit. Guilty for being able to crawl into bed early and hog all the covers to myself. Just plain guilty. Comes with the territory of being a mom.....sigh.
  My Dad is coming home this morning. We decided to let him stay one more night while they got his oral pain meds under control. He is a bit uncomfortable, especially as he is getting up and down (using thos core muscles is HARD) but overall he is quite content. Now he is just anxious to get out of the hospital and get some uninterrupted sleep, eat what he wants and get comfy in his big chair. His incision runs from just below his breast bone to just above his pubic bone, I estimate about 15 inches long. It covers a bit more distance because, as the surgeon says, he has a fat belly. LOL!
  Ahren, my silly beautiful boy, turns out he got into trouble at school because he thought Seth would get all the attention for acting up while I was gone, so he decided to try it too. He told me so! The next day, he not only did super well at school, he got a special behavior award called Sparkle. They award this to a child who has had a perfect day and also showed some special kindness to another person. He was much happier to get the positive attention for Sparkle than the negative attention for the day before. That kid is way too bright for his own good. He even laughed about his little plan!
  Seth is hanging in there really well. What a champ! I still expect some fall out, but also a certain pride in himself for having done so well. There is going to be a big celebration with my boys when I get home! Funny thing, though, Levi has been very sad the last two nights, just missing me. I can't forget to show him extra attention just because I think he is doing OK. He still misses me and gets sad too.

Have to run! A big blonde Viking with a stomache full of staples is waiting for his ride!

Men, Men, Men, Men

I have so much to update on! Right now I am in Iowa, my Dad is recovering from surgery, and my Hubby and little men are hanging out in Texas pretending they are fine without me. (Well, yes, they are fine without me, but I am sooo needed ya know!)

My Father: On Monday we were at the hospital at 5:30 am, ready for the big show. My Mom, brother and I found a secluded table with electrical access and plugged in all our electronics and camped out for the duration. They took him back at 7:30 am and then updated us every hour on what part of the surgery they were on and how things were going. Everything went well but the aneurysm turned out to be much larger than they had thought. When they clamped it off and cut into it they sucked out all the blood, filtered it and returned it to him. That monster held 2.5-3 liters of blood, half the volume of a normal adult! With that much blood returned to him he ended up not needing a transfusion. In essence, that huge aneurysm was his very own blood bank reservoir. It took about an hour to sew in the graft. During that time the blood flowed freely through all of  his body except below the graft site. His legs were without blood flow for that hour, but they can go without blood flow for up to 6 hours before permanent damage starts. The closing took quite a while and then they immediately transferred him to ICU, still intubated and completely sedated. That was at about 3:30 pm and we got to go in and see him right away. We were prepared for how terrible he would look, tubes everywhere, severely puffy from all the fluids, and scary looking. Instead, he was pink and warm and not puffy! His feet, for the first time in years, were warm and pink instead of gray and cold.
  They were not going to start weaning him off the ventilator until Tuesday because of the extreme amount of fluids they had pushed into him, but he and his kidneys had other ideas. The nurses were happily grumbling about how often they had to change his urine collect bag. They ended up getting him off the vent that evening, then onto CPAP (pressurized air through his nose to keep his lungs inflated) and then onto a nasa l canula by morning. When I called at 6 am they had him sitting up in a chair and were already ordering a bed in a regular room for him!
  It is now Thursday morning and he is eating food, walking, driving the nurses crazy and scheduled to go home tomorrow. I can only believe that the prayers and well wishes of so many people have effected this miraculous recovery. He is 77 years old, a poorly controlled diabetic, has breathing problems, arthritis, overweight and out of shape and yet he came through this surgery like a 30 year old in the best of health! The surgeon called him his hero.
  The next week at home will bne hard. He will be in pain and he does not tolerate pain well, but is highly allergic to many narcotic pain meds. It's going to be hard. He knows it and he is prepared for it. I will be here until Monday to help and by then he should be pretty mobile and in good shape.
  One funny story: Yesterday the aide came in to give him a sponge bath. She got all set up and then laid a small towel across his lap before she removed his gown. He immediately blurted out that she was going to need a bigger towel. Didn't she know he was a Viking? The look on that woman's face was priceless!

The boys: I thought Seth would have the biggest problem with me leaving again. He was very clingy before I left and quite sad. Instead, he is acting like a Champ! He told me on the phone last night that he had a strange feeling. He realized he was worried I would not come home, but then he told himself I loved him and of course I was coming back and he was OK. AMAZING!!! He felt the emotions, was able to understand what he was feeling and then realize it was going to be Okay. It brought tears to my eyes and a huge swell of love for my brave and sweet boy!
  Ahren is struggling. He cries every night forme when he goes to bed. I talk to them a couple of times each evening, but at bedtime he needs to send me one more text to say goodnight and then he can lay down. He has had problems with his behavior at school. Yesterday he was one warning away from being sent to the Principal's office. He has NEVER been in trouble at school for more than talking.
  Levi is good but missing me. He is lucky because he is so completely secure and confident.

I will keep y'all posted!

Fallout

I only have a little bit to post so will make it short and sweet. The kids did amazingly while I was away. Everything went smoothly for Daddy. The first 4 days I was back, things also went well. There was some extra clingy-ness and insecurity but I thought we were dealing well. Then by Friday it began. Not nearly as intense as times in the past, but lots and lots of tears. Crying because he got water to drink, crying because a brother might take his toy, crying because I was eating my breakfast and didn't jump up and get him clothes that second. Long, sobbing, moaning, crying jags where the hurt just poured out of him. That's my little RADish, a deep well of hurt and sadness and a hole so large no amount of love can fill it back up. We talked, we hugged, we rocked, we talked more. It lasted 4 days and now he is back to a happy, sunny, still annoying child!

I am leaving again for 10 days at the end of the month. We will talk, talk, talk about it, try and set him up for success and deal with the fallout afterwards. Each time he has to work his way through an anxiety ridden situation like this, he gets a little stronger, a little calmer, and a little more trusting. I have high hopes for my boy!