Monday, August 11, 2008
Heaven Bound
I just found out this evening that Pat's Oma has passed away. From what I could gather she died Saturday morning at home. The hospital would only keep her a certain number of days and then she had to either go home or go to nursing home. Her family opted to bring her home.
I called Dad to see how he was doing. He said he was ok. Dad isn't too emotional so I kinda expected that answer. He was more concerned with how his grandchildren were doing. He was probably trying to keep his mind off of things. So I told him all about what the kids had been up to. I had him laughing so I hope it helped.
As far as services go the family isn't sure what they are going to do. She is being cremated but they aren't sure about much after that. I hope that they are able to make the decisions that they need to.
I haven't told Pat yet because he's working and I don't want to lay this on him while he's at work. He won't be home until after 10 so it will just have to wait until then.
Thank you to everyone for your prayers. Keep them coming because the family will need them. And thank you,Dean,for calling and giving me the heads up. I appreciate it.Labels: family
Friday, August 8, 2008
Say a Little Prayer
Got a call the other nite from Pat's dad and he let us know that Pat's grama (who we call Oma) is in the hospital. She has been there since Monday and she is in a coma. He thinks the coma is a result of renal failure. He wasn't able to give us much else other than that because the connection he had with his sister wasn't very good. He lives in Virginia and his mom is in Florida. Dad is waiting to hear back from his sister so that we can find out a little more.
I knew that Oma hadn't been feeling very well. We write back and forth to each other and she has told me that she hasn't been feeling well. She's 95 so her being this sick is a little scary. On top of her illness, Opa is in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's. So we aren't really sure what he remembers and what he doesn't.
I could tell how upset Dad was. I could hear it in his voice. He said that his boss told him to go to Florida but he doesn't feel like there is anything he can do. Besides,his sister is there. I'm sure that if something happens she will let him know right away.
Now we are just waiting to hear back from him. So if you guys would please keep all of them in your prayers we would really appreciate it. Keep you posted.Labels: family
Sunday, July 6, 2008
The 4th
Hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July! We had planned a little BBQ/going away party for Kotah. She is leaving for Oregon for the summer to visit her dad so we wanted to have a little party for her. My mom and gram came and so did grama and grampa Wood. Pat was able to take the day off from work - which is extremely rare.
The kids had a blast playing in the pool all day. I stayed out of the pool because it was too cold for me :) Grama and grampa got in with the kids but grama didn't last too long. It was too cold for her,too!
We had a really nice day just hanging out together. Kotah decided that she wanted to spend the nite with my gram because she was going to miss her while she was gone and she wanted to spend some time with her. So she and Julie went home with gram. The rest of us just crashed. The kids really weren't too interested in seeing fireworks and that was fine with us. We were tired and I think they were,too. Besides,we weren't going to fight the mob in town just to see some light in the sky.
Happy 4th!Labels: family, holidays
Monday, June 16, 2008
Happy Birthday Gram!
Today my gram turns 79. If you had asked me a year or so ago I would have told you that I wasn't sure if she would make it to her next birthday. But God obviously wanted her to and she made it and she is doing well. You all know what she has gone through since last May. It was like riding one huge,sickening rollercoaster. I know that all the prayers that were made on her behalf from all of you helped tremendously and I can't thank you guys enough for that.
My gram has been such a huge part of my life ever since I can remember. She has always been there for me. She has always taken care of me. She is like my mom. My mom and I didn't get along very well when I was younger and I lived with my gram most of my childhood. If asked I would say that she was the one that raised me. She fed me and clothed me and took care of me. I shudder to think what my life would have been like without her.
I am so grateful that during her ordeal last year I was able to take over her role and care for her. I have always done everything that I could for her but that time was special. I was able to let her come live with me. I was able to be there in her time of need so that she didn't have to suffer in some nursing home. She didn't want to impose but I insisted and I know that she was glad that I did. I really miss having her here even though I see her all the time.
My gram is an extraordinary woman. Not only did she raise her own children alone (my grandfather died when my mom was 9) she also took in foster children. Most if not all of them were mentally retarded. At any time she could have had up to 16 or 17 kids in her house. She ended up adopting 2 of them. And she helped raise her grandchildren. This woman deserves to have a holiday named after her!
Happy Birthday Gram! I love you bunches and am very proud to call myself your granddaughter. I only hope that one day I can be as amazing of a woman as you are. You truly are the best. Love you!Labels: family
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Happy Father's Day
I want to wish a Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. But there are two special people that I would like to send special wishes to...my husband and my uncle.
My hubby is an excellent father and deserves recognition for that. No one I know works harder to take care of his family. He spends a great deal of time working so that we can live in a house and have a yard for the kids do go out and play in. He does it without complaining. He works when he's sick. He works when he's tired. As long as he's breathing he will go into work. And when he's home he plays with the kids. He helps them with their homework. He makes their dinner and helps get them ready for bed. He's all around just an amazing man and an exceptional father.
My uncle Todd is an amazing man as well. He stepped in as a father for me basically from the day my father left. And he has been there for me ever since. Long story short my father left when I was around 2 yrs old. He never called and he never visited. I didn't see my father until 2 yrs ago - almost 25 years after he left. I found him because an uncle (his brother) that I had never met had passed away. I figured my father would go to the funeral so I contacted the funeral home and asked that if he showed up if they would pass along my information to him. They did and he got in touch with me. We met at a park and talked for a few hours. A week or so after that he came to our apartment and met my kids. They loved him right away. And I haven't seen or heard from him since then. It's been 2 years.
I didn't let it get to me too much. I knew what my father was like. My gram had told me many things. I know that most people will try to make the missing parent look awful but gram didn't do that. She just told it like it was. So I didn't expect too much from him when I found him. A friend of his that I spoke to said that he was great with her grandkids. I remember thinking after he disappeared again that he must be something if he could act like a grandfather to kids that weren't from his own flesh and blood and just ignore kids that were. I think I hurt more for the kids than I did for myself. I just have to tell myself that it's his loss not mine.
I used to hate Father's Day as a kid. When we made things in school I felt like the only kid that didn't have a dad. I didn't even have a grandfather because he died when my mom was 9. But I don't feel that way any more. I had and still do have Todd. He was always there. He treated me and my brother like we were his. He took us places and did things with us just like a dad would. I just didn't realize how special he really was until I grew up. And he stood out even more to me after the whole fiasco with my real father. He used to take us trick or treating and buy us christmas gifts. He took us boating and fishing and to concerts. I remember that he was one of the first people to come see me after Jordan was born. He brought presents for him. He was there - my father wasn't. And that's what is most important to me - he was and still is there.
So to both Pat and Todd - I love you both very much and wish you a Happy Father's Day from the bottom of my heart.Labels: family, holiday
Friday, June 6, 2008
Happy Anniversary Todd & Cynthia
Happy 10th wedding anniversary to my favorite aunt and uncle! I love you both very much and feel so blessed to have you both in my life. You are two of the most amazing people I know. You deserve all of the happiness that there is. You guys have such a beautiful marriage and are truly an inspiration. I wish you many more years of love and happiness. Have a wonderful day today and enjoy yourselves in Wine Country!Labels: family
Sleeping Beauties
I guess I'm going to have to hide my camera. The hubby thinks he's funny when he gets pics of me sleeping. I don't think he's funny. I hate having my picture taken and he knows it. Usually the only time he can get me is when I'm sleeping. He showed me this pic when he woke me up to go downstairs to bed. I only thought it was cute because Hadlei was sitting with me and she had the cutest little look on her face. That saved him because otherwise he and the couch would have become good friends that nite.
Labels: family
Thursday, April 24, 2008
*@#% Update
Gram ended up going home later that afternoon. Todd kept me updated throughout the day. He was finally able to get the whole story and it seems that when gram was at the sink washing her face her nose started gushing. It was coming from both sides and then she started to feel it running down the back of her throat. She knew it wasn't going to stop so she called 911. When the EMT's got there they took her bp and it was 250/200. I have never seen her bp go that high. They took it again and it was down a bit to 200/174. By the time she got to the hospital it was 174/150 - still high but much better than the first bp they took.
The dr at the hospital gave her some pain pills and put her on some steroids. In other words - he had no idea what was wrong with her. He told her that the pain she was having was due to her arthritis and something about a pinched nerve. He told her to take the steroids for 5 days and if the pain subsided then they knew that was what the problem was. If not then it must be something else. Very reassuring :/ She called me when she got home and told me what the dr had said. He also wanted her to make an appt with her dr so she made one for the next day.
That trip to the dr was well worth it. She read the results of the MRI that gram had done last week. Her back between her L1 and L5 vertabrae is a serious mess. She has bulging discs,degenerative bone disease,severe arthritis,narrowing of her spinal column and discs pushing into her spinal column. Her dr is going to set her up with a pain clinic to see if they can do anything to help. The pain pills seem to be working well for her but the steroids were a completely different story. Gram was very dizzy and disoriented from taking them that morning. The dr took them right away from her and threw them in the garbage. With the meds that she is on the dr in the hospital never should have given them to her.
Gram has felt much better in the last few days. Her pain pills have helped her sleep better at nite which is something that she gets very little of. Hopefully the pain clinic will do some good. If not she may be a candidate for surgery. Let's just hope that it doesn't have to go in that direction. Thanx for all of your prayers and concerns.Labels: family
Monday, April 21, 2008
*@#%
Yup - that's how I feel. I got a phone call this morning at around 8:10 from my gram. She was in tears telling me that she had called an ambulance and was on her
way to the hospital because she had a nose bleed that wouldn't stop. I asked if she had called anyone else and she said no so I told her that I was going to call Todd and see if he could meet her up there. I couldn't go because apparently Baldwinsville is the only freakin district around here that has today off! I called Todd and he was at work and he was the only one there which meant that he couldn't leave yet. So we had to call Dale to see if he could be there with her. Todd had tried to talk to gram and all he could get out of her was that her nose wouldn't stop bleeding and her bp was through the roof.
Something is not right. She has had nose bleeds before and she has always been able to get them to stop. And at her recent dr appts her bp has been fine. Yesterday she told me that the area where she had her iliostomy was hurting her. She was having sharp pains and she was afraid that there was something wrong. I tried to calm her fears by telling her that we were going to see the dr that did the surgery for her this Thursday and that he would take a look at it. It was the first she had said anything about it. Now I'm thinking that I should have done something about it yesterday. What I don't know but something. She has been in a considerable amount of pain recently due to her arthritis. It has gotten pretty bad in her back,hips and legs. Over the weekend we were at my mom's and uncle's and she had to climb their stairs to get into their houses so I wonder if that has anything to do with her problems.
I hate not being with her when things like this happen and I know she feels the same way about me not being there. I'm the only one that knows all her meds and other medical info. But thanx to the Bville school district I can't be there. She will be in the ER and we all know how long you have to sit and wait. Needless to say I'm a wreck. When Hadlei came upstairs this morning she found me crying. She crawled right up in my lap and asked me what was wrong. I told her grama was in the hospital and that mommy was worried. Do you know what my darling little 3 year old said/did? She hugged me,wiped away my tears and told me not to worry and that grama would be ok. Of course that just made me cry even more. She is truly an angel.
Hopefully this won't be anything serious. You know what I'm going to ask for next...prayers. I will let you know how she is when I find out.Labels: family
Monday, March 24, 2008
Happy Easter!
I hope everyone had a Happy Easter! Ours was a busy one as usual. I attempted to sleep in - which is something I don't get to do - and I still didn't. I guess with 5 kids that is just an impossibility. They just had to find their baskets and wouldn't let their poor mom catch a few extra winks. Fine with me but there will be payback!
The easter bunny left the kids baskets filled with candy and toys. I didn't think to tell Skylar to not pull out a basket if it wasn't hers. She found Dakotah's and yelled to her that she found it. Kotah wasn't too happy with her. I tried to explain to Kotah that Skylar probably had never looked for a basket before so she didn't know what to do. She pouted for a bit but then got over it.
We went to my uncle Todd's for dinner. The whole family was there and we all had a really good time. Todd just got a new pool table a few months ago and we spent a lot of our time down in his basement playing pool. I love his basement because he has a bar area and that particular area is decked out in Dallas Cowboys paraphinalia. The man has good taste! :) I haven't played pool in years but it all came back pretty quickly. My brother seems to be quite the pool shark. Have to watch out for that one! The hubby is pretty good,too. Jordan even got a chance to play - against me. I let him win ;)
My gram loves these get togethers because she loves seeing her family together. I know she was a bit sad because this will be the last time for a while that Kevin and Ryan will be at any of them. They are moving to Florida in about a month. She wants to see them happy but I know she will miss them like crazy. I did get a nice pic of her with Kevin. I'll miss them,too. Kevin did a lot with me when I was a kid. I remember how I used to help him build picnic tables. He used to call me "grease pit". Don't know where that name came from but he even had a hat made up for me and my brother with our nicknames on them - Grease Pit I and Grease Pit II. I hate to see him go.
All in all it was a good day - fun and good times with the family.Labels: family, holiday
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Belated Birthday Wishes
Wishing a belated Happy Birthday to my nephew,Ian,who turned 4 yesterday. And a Happy Birthday to my friend Emily,who's age I won't mention :) They both celebrated their birthdays yesterday. Sorry I'm a day late guys - had a very busy day yesterday. Love you both!Labels: family, friends, holiday
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Kidney Stone
Took gram to the dr yesterday because she has been in a great deal of pain recently. She has arthritis pretty bad but she knew that it wasn't that that was bothering her. The pain was much worse. She thought her kidneys might be acting up again and she was right to some extent. Last Friday she had to go in to the dr to get fluids because they were shutting down again! Thankfully the fluid helped and she didn't have to go to the hospital.
The dr decided to send her to get some more xrays done. She had some taken last week but didn't get enough. She wanted her whole spine and her shoulders done. So we left the dr office and went to get the xrays. We had to wait there after we were finished because the dr was going to call with the results. Around 1 pm she called and gave me the news. Her arthritis has gotten worse - which we already knew. It's basically everywhere. She has strained rotator cuffs in both of her shoulders so she doesn't want her straining herself by hiking around in her bed so she gave us a rx for a hospital bed. That will help her pull herself around because it has bars on either side. She found an old fracture in her upper back/neck area. That puzzled us because neither of us could figure out when that would have happened. She has never fallen so how did that happen? The icing on the cake was when she told me that gram had a kidney stone. That was something none of us expected to find/hear. Dr said it was about 4 mm and she should be able to pass it with lots of fluids. If her pain got worse she wanted to see gram right away because it could be causing blockage. So I guess now we know why she has been in such pain.
What's next?!? Hasn't this poor woman been through enough!?! I was hoping that this year was going to be better for her but it isn't starting out that way. I hope she makes a turn for the better and stays that way.
On a sidenote....gram told me yesterday that the visiting nurse that is in charge of her case told our favorite nurse,Sara,that she thought that my gram had mental problems and that she really didn't have much wrong with her. God help that woman when I get ahold of her because she is going to regret ever saying that! She won't have a job anymore if I have my way.Labels: family
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Happy Valentine's Day!
Happy Valentine's Day to the world's best husband! Yes ladies...he's all mine! I really do have an awesome husband. And I'm a lucky girl. We have spent close to 9 years together and had to go through a rough patch to get to where we are today. Instead of tearing us apart it just made us stronger. We are more in love today than ever before.
Honey, I love you so much and am so blessed to have you in my life. You always put me first and make sure that I am happy. You are one in a million and how I ever ended up with you is a mystery. I'm usually not a lucky person but in this case I'm the luckiest. I love you more and more everyday and look forward to spending the rest of our lives together.
Happy Valentine's Day everyone. I hope that you are all as happy and in love as I am...Labels: family, holiday
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Happy Birthday Skylar!
Today Skylar turns 9 years old. It's so hard to believe how fast these kids are growing up. This is the first year that we are able to be with Skylar on her birthday. And we are extremely happy that we are able to spend it with her.
Every year we celebrate the kids' birthdays with my gram - usually at her house. This birthday will be no different. This morning I told Sky what we were going to do and she was very excited. I don't know what kind of birthdays she has had in the past but we are going to make sure that this one (and every one there after) will be one that she doesn't forget. She definitely deserves it.
I will post pics of her party either tonite or tomorrow morning. Happy Birthday sweet girl! We love you!Labels: family, holiday
Friday, February 8, 2008
Meet Skylar
I couldn't get my pics to download when I posted about our trip to get Skylar. I finally got them loaded on my computer so everyone...this is Skylar!
Labels: family
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Happy Birthday!
There is a certain special little girl that wants to wish her dad a very Happy Birthday! I understand there is a little rumor going around *wink wink* that he doesn't want to acknowledge his birthday because he is getting too close to 30. Well hon,suck it up! We all get there eventually!
Dakotah doesn't care if you think you're getting old - she loves you no matter what. She wants you to have an awesome birthday. She wishes that she could be there with you to celebrate and have some cake! She misses you so much so do her a favor and enjoy your birthday....
BTW...I sympathize with you...it's getting awful close for me,too :/
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAN!!!!!!!!!!Labels: family
Friday, February 1, 2008
Our Big Announcement
After weeks of keeping you guessing about our important news,I am finally able to share it with you. No,I am not pregnant,even though I would love to be because I am one of those crazy women that loves being pregnant. However,we do have a new member in our family.
My husband has a daughter named Skylar and she will be turning 9 in a few weeks. She has lived in Georgia with her mother since she was a baby. It was brought to our attention by the Family Court in Georgia that she was removed from her mother's care back in November. We were supposed to appear in court in November but we didn't receive the court papers until the day before court. Pat called the next morning and explained the situation and the hearing was postponed until January 28. That was the soonest date that they could give us and it was upsetting because Skylar was going to have to stay in foster care until then.
It was very hard for Pat to have to wait that long. He didn't like the fact that she was going to have to sit in foster care for two months. I know that he had all sorts of bad thoughts running through his mind about how she was being taken care of. But it was out of our hands at that point.
We left this past Saturday nite after Pat got out of work. We had Hadlei in tow. Thankfully we were able to get the kids' grandparents to keep them while we were gone so that they could go to school. We left around 8:30pm and drove straight through to Georgia,arriving there around 11am. Hadlei slept all nite. We found a place to stay and settled in. We had some time to kill so we decided to check out Cartersville. BORING!!! They have nothing there! We ended up going to Walmart and Target. Like we had to drive to Georgia to do that! And I have never seen so many pawn shops,nail shops and salons in such a small area. Get a mall people!
Court was at 10am and we were more than ready. I had gotten all of our paperwork and pictures together. We also added some letters from family and friends. I wanted to have more than we needed instead of just enough. I waited outside the court room with Hadlei while Pat went in. When he came out he told me that the judge loved him and wanted to rule on his behalf and let Skylar leave with us that day but she couldn't because DFACS was involved in trying to reunify the family. Our only other option was to file for custody in Superior Court. Our lawyer gave us the name of a lawyer that could help us and we had to meet her back at the court house at 4pm. We had about 4 hours until our meeting so we went to find something to do. Needless to say it was the longest 4 hours of our lives.
We met with the new lawyer at 4pm. She explained what we could do and it was pretty straight forward. We could file for custody and either have Tabitha (Skylar's mom) sign off and not go to court or she could refuse and we would have to come back in a few weeks for court. Long story short - Tabitha agreed to sign off and give Pat custody. We met back at the court house the next day and the papers were signed and filed. We were now officially able to take Skylar home with us.
We started our trek home about 4:30pm on Tuesday. We planned on driving straight through again. It wasn't as easy of a trip as it was on the way down. It rained quite a bit in Tennessee and we hit a traffic jam in Knoxville. Driving through Virginia was a trip. It rained 4 out of the 5 hours hours of the drive. I think Pennsylvania was the worst. We hit fog and it was so bad that they closed down a few exits of Interstate 81. We had to take some back roads which were just as foggy. Thank God we had a GPS or we'd probably still be sitting there. On our way into New York it started to sleet and snow. We were starting to think that someone didn't want us to get home. We didn't pull into our driveway until 9am. Neither of us want to leave NY again!
After all is said and done it was well worth the trip. Skylar is elated to be living with us. I know that she has missed us just as much as we missed her. She has a huge extended family that will be there to support her. This wouldn't have been possible without the help of our friends and family. So thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Wood for keeping the kids so that they could go to school. Thank you to Sal for loaning us his GPS. It was a lifesaver! And thank you to Pat's mom for letting us use her car to make the trip. We definitely wouldn't have made it there without it.
Welcome home Skylar! We love you are a thrilled to have you here with us.
P.S. For some reason I can't load my pics. When I figure it out I will post some!Labels: family
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Bits and Pieces
Gram did well with her surgery. It only took about an hour and she did great. No complications. The nurses even had her up walking that same nite! I was surprised to hear that. I had called to check on her and the nurse said that she was walking past her right then. I was tongue tied for a second. I guess that I was so used to things going wrong that I wasn't expecting something to actually work out the way that it was supposed to. It's about time! She is due home tomorrow unless they change their minds. A huge thank you to you guys for your prayers. I know that they helped.
In other news,my son has managed to give himself another concussion! I don't know what I'm going to do with him. He did it Wednesday nite. How you ask? He fell down our stairs - 7 of them to be exact. And of course,he landed on his head. He was in a huge hurry to get downstairs so that he could eat his sister's chicken nuggets. He was wearing running pants that were a bit too long and he slipped at the top of the stairs(we have hardwood floors)and rolled head over heels to the bottom. No broken bones so I waited until the next morning to take him to the dr. I knew what was coming and I was right. Concussion. And that means that we have to go back to the concussion clinic that had just fully released him a few months earlier. Never a dull moment!!!
Lastly... About a month and a half ago I told you that Pat and I had something very important happening and that I would tell you about it. I can't quite say anything yet but I will be able to within the next week or two. The suspense is probably killing you,right? It's worth the wait. All that I will say is that I thank God for my house and it's 5 bedrooms.....Labels: family, misc
Monday, January 14, 2008
Time for Surgery
The day has finally arrived! Gram is going in for surgery tomorrow to have her ileostomy reversed. It has been a long time coming. She has finally stayed healthy long enough for things to heal. She is excited and nervous at the same time. We have to be there tomorrow morning at 5:30. Early morning for me!
If all goes well,and I pray that it does,she should only be in the hospital 5-7 days. If they have to cut her open again instead of going through the stoma it will be a longer stay/recovery. So please pray that everything goes well for her. The woman has gone through enough and it just needs to stop.
I hope that the surgery doesn't set her too far back. She has been doing so well since she got out of the hospital the last time. Her appetite has come back and she has been using her cane instead of her walker. Her kidneys have been behaving,too. The dr said that it wasn't going to be as complicated a surgery as her last one was. We'll be keeping our fingers crossed....Labels: family
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
My Sweet Brother
My brother is the best. We were close growing up and we still are. We used to keep each other out of trouble(remember the golf club Tys?)He comes to me for advice and he even listens to it some of the time! ;) He called me yesterday and said something to me that truly touched me.
He recently got back together with his high school sweetheart,Sarah. I was very happy to hear this because I have always liked Sarah. She is a very sweet,caring,
thoughtful and kind woman. We always got along very well and I have always wanted to have a SIL like that. If things work out for them maybe I will.
Sarah has an adorable little girl named Ava who is about 7 months old. Tyson called me to find out if I would take care of Ava for them if they ever needed/wanted someone to when they went out. Before I could answer him he said that they had asked me because "I have done a good job raising my kids and I am a good mother" and that Sarah trusts me. The boy almost had me in tears! It meant so much to me to hear that from him. And it meant a lot to have Sarah's trust because I of all people know how hard it is to trust someone with my children. He made my day.
I always knew that I had a great family and when something like this happens it just reinforces that. Thanx Tyson and Sarah.....Love you both!Labels: family
