Monday, December 20, 2010

Little Monkey Bizness Commercial



Luke and Dani are in the Birthday Party! Also you have to be looking for her but in the big shot of the whole playing floor you can see Dani carring a book in the lower left of the screen.

Where has the time gone?!

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted :o( Sorry. Josh is doing really well with his leg healing, he's finally able to walk without any kind of support or special shoe. He's been released from his Doctor so now we're just waiting on what comes next with Workman's Comp. He still needs pain medication, but he's weaned off most of it, and hopefully soon won't need anything at all.

The kids are all being crazy as always. I'll have to post pictures of some of the things Dani has done because hey they are funny...looking back.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Holy Cow life is busy

So I realized that it's been oh about 5 months since my last post! Things have been a little busy around here since April, but then again what life isn't busy these days?

So let me see if I can even remember what on earth has happened...it might be a bumpy ride :o)

May - seriously I can't remember anything from that long ago! I don't remember when but Josh is now walking and doing Physical Therapy in the mornings. He still has quite a bit of pain, and his muscles are pretty weak in the upper thigh but he's WALKING! He mowed the yard with a push mower for the first time in 2 years a couple weekends ago...it was awesome!

June - I turned 30...ugh Josh turned 31, we both had pretty good birthdays, nothing fancy just celebrated at home.

July - visited my Dad & Step-mom, Brother Steven & his wife Danielle & Daughter Addison, and my Sister Melissa, her husband Tommy & their son Nate for 4th of July. It was so much fun. Zack had a blast "dancing" when the sparklers were lit. I also designed a lovely bikini for Brenda out of light sticks...good times...good times. I love being silly with my family.

August - Josh started Guitar lessons I was able to get for 75% off being of Groupon. He is doing a concert in 2 weeks as the 10 week semester ends. He's loving doing something he enjoys and usually never gets time to practise...I can't wait for him to be home again on Thursday evenings! I had carpel tunnel surgery on the 27th on my left wrist. I am still having some trouble with strength in that hand, but it's getting better. I have an appointment next Friday and I will ask the Dr. what physical therapy I should be doing. I am also seeing a new Reproductive Endocrinologist and a new Rhumatologist and I hope they will be more willing to look at the bigger picture of helping me be better as a whole person instead of trying to fix just the current symptoms. I got diagnosis with Lupus finally, but the Dr. said he is a little unsure because I only had 2 of the 3 areas...yada yada...so I'm trying to get my medical records from the Air Force, because he said he could use that to try to determine if the Lupus is enough to qualify for disability...wish me luck.

September - Luke & Dani are taking swimming lessons. Luke is really reserved when it comes to doing anything in the water and usually tells the instructor no. Dani on the other hand is a water baby and wants to "do it own self" and tries to push away from you even though she really doesn't know how to swim!

Zack has one tooth and one coming in...I'm glad they waited for a while because he's still nursing! He's also still sleeping in our bed...I know I'm all about attachment parenting but it will be nice when he sleeps in his own bed. The stores all started decorating for Halloween and I told Luke they were getting ready for Zack's 1st b-day :o) Awesome. I think we're going to have his party at Johnson Farms because my mom works there...but it's such a drive out for our friends but it would be fun!

Ok...so that was a very quick run down.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Easter Pics



Here are some recent pictures of the kiddos.
Luke continues to make us laugh every single day. He's amazing and says the funniest stuff. He's also getting annoying and knows how to push every last button.
Dani is so funny and CUTE. I love 2 year olds because while they are a handful they are still so innocent and it's adorable no matter what she does...even standing on a chair butt naked saying, "Ta Da"
Zack is our little Mama's boy...he wants me 24/7. It makes it VERY hard to do anything around here. He's laughing and playing with his toes now. He LOVES to eat and grabs for anything you're trying to eat or drink if you're holding him. He loves Luke and his eyes just beem when Luke plays with him. Dani loves to give him kisses and say, "morning Zackie" she also likes shoving binkies into his mouth or trying to feed him stuff...like her fingers :o)
I have more pictures...I'll try to post later.

Josh's Appointment

Ok, so Josh had a Dr's appointment on Tuesday, hey I'm still within the week at least! lol Here's the highlights:

Bone is filling in :o) He's released to go back to work on Monday (yea...he's messing with our days...jk I'll miss him being able to change dirty diapers) He's going to start out slow with 4 hours and then increase when he can. We're both worried about his pain levels, he's hurting a lot in his knee right now and on the x-ray's it shows one of the screws is extending beyond where it should and that's causing some pain.

Next appointment is for 6 weeks and we're hopeful he should start PT then :o)

Friday, March 19, 2010

Josh update

Well Josh went back in last Thursday the 11th and had 143 staples removed!! The Resident that was removing them said she thought there would only be about 50-60 but I was pretty convinced there were more, so when she was done she asked if we wanted to count...sure enough 143 was the magic number. Some of them hurt more than others, but Josh says it's like a bee sting...well imagine 143 bee stings in a row. He had some discomfort that night, but it's gotten better over the week.

We're just praying that the 40cc's of bone they grafted into the site will be solidified by his next appointment on April 20th. Fingers crossed, then he can start the long road to walking again...yeah!!! We're really thinking this is it for this stupid leg :o)

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Josh is HOME

So Josh came home from the hospital today...not sure if that was the best move, but hey now a days hospitals push patients through as fast as they can without actually killing them. I think he could have used 2 more days to get adjusted to medicines and also some occupational therapy. They just assume that someones going to be there to take care of him and get his clothes on and off and get him in and out of bed, but with 3 other kids to take care of it would be nice if he could do most of that himself. So today was a little stressful, but it's good to have him back home.

He goes to the Dr. in about 2 weeks for the staples to come out, we'll keep you posted :o)

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

2/23 update from Josh

I am in pain. They have me off of IV pain meds and on an oral Morphine (not quite as effective). The PT people came up and had me walk down the hall a bit. I am still pretty stiff. Going home will not be easy.

On a better note, we got to speak with the VP of the hospital about our concerns of yesterday's events. (it just so happens that they were going room to room and surveying people. But it was good to be validated.

Will give you more as it becomes available. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.

Josh update 2/23

I talked to Josh this morning, he sounded less drugged :o)

He said he had a really hard time sleeping because he couldn't help but think of our friend Jaimie Burkhardt Bowlin (sp), she had surgery but died the next day of pneumonia after being released from the hospital. So Josh told the nurse of his concerns and she put a pulse oxy monitor on him. He said it went off several times during the night and he woke up gasping for air.

The Dr. hasn't been in yet for morning rounds...now we know why he was always SOOO late getting to the clinic.

I'm going up this afternoon after my mom comes over to watch the kids around 11am. I'll let you all know after that what Dr's are saying and so on.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Josh update

Well I didn't actually get to talk to the Dr. or a single nurse all day (see rant below). From what Josh (who was high on lots of pain medicine) told me is that Dr. Horton came in and told him that the surgery went well, and that he's looking for Josh's bone to solidify in a month!!!!! Josh should only need to be in the hospital until he gets the pain under control (basically until he can manage the pain with just pills instead of the nifty pump he has).

He's in good spirits (for thinking his wife has disappeared...again see below) and thinks the hospital food sucks but wants seconds :o)

He's love to talk to anyone that calls, he's in room 4313A, although with the amount of pain medicine he's on don't count on him remembering he talked to you.

Thank you to everyone for your prayers.

WHY KUMC SUCKS - Josh's surgery

*****edit when Josh and I talked this morning he thought I should amend this posting to let you know up front...this post has nothing to do with Josh, it's just my crappy experience waiting for him at the hospital. The post about Josh is the next one*****



So today's crap started out on Friday...Josh's surgery was set for Friday at 11:30am, we were supposed to be at the hospital at 10am to check in. Well come 5am I wake up and start throwing up, I'm sick. I try to take some zofran and lay back down hoping it's the same thing Luke had a couple days go (he threw up a couple of times, but was fine the rest of the day, and never had a fever) but an hour later I'm still very sick with throwing up and among other things terrible cramping in my stomach and back. Anyway we get to the hospital and ask the Dr. if we can reschedule, he says, "No problem I'm working for you" and we go home where I proceed to be sick the rest of the weekend (it got a little better every day that went by).

So get to today. We're now without the babysitters we had lined up for Friday, but our friends the Steffensen's agree to watch the older 2 until Josh's mom can pick them up after her Dr's appt. at 11am (which btw went good and she doesn't have to see the Dr. again for 3 months!!! woohoo). But now Josh has to be at the hospital at 6am...and that's not happening with 3 kids, I know I have friends, but 6am babysitting is something only family gets guilted into, and well we had tapped out family :o)

Anyway the plan went like this: Josh dad, Danny, would drop Josh off at the hospital at 6am. I would take the kids to the Steffensen's no later than 9am and head to the hospital. After Danny & Jeannie (Josh's mom) were done with her appointment they would pick up the kids and take them back to our house so Dani could take her nap and Luke would pretty much play and destroy his usual stomping grounds.

This is how it actually happened:
I didn't sleep at all last night, worry & Zack nursing every hour saw to that. I finally just decided not to pretend to sleep anymore around 7:30 when Luke woke up and started watching cartoons. I proceeded to get Luke dressed, then dressed Zack, finally I woke up Dani and got her ready, somehow this entire sentence in real life took me 2 hours. Already an hour past time to drop the kids off I finally back out of the driveway (in the meantime I have to get the doors to open under the layer of ice, and get the final trash bags taken to the curb for trash day). I make it to the Steffensen's at 10am, after grabbing the kids guilt McDonalds because this was the first time they were eating today.

I head for the hospital, getting about half way there I realize I didn't leave the door unlocked for my in-laws to get in, thanks to the neighborhood thieves I now make sure I lock my doors all the time. I turn around and then I call Jeannie to see if she has a key...she doesn't...but tells me not to worry about it they would take the kids to their house instead (more work for them, but it's her decision). I turn back around and head for the hospital once more. Then I look down and realize the diaper bag I've packed for Dani is still sitting in the seat next to me. So I call Jeannie again telling her I have to turn around anyway to take the diaper bag to the Steffensen's and give her another chance to change her mind about bringing Mr & Miss Distructo to her house. She still declines, but I do reassure her that while I'm a mess I did manage to remember to put the baby in the car.

So now I'm ANOTHER hour behind schedule, it's now 11am and I'm finally headed to the hospital. I get there and the valet tells me after I've already unpacked the stroller and bags and I'm getting ready to put the baby's car seat in the stroller that they won't park my car today because of the ice. It's their policy to only valet if you're going to the heart hospital or if the driver is in a wheelchair. I told him to keep the car, or have it towed I wasn't moving it. He reluctantly gave me a slip, I think he saw the devil in my eyes.

I make it up to the surgical floor and they can't seem to find Josh. He's not on "paper." Well I have to explain to 3 different people that his surgery was originally scheduled for Friday, but it was moved. They still didn't seem to have a clue, but finally a nurse came out and told me he was still in surgery. Ok, it's about noon now. The nurse told me to go grab something for lunch and come back and by then he would be in recovery. I went and grabbed an overpriced pudding, and tried to say hi to a few x-co-workers but they weren't there. When I got back at 1pm the waiting room was overflowing. The attendant in charge of checking on patients and telling their families how they are doing told me I could sit in a different waiting room about 20 feet way (surgical ICU waiting room instead of surgical waiting room) I was grateful because I don't much like nursing in public and to do it with a stranger in the chair next to you wasn't going to be easy for me. So the surgical ICU waiting room was pretty much empty. I waited, I asked a couple of times. I called my in-laws and told them about 2pm that I hadn't heard anything yet, but I would call them when I did. I waited some more...and then some more. I went down several times and chatted with the attendant and asked a couple of times if Josh was given a room number yet, and was told, "Honey don't you worry, I'm in charge of the rooms, when one opens up I'll assign him one and I'll let you know."

Meanwhile I find out I have accidentally left my cell phone in the van and didn't feel like having the valet go back and get it for me considering how I left things with him. Also I realized that while I had a laptop I couldn't use it because I didn't have the password...so it's just one thing after another.

So about 4pm a different nurse assistant comes down to the surgical ICU and asks the room if anyone was waiting for news about surgery patients. Another group of people say yes and the nurse asks them why they're in that waiting room and they say the attendant told them to, just like me. So we're both told we're in the wrong waiting room and they've been trying to "find" us (even though neither of us were lost). I was told to "stay put" and someone would be right back to get me. Well I think in the mean time the original attendant came by and asked me for the 5th time who I was with. When I told her she was like, "you come with me, your husband is looking for you!" So I pack up my stuff and follow her to the 4th floor, and Josh's room which he's been in for a few hours!!! I was so pissed, but then they tell me that I can only talk to him for 10 minutes because they shouldn't even let me in because I have Zack with me! I try to explain that he's breastfeeding so I can't leave him with anyone, but they tell me to keep it short.
I get in to Josh's room at 5pm. He's apparently been worried sick about me, even having them overhead page me (wonder why I didn't hear that???) and calling down to the ER to make sure something didn't happen. I'll write about Josh in another post (so you don't have to read this rant if you just want to check on him :o) I end up staying a couple of hours and get Josh set up for the night before I head home to put my rag-a-muffins to bed (found out Dani didn't take a nap for Grandma and made her chase her all day keeping her out of trouble...oh the life of a 2 year old).

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Surgery Rescheduled!

SORRY

Josh's surgery was rescheduled for 1st thing Monday morning. I got terribly sick on Friday morning (seriously, seriously sick) and I took medicine and tried to pull myself together, we even went up to the hospital and met with the Dr. we told him if it had to happen today then fine, but I was in no condition to be at the hospital. Well the Dr. said, "hey I work for you, whatever needs to happen. What's the worst that can happen between today and Monday your legs heals?"

So we have it rescheduled. I slept the ENTIRE day yesterday only waking up long enough to take care of Zack when he needed to be nursed. I'm feeling a little better today, but still feel like crap. Hopefully I'll be100% by tomorrow and Josh doesn't catch this!!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Zackery Laughing...super cute.

This is the song Luke & I like to sing to Zack :o)

I LOVE when babies laugh for the first time...this was not his first laugh. he laughed for the first time at Josh's last Dr's appointment at the workman's comp nurse!! This was his 3rd laugh :o)

Monday, February 8, 2010

Josh's surgery

Josh's surgery has been set for the 19th of February, please pray this will be his last surgery and he will be able to heal quickly!

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Josh's upcoming surgery

Well Josh had a Dr's appointment on Thursday...the bone has stalled out and isn't growing anymore :o( The Dr. said that he would like to go ahead and do a bone graft as soon as possible, and while they are doing that since Josh's leg is the length it needs to be he'll change out the rod with a bigger permanent one.

So that being said we haven't set a date yet, I think Josh and I have decided the sooner the better. We're both just so ready to have this be done and over with, it's been over 6 months now and it's sadly looking like it might take another 6 months before he's fully recovered.