After a long year, the silence is broken.
This weekend was filled with fun and family.
First our front tree was dead and had to come out. My brother made it look easy. We all enjoyed the wood later and made s'mores.
Then we watched Lincoln play some flag football.
On Sunday, my sister-in-law was nice enough to take some family and individual pictures. Here are just a few.
This is seriously the most fun and exhaustion I have had in months.
It has taken me weeks to get the courage to write this post but I was inspired by an e-mail from my sister-in-law today. I will never forget the love my husband showed me by making me a cheese sandwich.
Our baby is now a healthy five-week old baby but the battle to get him here was hard. At the age of 34, I found out that I was unexpectedly pregnant. I had never had an easy pregnancy and was scared.
April 13 came, or 18 weeks, and I felt horrible. I would find out two weeks later that my gall bladder needed to come out. My husband and I went to the doctor to find out the gender of our baby. We were immediately told that we were having a boy and were excited. The ultrasound seemed to last forever and I remember thinking I just wanted to go back to bed. Pictures were taken of every part of the baby. We were soon handed a long line of about 25 ultrasound pictures and told the doctor would be in soon.
The next hour of my life is a blur. The high risk doctor came in the room and told us our baby had echogenic bowel, or bright bowel. We were immediately taken to the genetics counselor to learn what this meant. The genetic counselor explained that the baby had a 90% chance of nothing being wrong but had a 10% chance of down syndrome, cystic fibrosis, being stillborn, or a number of autoimmune diseases.
I had declined all blood test at the first of my pregnancy that would determine most of these diagnosis. My only option was an aminoscientis. The risks of a miscarriage after an aminoscientis are high. My uterus was already thin and I felt horrible so we declined the test. My husband and I both knew that we would keep and love the baby no matter how he was born. My husband guided me out of the office in tears that were so strong that I could not even see where I was walking.
I don't remember much after this point but I remember that my husband drove to his work, explained to his supervisor what was going on, and brought my home. He made me a cheese sandwich, which tasted amazing, and put me to bed. Since neither one of us could speak, we announced the gender of our baby on the family website and did not make any phone calls. It would be exactly one month later that we told our parents what was on the ultrasound.
I then became the "test patient" at my high-risk doctor's office. The office was trying to decide which piece of new ultrasound equipment to buy. Since they received all the echogenic bowel referrals, I was the perfect patient. I had an ultrasound at 22, 25, and 28 weeks. All of these ultrasounds came back the same "bright bowel". I begin to dread these words but knew that I loved the baby inside of me and would either provide the baby with receiving a body on earth or be a mother to whatever was given to me.
At 32 weeks, I had an ultrasound to measure the size of the baby because they did not know how much longer the body was going to allow the baby to stay inside of me. The same ultrasound tech had been with me the entire time. She looked at me and told me that if she didn't know my history that she would not diagnose the baby with bright bowel at all.
At 36 1/2 weeks our baby was born. At this point, only a handful of people knew anything about the diagnosis of "bright bowel". We all held our breath as the many tests came back negative. The stress of the situation was gone, and we had a health baby.
I write this not out of sympathy for myself but for sympathy of others desperately searching the internet looking for other people's experiences. Stay positive and know that odds are so low that your baby will most likely be born healthy and strong.
I am going through my camera today and found these pictures. I don't ever remember Riggins in this bed in the NICU. They must have moved him to a new bed after the kids came and before I went down for the first time to the NICU.
The NICU is a scary place but we were very blessed this time to have a baby that did not look sad with all his wires. The wires seem scary but I have learned after two NICU babies that they wires are a blessing and it is the oxygen that makes you feel sad. I think it also helps when your baby is the biggest baby in the room.
This is the bed I remember.
Riggins spent six days in the NICU and then was allowed to come home. Truly a blessing to spend such a short amount of time for being born three and a half weeks early.
Everyone has heard of a blog, but have you heard of a Glog. My first assignment for one of my classes was to learn to use a new web tool and create an outline for an online class I have to design this semester.
This is seriously a fun program and could be used for so many things. My kids have asked if they can play with it next. It will be fun to see what they create!
For now this is what I created based on the assignment specifications.
http://jbwood12.edu.glogster.com/beginningacct/
Avalee and Lincoln had a great first day of school. Avalee has some friends in her class from last year so that made her happy. Lincoln does not know anyone out of 100 Kindergartners. So he is working on friends but he told me he is not worried. Lincoln also earned the blue card for the day. Every student starts out on green. One warning and you get moved to yellow. Two warnings and you get moved to red and your parents get called. After that you visit the principal. Blue is a new card this year. It is for the student that has been the best during the day. Lincoln earned it on the first day. I do not understand how he can hold still for a teacher for 8 1/2 hours but can't seem to sit long enough at our house to eat dinner.
Pictures in random order.
Lincoln would not stand by Avalee so he was dancing by the door inside the house. Avalee choose her cutest outfit for the first day of school.
Lincoln at his desk trying very hard to color in the lines. This was the activity when he first sat down. He excused me to go home after sitting at his desk for two minutes.
Lincoln eating breakfast. I have to tell you it scares me to death to think about Lincoln and Avalee in the lunch room. There is 600 kids between K-5. I didn't even grow up with 600 people in my town. So many kids but they all do a good job of waiting in the line, getting their food, and dumping their trays. It is amazing.
Lincoln still loves his thumb and his blanket. But he will not suck his thumb or use his blanket when other kids are around him. I caught this moment before school. It was as if he knew that in the next 20 minutes he would be forced to leave his comfort zone and grow up.
Finally got a picture of the kids together.
I got out of the school and in the car and then I cried. My baby has grown up. Now I come home to a quiet house and have to figure out how to do homework in silence for 8 1/2 hours. It was very hard because I am used to Lincoln sitting by me imaging and making sounds effects.
Have you ever called Poison Control? Last night was my first time.
Yesterday was a little crazy. I have to get the kids to all the right places, make sure they know where to go after school, and keep up with housework and school work. So I got up yesterday morning, stripped the beds, washed all the bedding, and had it dried and upstairs by 9 a.m. Then I never went back into the bedrooms until 8:oo p.m. last night and forgot I needed to put the sheets back on the bed.
Throughout the day, I went to class, helped with homework, fixed dinner, had 10 kids at my house from around 6:00 to 8:20 p.m., and Nathan was gone all day and had meetings at night for church (this is normal). During this time, I watched all the kids play in the backyard and worked on cleaning out under my sink in preparation for the new dishwasher to be installed. As I was doing this I found an almost empty bottle of Draino. At 8 p.m. I poured some of the Draino in our bathtub and some of it in the kid's sink. At 8:20 p.m. all the kids left so I got my kids in the shower. I then turned on the kid's sink with hot water and left the bathroom. Lincoln got out of the shower, got dressed, and was helping me get the sheets on his bed and pick up his room. I sent him to the bathroom to hang up his towel.
He came back and said, "Mom, I helped you by doing a fast teeth brushing job with the bubbles in the sink." It took me a minute and I realized those bubbles were Draino. So I ran out to the garbage, which was by the curb, and read the back of the Draino bottle. It said to give them milk and call poison control. Lincoln drank milk while I called. Poison control was not worried because they said people that drink Draino immediately fell their mouth burn and will start complaining. Lincoln never complained but I scared him. So we went upstairs and finished making his bed and let him go to sleep. I still had Avalee's room and my room left but Avalee helped and it went fast and both kids were asleep by 9 p.m. So much for an 8 p.m. bedtime in preparation for a 7:20 a.m. bus.
Lincoln is fine this morning.
I just got a call from Poison Control checking back on Lincoln. I am very impressed with Poison Control and would suggest calling them anytime BUT I hope you never have to call.
We spent two weeks in Provo this summer with family. I didn't get a lot of pictures but I did get some at Cowabunga, which I encourage everyone to go visit. These pictures are backwards. Lincoln is dancing to the music as we leave. I was the only one who got to watch.
About every 10 minutes are so a huge bucket of water dumps. I could never get a picture of Lincoln because he would come down and go right back up to find another water slide. Nathan and I also went under the bucket quiet a few times to stay cool.
Avalee and Lincoln going down the slide. This was one of the smallest slides but there was never a line so they went down it a lot.
Nathan and I spent an entire week by ourselves in celebration of our 10th anniversary. We to Park City, Salt Lake, and places around Provo. We were very lucky to stay in a family home by yourselves so ate out, stayed up late, and watched lots of movies. I think that week with help us get through 10 more years of marriage before we need a long vacation again.
This picture is from top of the conference center. It was fun to take a tour. I had been in it once for the General YW meeting about three years ago but you could not take a tour. It was Nathan's first time in the building.
We attended the Hall family reunion this year. It was a lot of fun. A photographer had been hired to take pictures throughout the night.
The kids are starting to play the water balloon toss game.
Then the water guns come out.
Avalee admiring the activities.
Then a huge, adult-staged water fight happens. Big sponges full of water, water balloons, water guns, etc. Nobody on that side of the yard stayed dry.
This picture is my favorite because is shows the kid's personality. It totally captures Lincoln being funny and Avalee looking at him like he is weird.
The next are pictures that were taken before the water came out.
This is my cousin's daughter in a cute tutu her grandma bought for her. Avalee was the photographer.
Flower arrangements the kids picked out of the yard and created.
Avalee has amazing eyes and does this all the time. No idea who took this picture.
Avalee and Lincoln played T-ball in May and June. It was intense but they had awesome coaches and their team was the best. We didn't keep score but we always had the most outs in each inning.
Avalee made it to third base and must have been excited.
Avalee can hit the same both right and left handed so she would bat based on what she choose. She usually hit the ball but it looks like she might have had to try again.
Lincoln running to third.
Lincoln hitting the ball.
My favorite moment of the season was when Lincoln was playing 3rd base. A grounder was hit to him and bases were loaded. He stopped the ball and touched his base and got the runner out. He was so excited he could barely talk or move for about five minutes. He had two more short grounders hit to him that inning. He stopped both of the balls but the foot race between him and the runner always turned out to be a tie.
Avalee was good on the pitchers mound and if anyone has watched T-ball you know that the pitcher sees alot of action.
Fun experience...we will see if they get to play next year or if school has overtaken my life.
I lost the pictures of our trip to Arizona on my computer but finally found them today. It was fun to visit my sister and see where they live. I did enjoy coming back to the grass in Idaho.
The kids had a great time playing in the sand at Lake Powell. I think they had more fun in the sand than they did in the water. They made their own hot tubs.
The kids spent a lot of time hauling water and make sure their walls were intact.
The boy cousins.
The cousins.
The Grand Canyon.
Today I bought a $5 cupboard that will be a nice addition to our office. The only problem was it was located in the outskirts of Nyssa, Oregon about 25 miles from here. So we went on an adventure and the GPS had the street numbers wrong so we ended up in the middle of nowhere in a corn field. I finally found the place and got my cupboard.
After leaving the house, we located the town of Nyssa. The kids were hungry so we finally saw a store. I pulled into the parking lot and Lincoln said, "I can't believe they put a store in the middle of nowhere."
Then we head back home and Avalee made up a game. She asked Lincoln if he ever thought he would get married. He was quiet for a minute and then responded "no." Avalee asked him why not. Lincoln's response, "I plan to suck my thumb until I am 100. Nobody will want to marry me and that is ok."
Lincoln did a good job making me laugh today!
I will get pictures of July's happening posted soon. For now my garden is overgrown, laundry needs to be done, my kids have watched way too much TV, and I am leaving again for five days....
BUT I am finished with three more credits and should get an A in the class. This is what I have created in the last 3 and 1/2 days. For any of you who know code you understand how much time this has taken me.
http://edtech2.boisestate.edu/woodjb/502/webquest/start.html
http://edtech2.boisestate.edu/woodjb/502/virtualtour/start.html
Now it is time to take my kids to the fair so they can see their 4-H projects! And I have a three week break from homework!
I decided to only take six credits this summer and spend some time with the kids and be able to travel. I hope I don't pay for it in the fall as I am enrolled for 16 credits.
I have finished three credits and the other three credits is an online class that will be done in August. I have to write all of the webpages in Dreamweaver and XHTML code. You can follow my progress at this website.
http://edtech2.boisestate.edu/woodjb/502/502.html
Normal story...
I caught a lizard today. It was climbing in a bucket and I tipped it over just right and kept moving the bucket until I got the kids. Then my sister's brother-in-law took it out of the bucket. My nephew, Cooper, that is three thought it was so cool and started it playing with it. After a while, the lizard bit him. It left quite a mark. After Cooper settled down, he said quite seriously, "We are going to eat that lizard for dinner."
Now for the gross story...
Tonight we were at the park and Lincoln had to go to the bathroom. There was a port-a-potty behind a locked gate that the kids could fit through put I couldn't. Lincoln went in and did number two and started yelling for me. I told him to wipe his bum and come out. He kept yelling and yelling about needing helps and flies. I didn't want to climb the fence and jump because I only had my flip flops on and I worry about my foot in this situation. So it took me about five minutes to figure out how to get through the fence. When I opened the door, Lincoln said, "There is no toilet paper so I tried." He had tried to wipe his bum with his hands. Yes, very gross!!! So my sister ran to the van and got some wet wipes and I spent quite a long time cleaning up Lincoln. I don't think I will forget that port-a-potty experience.
Thank goodness the day also included a fun trip to Lake Powell to even out our bad experiences
Today was the last day of swimming lessons.
Avalee passed and is on her way to swimming. This is a first because she has always been scared to death of the water and has been in the same class for four years.
Lincoln did not pass BUT he will put his nose and his mouth under the water AND he earned a yellow ribbon. This means he can float on his back by himself and stand up when he is done. With a yellow ribbon, he can go down the slide by himself. He went down the slide seven times before I forced him out of the pool.
It is a happy day because I don't have to go down the slide anymore, too many times makes me dizzy, and the kids can be in the water by themselves.
In our house you often hear, "Lincoln get off your sister". Lincoln is a typical boy and instead of saying "Avalee play with me". He gets her attention by laying or wrestling with her. I don't know how they ended up in this position but it looks like Avalee has given up.
Lincoln during his preschool graduation. I was only able to attend for 20 minutes because I had a test so I didn't get an good group shots.
Avalee's 1st grade class!
Avalee's teacher who she will miss dearly. Avalee is still not ok that she doesn't get to go to school on Tuesday.
Avalee made this "thank you" for her teacher. Mrs. Gipson was constantly surrounded by kids hugging her and crying.
Amazing face painting that Avalee got at the Ward Pancake breakfast.
Avalee got the "Academic Award" this year. Although she tells everyone she got the "Automatic Award". This is what her teacher said about the award.
Avalee is truly an amazing student. She reads 172 words a minute and always tries her hardest. She has turned in her homework each day and has perfect scores on all her exams. She never stops learning or trying. If she doesn't understand something, she is quick to ask questions. She kept me on my toes all year. She is a superstar!
Walking across the stage to receive her award.
Avalee finished all 26 turtles so I made her a turtle cake. I am not a cake decorator but this didn't turn out too bad.
It is still raining and cold this year and tomorrow is June 1st. This picture was taken in April when the kids where excited for summer to come and where checking out their nerf glasses for sunglasses. We are still waiting for warm weather for shorts.
It was about 60 degrees the middle of April when I turned the sprinklers on to see how they survived the winter. This sprinkler had a problem and the kids played in it for about 10 minutes before they went in and took a warm shower. I have only had the sprinklers on for that hour of testing the entire year. It has rained so much here we don't need sprinklers. It has also rained so much that my tomatoes are turning yellow!
