My Newest Addiction

Alright, my newest addiction is Glass Mosaics. It's really fun! I don't feel that I am very artsy, but this is a kind of easy art project that's enjoyable! When we were in Estes Park I made this gecko for Isaiah's room! I just finished these letters for Abigail's room yesterday!
Here's the I from Isaiah's room that I'm going to use.

Here's a picture frame that my mom made while we were in Estes.
Anyway, I know it's simple, but fun in a kind of short period of time!

Update on Life

Thankfully yesterday Colby began feeling much better. I could tell this because he didn't want to sit in my lap all day or cry too much about the pain. Oh, yeah, and also he wanted to bother his sister & brother again! So, it was like he had to catch up on not being onrie (I have no idea how to spell that word) for two days, it was interesting!

For those I haven't talked to, I went ahead & scheduled my back surgery for August 27th. I now have less than 5 weeks to get ready! I just hope it really helps!

Another anxiety - I have been blessed to be able to have Brigid as a nanny to help with the kids this summer. She is my past piano student, past children & youth choir member at church, my kids babysitter, my friend & now nanny. She is an amazing responsible, positive, helpful individual. I have been able to get many things done this summer, including getting my office at home looking quite normal again. I'm going to work hard on the garage today and hopefully get finished with it next week! My anxiety is that she will only be here 3 or 4 days next week, 1 the following & then she's going on a trip for work with me and the kids - that's it - she has to return to college after that! I know the kids will really miss her.

Isaiah can't say Brigid, so they've come up with an adaptive "Be be." It's quite precious sometimes when Brigid puts him down for a nap, and she leaves in the afternoon, when he wakes up he says, "be be, mama, be be, mama." I guess he's trying all bases to see who will come get him out of bed! I know I will for sure miss her for all of her help & for her friendship. I guess I'll just have to come back down to Earth & get back to normal life!

Colby's Back Flip

Here are my precious kids yesterday afternoon waiting for my friend to come over to swim with her 2 kids. The kids were ready to swim enjoying the hammock before we ventured to the back yard! This was about 4pm
Colby, Abigail, Isaiah & I began swimming with my friend's kids, who were 4 & 6 years old at about 4:20pm. Colby has just learned in the past week how to do a back flip off of our diving board. Her 4 year old even imitated Colby doing the back flip!

So, we're having a great time & then boom, I hear a bad sound. It is Colby's head on the diving board. He was doing a back flip & while upside down didn't clear the board. He cut the back of his head pretty good & scraped his back on the way into the water. Thankfully he was conscious & was able to swim to the surface. I immediately swam to him & we got out of the pool. Thankfully my friend was there to watch Abigail & Isaiah while I frantically jumped into the car with Colby pushing on his head with a towel. There was quite a bit of blood streaming from his head.

We headed straight to the emergency room. I called Dan quickly telling him what was going on & for him to meet us there. Thankfully my mom was available to go be with my kids too!

We checked in to the ER at 4:50pm & were seen by the triage nurses at 5:20. Here's a picture of Colby after the nurses cleaned his back off a bit & wrapped up his head. When they were cleaning it, they showed us you could actually see his skull... yuck... Anyway, they told us to expect a CT scan of his head & staples.

We returned to the waiting room to wait! They said 2-3 hours. Here's his back after scraping down the diving board.
His face is a little sore too because of his goggles. They left a faint mark around his eyes & between his eyes on his nose. Also, inside his upper lip he has a nice bruise.

We were called back around 8pm. The nurse & doctor took a look at the cut, as seen below.

We had to wait just a little longer & were taken into a room in the ER. They came in and deadened the area around the cut, which was supposed to burn & sting. Amazingly Colby was so calm & still. He did amazing. Then they shaved a little bit of hair around the area, which Colby did NOT like, probably because he was already bruised. After cleaning the area well they put in 6 staples.
He will have to keep them in for 10 days. They want it to scab over a bit to heal, so he's not supposed to get too wet, at least for 5 days. He really was doing amazing last night, a bit lethargic and not himself, but great pain-wise. Through the night we woke him a few times to make sure he was ok. No problems!

This morning though, he has started to hurt quite a bit. I started him with Tylenol at 8am, but within a few hours he is hurting and crying. So, it's been an interesting day!

I am so thankful & feel so blessed that it happened while someone was with me and the kids! I am also thankful that it happened now & not after I've had my back surgery. Dan has been in a few golf tournaments & has a few more in the next month. So, I'm thankful he was available to come and be with Colby & me. Obviously, it wasn't a great experience, but I feel blessed for the way it all happened.

It's quite hard as a mother to see your child hurting and scared and to be really strong for them! Hopefully he starts to feel better soon! Thank you for your thoughts & prayers.

Back Trouble

I went to see a neuro-surgeon this afternoon about the herniated disc in my lower back. To help alleviate the pain, I have tried: rolfing, spinal steroid injections, physical therapy, and accupuncture. Thankfully my husband was with me at the appointment to help ask questions. The doctor recommended that I have surgery soon.

This brings on lots of emotions and anxiety... Obviously, I want to feel better and not have so much pain in my back & my leg, but it's scary to think of going through surgery. He said I would be in the hospital for 3 days & then going home I wouldn't be able to drive or lift for 2 weeks. He said it should take 2 months to get back to normal, hopefully without pain. In the scheme of life, 2 months is very short. I have dealt with back pain for half of my life now & with this more extreme pain since October. So, putting it into perspective, 2 months of recovery is not that long.

The recovery is going to be a challenge. Obviously, if I'm going to do this, I want to do exactly what I'm instructed to do by the doctor. This means not picking up anything, including my children for at least 2 weeks. This will be hard. I know I have a very supportive family who will help me out with my kids, but the day-to-day things will be challenging for a while too!

So, when will I have this done? He said if I wanted, we could do it next week! That's way too soon & too scary... So, he said I can do it in August. I have a trip planned the first of August & then another weekend trip planned for a wedding. So, it looks like the 3rd or 4th week of August. I want to see Colby start Kindergarten on the 22nd of August, so it will probably be the 4th week. Then, I think, Colby & Abigail's birthdays are a few weeks after that, which would be a challenge. I guess there's never going to be a great time...

Dan feels confident this is what I should do & I appreciate his support! But, it is still scary for me at the moment! So, I will be asking for a calmness and peaceful feeling about the surgery, recovery and outcome.

Family

We had a wonderful week with lots of family visiting! My dad & step mom came for a few days & my sister Lisa came through on her way home. We all met together this past Sunday for Mum's birthday (my amazing grandmother)! Here's Aunt Teresa with Abigail getting ready for the party! Here's Pappy (my precious grandfather) with the boys.
Here's Colby climbing mum & pappy's tree!
I love this picture of mum & pappy together. The way pappy is looking at mum is priceless!
Here's another good picture of them!








This past Tuesday we went to Lake Meredith for pictures with the photographer Davy Knapp. After we finished our pictures, we went to another part of the lake & had fun together playing. I like this picture of the clouds at sunset.

Isaiah had fun throwing rocks in the lake!
My "boys" trying to skip rocks.
Here's Abigail getting ready for the pictures!

4th of July - The Ranch

Here we are at the Ranch for 4th of July! Cousin Emily had fun giving Isaiah a mohawk!
Here's Abigail looking quite grown up after a hairdo and some makeup from Emily.

Isaiah really enjoyed his powdered donuts breakfast! Here are all of the cousins together! (minus 1)

I know - this is terribly late! But, after returning from Estes Park & finishing about 9 loads of laundry, we immediately left for the 4th of July weekend!

We all had a great time shooting off fireworks every evening & even some during the day. The older cousins decided to try and light some of the fireworks using a binoculars lens for a magnifying glass. It actually worked & kept them occupied for quite a while!

The weekend consisted of: fireworks, 4 wheeling, fishing, good food, card games & most importantly family. There were 18 of us there at the Ranch, all except 1 person in Dan's family. So, a very special time to be together!

Estes Park, Part 3

OK - this is quite a long post, but I wanted to finish up the pictures and thoughts from the Colorado trip!

Here's a picture of me & the girls after we finished the high ropes challenge course! Here I am climbing the tree up 35 feet to get to the top of the course.
I'm quite happy to make it to the top, but then a bit scared to go across the beam, then the wires & finally the zip line!!!
After doing the course, I am glad I did it, but wow, it's quite scary! I know it's totally safe, but you aren't really thinking about that when you're up in the air.

Here's Colby getting ready to throw in a big rock!

The yearly trip to "The Rock." It's a picnic place along side of the drive in Wild Basin up on Highway 7, a part of the Rocky Mountain National Park. I don't exactly know when this tradition began, but for as long as I can remember, we always made a trip there to throw rocks in the river & have a picnic. It's quite a special place & very beautiful. 10 years ago Dan proposed to me there while I was spending the summer working at the YMCA Camp of the Rockies. After he proposed and we were enjoying our lunch on the rock, a few deers visited us quite close. We celebrated our anniversary of 9 years while on the trip to Colorado this year. Pretty crazy, anyway, so many great memories have been made there enjoying the beautiful scenery with our family. It's kind of wild to think last year Pa was with us there, and now no more... But, I know Nene & Pa were looking down on us smiling as we continue the traditions that they started so many years ago.

Isaiah enjoying some string cheese.
Me & my siblings!

Isaiah got to sit this year out for riding the go carts, but I bet he will be joining in the fun next year! Here's Colby trying out the bungie jumping. His feet never actually touch the trampoline below. He figured out how to do back flips & actually did a double back flip one time!
Of course, my 3 year old dare-devil Abigail decided she would give it a try! She did quite good, but for once in her life, she was quiet! She didn't scream or same much while flying high in the air!
This is the "slide." It is quite a fun ride, at only $1 per person, but you have to walk all the way up the stairs to come down again! I think Colby did it at least 15 times, most of the time going by himself up the stairs, because we were too tired to go again! Quite a workout! Isaiah really loved it too. When he'd come down with whichever adult was taking him, he would stand up & immediately go back & start climbing the stairs!
Here's Isaiah enjoying playing the guitar with Aunt Laura!

So many great memories were made in Colorado this year! It was wonderful having almost our whole family there together! My kids are already looking forward to next year.

Estes Park Park 2

Here's a few pictures of our family horse trail ride! Below is Lisa with Colby. (Next year he will have to ride a horse by himself, since he'll be 6! Kind of scary!) Isaiah got to ride with Dan & Abigail rode with me!
My crazy sisters decided we should do the High Ropes Challenge Course together one morning. Kind of scary... but very fun! Here are Lisa & Laura getting ready in their gear.
Here are 2 of the trees that are a part of the course. The ropes & wires are 35 feet up in the air!
Here is Lisa finishing the course, about to zip line down.

Riding the ponies at the livery is a must for our annual trip to Estes! Here's Isaiah The Cowboy getting ready to ride the pony.

Laura & I led Bitsy around the Minnie Mouse Pony Trail Ride together, trying to make sure Isaiah stays on the horse! Please notice the new and very precious cowboy boots for the occasion.

Lisa led Shortcake around with Abigail The Cowgirl on top!

Lisa & Laura made precious t-shirts for our "Reunion!" Here we are on the porch.

Gannie wanted a picture with her 3 grandkids - pretty precious!