our incredible journey

Muscle Men

2012-02-13T07:11:00.000-08:00

We put up a pull-up bar in the boys doorframe recently. Since then, they've been very motivated to work on, and show off, their muscles.

Update on Aidan

2012-01-29T17:03:00.000-08:00

Thought it would be good to record an update on how things are going, 2 months after diagnosis.

* Having a diabetic child has already become 'normal' for us. Its amazing how quickly routines get set, and how quickly God took the emotional roller coaster of those first few weeks and replaced it with peace and a sense of normalcy.

* He's been doing great. His levels have leveled off, and been great. He hasn't experienced a true low yet, or at least a symptomatic one. Actually, Friday his teacher called at lunchtime and reported that he BS level was at 45 when they did his regular check. He wasn't acting or feeling any different, but yikes, that's the lowest he's ever been. He was 57 that morning also. Must've just been a low day. Thankfully it did not cause me as much anxiety as I thought. And he was thrilled, because he got to partake in the 100 day cake and ice cream with no extra insulin shot.

*Mealtimes have become easier. We've begin to memorize carb counts in foods, and also have began to feel comfortable making estimates here and there, and even have gained a comfortability adjusting his insulin doses as we feel necessary.

* Two weeks ago he let a babysitter give him his bedtime shot. This was a big step! And this week? He started doing his own. How amazing is that?

We are so so thankful for all the support we've received, and for the fact that Aidan is such a great kid.

God is good, all the time.

Our Newest Superhero Part Six

2012-01-29T15:35:00.000-08:00

Okay, last post of this series, finally. Just some random reflections from the whole experience that I wanted to jot down.

In the midst of the chaos, we felt so much gratitude. Gratitude that we caught it pretty early. Gratitude that it was nothing more serious. Gratitude that we had so much support from so many directions. Gratitude that diabetes research over the last few decades have incredibly improved diabetes care.

There were so many little 'hugs from God.
-Finding out his kindergarten teacher also has diabetes, and an encouraging text from her while we were in the ER. This text also informed us that the school nurse has a grown daughter with diabetes who was diagnosed at age 2. We are not only blessed to have a school nurse at all (the PDRC said many schools they work with don't), but one who has personal knowledge and experience with a diabetic kid! Those 2 things made the transition back to school SO much easier.

-Also, we've had several students over the years with diabetes. I can't tell you how many times my mind was drawn to thinking about them, and about how wonderful they were, and what normal lives they lead. This was huge! Also, the first night back at youth group, we had a first-time visitor. When Weston was sharing a little bit of Aidan's story with the group, she cheered at the word diabetes. Because she has it too. It's been neat to see how having diabetes is a little like a membership into a secret society. I received so many encouraging FB messages. Some were from people that I didn't even know had it, and many others pointing me towards other moms in our area who have diabetic kids. The JDRF has also been so pro-active. They sent a neat care kit, and made sure other moms called to check in on how we were doing.

-Here's another one: Aidan's buddy from school wanted Aidan to come over to play that Saturday after we got home. As I texted his mom back, I realized she hadn't heard about our ordeal yet. As I explained it, she was quick to inform me that her 15 year old stepson was diagnosed one month prior. Her family was going through the same thing! He lived in PA, but happened to be visiting that weekend. So when Aidan went over there to play, he got to meet a new cool older friend who has diabetes also, and who was super sweet bonding with him over it. (and he has since moved to Galesburg) Also, I feel so comfortable letting Aidan play over there! They know exactly how to handle things!

* Out of all our boys, Aidan is our best eater by far, and he isn't even crazy about sweets. This boy has been known to choose extra vegetables over dessert! And we have reflected on his age, 5, being so great for the time of diagnosis. He is old enough to understand a bit of our explanations, and to be reasoned with. Yet he is young enough to still trust us completely, and to not have a lot of anger about this major life change.

Overall, he has handled it so well. There have been moments of showing off getting shots and delighting in the extra attention, to moments of breaking down. The hardest part for us has been his meltdown/tantrums. Aidan has been a pretty easy kid since about age 3, but since his diagnosis he has had some super emotional meltdowns, usually in reaction to being told to do something he doesn't want to do. He began testing new boundaries. Some were directly related to approaching a shot, but most were unrelated. We finally decided that he just didn't have any emotional reserves left for dealing with the normal stressors of life. But it is SO hard to know how to parent him through these times. With a firm consistency, or erring toward more gentle indulgances as he is coming to grips with his harsh new reality. We've also wondered if maybe that is part of how he acts when his BS is a little high.

As for me, I was staying pretty stoic, because I think I had to in order to do what had to be done. I remember finally breaking down a few nights after we got home. The boys were in bed, and Weston had run to the store for groceries, and I was sitting on the couch and I just lost it, sobbing uncontrolably. I think it was the first time I'd really sat still all week, and I know it is normal to grieve some. I was grieving the loss of his completely carefree childhood, the loss of what we knew as 'normal', and embracing the fears for just how this could affect him in long-term.

My mind also did other crazy things, like fret over weird what if's. What if he was kidnapped? What if the government collapsed, and it was no longer possible to move to the wilderness and just live off the land? (I know, crazy) And what if he couldn't be a missionary to some remote tribe now? (This was silly once God assured me that of course He wouldn't allow him to have diabetes and then call him to do something that diabetes prohibited him from doing) Also, of course, we fretted over how this would affect us financially. Not only because of this hospital visit, and all the future doctor appointments and huge amount of perscriptions, but even with our normal grocery bill (needing to purchase more carb free items, prepackaged-easier-to-count carb items, and more fruits and veggies).

Then, at certain times new realizations/questions would hit me. How would this affect him driving some day? Could he ever live on his own?

My gut reaction was to hole up for a month, and read everything I could. Unfortunately, while I did this to a minimal extent, life must go on, especially when it's December. After a few weeks passed, I realized that I was already to the point where his diabetes wasn't the #1 thing on my mind 24/7.

Returning to school went super smoothly. He brought a book, called, "Taking Diabetes To School" that he shared with the class. His teacher and the school nurse were very intentional with how they wanted it to be embraced in the classroom. He does his BS checks and shots right there! The kids were fascinated to watch at first, but now it is just normal. I even had a friend comment this week that while she was subbing in his class recently, she observed some kids giving pretend insulin shots to a stuffed animal, because he was diabetic, you know. I love that Aidan being in their class will help them understand diabetes a bit, and to see kids who have it as normal. How powerful that would be if any of them ever get diagnosed!
Since I am there volunteering on Mondays anyway, now I just stay through his lunch and oversee his shot. The nurse handles it all the other days. (Took me a bit to grasp that his 'special need' comes with some extra rights, such as her changing her schedule to accomodate for that.)
His teacher has also commented, not that she would wish diabetes on anyone, but that out of her whole class, she would've chose him to be the one who could handle it best. He's responsible, intelligent, and emotionally consistent. She said it will be easy to recognize when he is 'off' because he is always so 'on', and that that is not true of most 5 year olds. :) That was a sweet way for her to share encouragement.

Exuberance

2012-01-08T19:43:00.000-08:00

Quinn sure keeps us smiling all the time. God sure packed so much joy into that little boy. We are so thankful he is ours.

Happy 2nd Birthday Quinn!

2011-12-17T15:40:00.000-08:00

We love your zany personality! You are such a cute, clever, funny, and loving little man.

Complicated

2011-12-17T14:59:00.000-08:00

Just a glimpse into how complicated it is to have a meal at our house now...

Snapshot from lunch today...

Aidan was served:

1 Bologna and Ham Sandwich (his choice), which has 26 grams of carbs. (mainly the bread, since Ham is 'free')

1/2 cup of milk, which has 5.5 grams of carbs

Pretzels: 23 pieces = 32 grams

And a graham cracker with peanut butter and cheerios. (8.4 grams) The boys and I had made these to set out for squirrels/birds earlier in the morning, but when the others got to eat part of one for fun, we had to set Aidan's aside to factor in at lunch time. And it was not easy to look up... half a graham cracker, 12 cheerios and a smidge of peanut butter.

So, we pray and start eating... then he downs his milk and asks for more. Add 5.5 more carb grams. A little later he wants some grape juice, add 4 more grams. (mind you, we had not usually been in the habit of giving refills except for water, but with Aidan we are still pretty much letting him consume all he wants at meals)

He takes one small bite of the graham cracker concoction, and decides he doesn't want any more. (Erase previously listed grams and instead round off to 1 gram for that bite.) He then announces he is done with his pretzels, so we have to count to see how many are left (10), to figure out how many he ate. (Recalculate that, if 23 pretzels have 32 grams, how many do 13 have?)

Also, today is Quinn's birthday, but we are going to celebrate at dinner on Monday since this afternoon/evening were already overscheduled. I decide he at least needs an Oreo with candles in it, so we can sing to him on his actual birthday. So we pass out one Oreo to everyone... and look that up, which is 2.5 grams. But then, Aidan doesn't want the cookie, so take those grams right back.

He is supposed to have his insulin shot 15-20 minutes after he begins eating, at the latest. So at about this point we start stressing about figuring the final math and preparing the dose.

Final tally: 51.7 carbohydrate grams, divided by 45 (his lunchtime ratio) =1.1
His pre-lunch blood sugar was 153. We have to subtract 150 from that, and divide that by 180, to find out how much additional 'correction' insulin he needs, and add that to the insulin for the carbs consumed. Fortunately, this time the correction factor was zero, so his final dose was just 1 unit.

Phew. Head hurt yet? Also imagine that there are 4 other little boys at the table, one of which just turned 2 today, and still needs a lot of attention during meals, and one of whom did not eat his 3 required bites of his hot dog last night, so whom cannot have another meal until he does (or until 24 hours later). So he is whiny, and picking at those hot dog bites, which he eventually ate, praise the Lord.

And, this is a Saturday, and Weston was home to help, and it was still crazy. We decided to eat our lunch after they were done, just to take away one more component of the equation.

Our Newest Superhero- Part Five

2011-12-15T11:08:00.000-08:00

I woke around 7 the next morning. I was a bit irritated at a nurse who condescendingly told me I should wake Aidan up (poor little man, who was so exhausted) because "he is a diabetic, and diabetics shouldn't sleep in". I think I will trust the nurse who specializes in kids with diabetes, whom I'd specifically asked the day prior. She said that it was fine for him to sleep in.

His levels looked a little better throughout the night. We got another visit from a team of residents, and met a new shift of nurses. I later figured out that the total number of different medical personnel (between nurses, doctors, child life specialists, etc) that he was expected to interact with was around 40, not counting all the medical students on their rounds. And we were only there for a day and a half!

The endriconologist came by around 10AM and said she felt confident releasing us, so the discharge process began. I played with Aidan a bit in a cool play room they had on the floor, and we chose some games to play in our room. They had to take his last IV out, which was NOT fun, again. It was especially not fun when about a minute later the site started bleeding pretty rapidly, and there was blood all over the floor and his hand. Freaked the poor kid out even more. Weston arrived right about then to pick us up, with Quinn, who'd been missing Aidan terribly. (when he awoke he always asked for mommy first, and then Aidan)

So we were off. 36 hours after being admitted, and with a whole new level of burden for our son's life in our hands. For now, he would require 4 insulin shots a day, and at least as many finger pokes. We had to learn how to read food labels diligently, and to perform calculations to determine the amount of insulin needed in each shot based on his food intake and based on how high over his target range his blood sugar was. I kept thinking that this would be a whole lot more manageable if he were our only child. Adding all this into the normal chaos of our lives has been the tricky part.

But it still felt so good to walk out of there and load in the van. We quickly had the realization that we needed stop and get lunch, since waiting until we made it home would be putting lunch pretty late for him. We pulled out the guide they gave us, and remembered a Culvers nearby, and that restaraunt was on the guide. So we nervously added up the carbs in his corn dog and drink, and did our first shot right there in the van, completely on our own. Easy peasey. Ha!

The hardest moment of this day came when Aidan was struggling with why he had to still have this shot, because, "I'm all done with the hospital, so I am all better right?". We'd attempted to be very diligent in explaining everything about the disease to him in the hospital, but it is a lot for a 5 year old to comprehend. And to see him just wrestling with the fact that this was a 'rest of his life' type thing, was incredibly heart-wrenching.

Another moment that illustrated his comprehension of things came over the next weekend, when he started to grill me about what would happen if we ran out of medicine? What if all the stores and hospitals in the world ran out? Gulp, imagine being only 5 years old and trying to grapple with the fact that you need this medicine (insulin) or you would die. I reassured him as best I could, but yikes, that was tough.

And last night, when we got home from church, he made a quick little comment to me. "Mom, I sure hope they find the medicine to make diabetes go away real soon." Gulp. Me too, buddy, me too.

Our Newest Superhero- Part Four

2011-12-14T11:03:00.000-08:00

Aidan was feeling so good he chose to walk to his new room, being quite charming the whole way. The new private room was very nice, but of course it meant getting used to a whole new team of medical professionals again. They had to draw some more blood, which was a nightmare for him again, but a nice nurse brought him some very cool toys as a reward. And then there was some confusion about lunch, since we started waiting on the room transfer at about 10:45, but didn't actually get in the new room until about 12:30. (Each floor assumed we'd eaten on the other.) I kept asking, but it was finally about 1:30 by time his lunch arrived. Not the best for a newly diagnosed diabetic kid who needs to eat meals at regular times. Hmmpfh.

It was about now that Weston arrived. We are truly grateful that Weston's sister was willing and able to take a day off, and drive up from Champaign to watch the kids so Weston could come out for a few hours. We also had friends helping earlier in the AM with childcare and with transporting Caleb to school. Such great support.

We barely got to converse though, before we had our next hour long training session. This time with the nurse from the Pediatric Diabetes Resource Center (the great center at the Children's Hospital that we are going to quickly get to know really well). She brought the supplies (medicine, syringes, shot pen, glucometer, etc) and trained us how to use them. She was great, and we even had to practice on her with saline. I'm so glad Weston was there for that, it was a lot of information, crucial information, to take in.

After she left, we had a few minutes to gather our thoughts before our next training session, this time with a social worker. She talked more about the emotional aspect of this diagnosis, for him and us, and a lot about how to develop a plan for handling all this at school.

Phew. So much information to take it. After awhile you can only thoroughly process so much, but we were coming a long way fast.

Weston had to leave around 4 in order to make it back for Junior High Youth Group. We had been visited several times by our endocrinologist throughout our stay, and she was really leaning towards letting us go home that night. Aidan was super excited about that, and although it felt a little scary, we knew we could do it, and kind of just needed to dive into doing things on our own. So we were hoping that Weston would just be able to drive back out after youth group (with more huge support from a friend watching the boys) to pick us up.

Aidan and I had dinner, and tried to relax a bit. They had video games on the TV, and I had my Ipod so he was good. We also worked on a Star Wars puzzle that they gave us.

I was brave enough to try his finger poke for the first time at dinner, and he loved that the lancet (poker thing) they gave us seemed to hurt a lot less than the hospital grade one the nurses had to use. It required way less blood, also. The PDRC nurse said we could use ours to poke, but that even though she wanted us to use our glucometer to practice, the hospital had to use theirs as well, which was fine. Little did I know what issues that was going to cause later.

I even did my first shot on him with our new 'pen' (much easier than a syringe). He didn't like it tons, but didn't do too badly.

Weston's sister Robin stopped by on her way home for a visit. It was very nice to see her, and it lifted Aidan's spirits also. (I forgot to mention he also had 2 visitors earlier than morning also; our interim children's pastor and an elder. So very nice of them!)

We got a visit from the endocrinologist around 6:30. She was ready to check his BS and then discharge us if it was acceptable. However, when we did it, our glucometer read in the 440's, and the hospital glucometer read above 500. Since she was there, she mercifully cancelled the extra blood draw (which I guess is protocal for the nurses if levels are above 500). This is when I saw a nurse get super snooty and disrespectful toward the doctor because our doctor cancelled the blood draw because she felt it unnecessary, and didn't want to put Aidan through more junk. The doctor was satisfied with the number on our personal meter(as opposed to the hospital's), but wanted to test him again at 9PM, before she felt okay discharging us. I was comfortable with this.

Unfortunately, this left Weston in limbo, as he decided to go ahead and make sitter arrangements, and to start driving out around 8:45 just in case we got the green light after the 9PM BS check.

Finally 9 o'clock rolled around. They came in to test, and we had a repeat scenario of earlier. Our personal meter read in the 450's, and the hospital one read above 500. (By this point I was pretty irritated that two glucometers could test the same blood and have such a discrepancy. Isn't that dangerous?)

The hard part now was that there had been a shift change, and the team of nurses now on duty hadn't had the whole experience with the doctor earlier. They treated me as if my glucometer didn't count. They asked if I had 'callibrated' it. During the whole training on it earlier, the nurse had never mentioned that at all, and she'd used it and relied on it just fine. But now, they treated me as if I was ignorant because I didn't know about it, and that must be why my meter was so 'off'. I went on a personal quest through the instructional book trying to figure all that out. There was one nicer nurse who was helping me. We finally found some instructions for callibrating it, and some control solution. But now, the instructions had different target results for different kind of control solutions (low, regular, or high), but our control solution DID NOT specify what kind it was. I was about ready to lose it by this point. The nurse was checking with other nurses trying to figure it out. I finally did find a number to call on the manual, so I called it. 25 minutes after a painful conversation with a guy who couldn't speak English very clearly and who treated me as if I was bothering him, I was finally given the info that our control solution was 'regular'. So we were able to perform the callibration test... to find out the glucometer was reading accurately all along. Ugh. But, they had already followed hospital protocal for their machine and ordered more blood tests, and one more in the middle of the night. Poor guy.

Meanwhile, the endrincologist had been called, and she made the call that we needed to stay through the night to continue monitoring. About this time Weston arrived. :/ At least he got to visit with us a bit before he had to turn around and head back home, and he listened to me vent a bit (all the while I am trying to stay so calm and collected in front of Aidan, since the last thing he needed was to see his mom as an emotional wreck).

Fortunately, Aidan and I were so exhausted, that we were able to sleep a little better that night. There was actually a pull-out bed in this room, which was wonderful. I woke up to help him to the bathroom a few times, and to listen to his cries a few times as they were checking him, but he calmed down pretty quickly each time.

Our Newest Superhero- Part Three

2011-12-13T19:44:00.000-08:00

The trip to our new room was sobering, as we passed by many rooms containing infants and children who were much worse off than our Aidan. But Aidan did think it was rather cool that he got to ride in an elevator while in bed. His new spot was in a large room that had several other young patients who were hooked up to tubes and machines. This definitely gave us some needed perspective.

It took awhile to get him all settled, and to get used to a whole new team of people. And then he lost it when they decided they had to put another IV in his other arm for drawing blood throughout the night. It took many of us to restrain him, but he did get another teddy bear and a cool soccer blanket out of the ordeal. After that, Weston had to head back home. Aidan wanted to watch another movie, and even though it was after 11PM, and even though the movie was Karate Kid, I let him. I probably would've promised the kid the moon at this point, if he'd asked. He was starting to regain some color, and perk up a bit, which was a relief.

About then, we were given the good news that he could eat something if he wanted to, and he did want to. So I was led to a "hospitality" room to pick out a snack. I was told that I just needed to count the grams it contained. I found it interesting though, especially now 2 weeks into this, that when I asked her to clarify grams of what, the nurse had to go back and make a call to find out that it was the carbohydrates we had to count. I had no clue how quickly that would be a huge part of my everyday life.

So I picked out some cereal and milk, and brought back to his bedside where he began salivating over it. But now, we had to wait for a certain medicine before he could eat (medicine I now know intimately as Lantus). We literally waited for close to an hour... I heard the nurse call down to the pharmacy for it to be sent up. When it didn't arrive in about 15 minutes she called back, and was eventually told that they didn't bring it up because there was some kept on our floor alreday. So she called her head nurse to ask, and no, there was none on our floor. So they had to call back to the pharmacy, etc. It was a huge runaround, with tempers flaring. They tried to save face in front of me a bit, trying to act like things were proceeding normally, I guess without fully realizing that their phone was just on the other side of the curtain and that I could hear every exchange. It was about then that the main doctor (not the endocrinologist, but maybe the pediatrican on duty?) came to check in on Aidan and she was pretty livid that the boy hadn't eaten yet!

Poor hungry Aidan finally got to eat... (and get his first insulin shot not from his IV) but I think waiting so long set him off even more emotionally, because from 12-1AM he was entirely irritated and done with his IVs. He started out whimpering, but it quickly elevated to crying/screaming. He just said they hurt. Nurses checked them out, they seemed fine, but we couldn't calm him down. Quite a team of people gathered trying to calm him because he was waking up the whole room. It was one of my hardest hours as a mother... just trying to comfort him and calm him down. I don't even remember what finally did it, maybe just exhaustion? But he finally calmed down and eventually drifted off to sleep around 2:30AM, and I tried to relax in a pretty uncomfortable chair that didn't even recline.

I awoke with him about every hour, to assist him as he had to pee. I also awoke when they came and pricked his finger every 2 hours, but he amazingly slept through that, and through the blood draw. I also woke up to several other 'crises' of the other children in the room throughout the night. Certainly not the best night's sleep. :)

We woke up pretty early, getting introduced to the new medical personnel for this shift. One amazing thing was that our main new nurse was actually someone who goes to our church. I didn't actually know her well, just her husband a bit, but it was still super comforting, and definitely a God thing considering we were at a huge hospital 45 miles away from home.

We got to order breakfast, and then meet more and more people, including a group of residents doing their rounds with their doctor (felt like Scrubs,and was kind of fun to observe). They also took one IV out, which was nice to have it gone, but the experience of taking it out seemed just as unpleasant to him as putting it in. Next, I had my first one hour session with a dietician, who handed me a huge binder of information and then talked me through Aidan's meals plans and tutored me on the math equations I needed to understand to calculate his necessary insulin dose. It's a very good thing Weston and I both enjoy math.

We were told at about this time that he was doing well, and they were transferring us to a private room (hooray)on the regular Peds floor. :)

Get Better Soon

2011-12-09T18:37:00.000-08:00

(Caleb did a sweet drawing and note for Aidan while he was in the hospital. Here's what it said.)

11-30-11

Dear Aidan, get well soon. How are you doing Aidan? It's not right without you. :( How was it geting shots and nedles in your fingers? I had trouble sleeping without you.

Love, 1, 3, 5, 8, 7

1=C
5=L
7=B
8=E
3=A

Our Newest Superhero - Part Two

2011-12-09T11:34:00.000-08:00

We arrived at the ER and I took Aidan inside while Weston parked. The nurse doing check-in was very nice, but we had to wait a bit until she was done helping someone else. It wasn't too long though, before they got us processed and took Aidan back to test his blood sugar. I couldn't help but think as he was screaming about that first finger prick, that I was glad he couldn't comprehend that this was only the beginning of a lifetime of numerous finger pricks daily. She told us her meter read over 500, and later we found out it was up in the 700s. Yikes. (His target range right now is 80-150) He also weighed in at 36 pounds, while he was normally about 42. (We felt bad we hadn't even noticed the weight loss, but he had also shot up quite a bit recently.) After a few more pokes and prods and stickers, they sent us back to the waiting room until they could get us into an available bed/room in the Peds ER.

It was kind of surreal waiting there for those 20 or so minutes. Knowing our boy was very sick, and anticipating what the next 48 hour would bring. They had a neat kids' play table though, and Aidan was pretty content playing on that with us. (I think he was still a little in awe of having mom and dad's undivided attention, despite the circumstances.)

Eventually they called us back to a room, and got an IV started. That was an intense experience for a little boy who was feeling extra yucky, extra sensitive, and extra scared, despite how excellent the male nurse who was handling him was. They also had a Child Life Specialist who worked the Peds ER department who was beyond amazing. Her job was to try to make Aidan as comfortable and distracted as possible, as well as to try to explain to him on kid terms what was going on. She had an IPad and a DVD player, and also brought him a big teddy bear to keep. She even went out of her way to come visit his room (way on the other side of the hospital) the next day just to say hi. Top notch.

It was a relief knowing insulin was now getting into his little body, and their goal was to bring his blood sugar (BS) levels down slowly (bringing it down too quickly could pose other complications). He was able to watch a couple movies (although he hated the feeling of the IV so much I don't think he moved his entire arm for hours), and we were able to make some phone calls and tag team to run grab something to eat. (Felt so bad for him, he kept complaining he was SO hungry, but we couldn't feed him anything yet...)

I had my first mini-emotional breakdown at this point. We'd been informed there was a small cafe fairly close to the ER where we could grab some food, but it closed at 8. Weston went first, and was back by 7:45. So I dashed out, but as I got there around 7:50, the guy was closing up and had already cleared the cash register. This, plus all the stress of the last few hours had me almost in tears. But knowing Weston would have to leave soon, I was worried I might not have another chance to eat until late the next day, and so I decided to navigate the huge maze of a hospital to find the big cafeteria. I finally found it, but most of the food options had shut down, and it was hard to find anything appetizing. Adding to my already unbalanced emotional state the fact that I am extremely uncomfortable in unfamiliar places where I don't know routines, and I was pretty much a sobbing mess by this point. I finally paid way too much for a simple sandwich and then sat at a booth eating and crying. Pathetic, I know. I couldn't tell you how it tasted, but at least I got some food in me, and then I made it back to Aidan's ER room after only getting lost a few times... (I'd also left my phone in his room, so I couldn't even call Weston for support).

Once I got back, they were beginning to get ready to transfer Aidan to the Pediatric Intermediate Care Floor. (Not ICU, but not regular care).

Side note: We also experienced a shift change at this point, which is extremely tough on a little guy. I cannot even begin to count the number of nurses, doctors, medical students, and other hospital 'people' this poor little man had to interact with. Even for a boy who is normally quite social, it was entirely overwhelming. Especially when they'd all expect him to warm up quickly to their slightest well-intentioned kid friendly attempts at developing a rapport with him. They also all asked different versions of the same questions though, and it was even frustrating for us that, while the care and the hospital was overall superb, they all seemed to have slightly different takes on things and ways of doing things. I even saw a nurse really disrespect a doctor! It got a little tense some times, but it was probably good for me as it propelled me to speak up stronger as Aidan's advocate.

Our Newest Superhero -Part One

2011-12-08T07:54:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday, 11-29-11, was a day that changed what 'normal' means for our family.

Most families call it D-Day.

Our Aidan was diagnosed with diabetes.

About a week prior, I had started noticing our spunky 5 1/2 year old having to pee more often, and being more thirsty than usual. I cringe now when I think of how I got frustrated I was with him when he had to pee 3 times during the town's Christmas parade. (Picture me on my own with all 5 kids, everyone bundled up because it was very cold, and no convenient restrooms...Plus,I had remembered to make them go beforehand!) It didn't really register until a few days later that something must really be going on with him. I mentioned it to Weston, and he assured me at first that I was being paranoid. Then Aidan starting wetting his bed at night, or waking up super disorientated because he had to pee and then couldn't quite make it to the bathroom. By Thursday, Thanksgiving, we both started to really worry that there must be a problem. We'd always heard about these as significant symptoms of diabetes... But now it was a long holiday weekend, and the doctor's office was closed until Monday. He was acting mostly normal and healthy otherwise, so we didn't think it warranted a visit to the ER.

We called first thing Monday morning and left a message with a nurse. The office called back in the afternoon and said to bring him to the lab for a urine test,which we then did. They called around 11:00 on Tuesday morning and said that there was definitely glucose in his urine, and that they wanted to us to bring him in for a blood test. Weston went and picked him up from school and thankfully handled that one. Aidan did not like getting blood drawn. He came home aftewards and had lunch, and then we decided to send him back to school. It was about 1:15. Weston headed back to work, and shortly after, about 1:30PM, I receieved another call, this time from Dr. Larson herself. She informed that his blood sugar levels were very high which meant he did have diabetes. She was going to call an Endrocynologist at the Pediatric Diabetes Resource Center (PDRC) at the Children's Hospital in Peoria to report the levels and see how they wanted to proceed. She told me it would be very likely they want to admit him to get things regulated. After I hung up with her, my emotions starting spinning a bit, especially as I called Weston, but then the adreninlin kicked in and I flew around the house trying to get ready. Packing a bag with clothes and activities was easy... figuring out childcare for our other 4 boys was not.

It was the hardest time of the day... my mom friends had to worry about picking their own kids up from school soon (and heading into the HW/dinner prep frenzy), and their vehicles couldn't accomodate 3 extra children... our reliable student sitters were still in class... and our young adult friends were either at work or at school.

Through amazingly supportive friends, and with God's help I'm sure, we eventually got it all worked out by phone as we were already on the road with Aidan to the hospital, which is 45 minutes away. We left K, E, and Q with some mom friends at church, who transported them home a little later when one of our students was able to come over after school got out. Caleb was able to get a ride home (and some playtime) with a neighbor. In the late afternoon, a young adult friend came to take a shift. She helped with HW, gave them baths, and put them to bed. Then one more helper relieved her for the latest shift, until Weston got home from the hospital around midnight. Talk out coordination!

When the doctor's office called back, they said that the PDRC wanted us to get Aidan to the Emergency Room at the Children's Hospital ASAP, and that they would most likely admit him from there.

So once we dropped the younger boys off, we rushed to Silas to pick up Aidan. We also called Caleb out of class and explained to him what was going on. Aidan's teacher came to the office with Aidan, and we were able to explain things to her. She responded right away by telling us that he's in good company because she has diabetes too!!! How immediately comforting that was!

The van ride to the hospital with Aidan was tough... trying to explain to him on 5 year old terms what was going on without scaring him too much... He was a trooper though, and feeling pretty yucky by now, and kind of just took everything in.

Quinn- 20 months

2011-09-01T09:49:00.000-07:00

Just a few cute things about Quinn at this snapshot in time:

* He still loves to eat. If he even hears one of us clanking plates around or making noise in the kitchen, and his tummy tells him it must be close to meal time, he will rush to his high chair, climb up, and even often buckle himself in.

* He recently has developed a love for 'movies'. It was really just in the last month that they seemed to all of a sudden capture his attention. Now he often requests them, by climbing on the couch and saying "movie". He also tries to con us into playing them in the van by pointing to the screen and saying "movie". Pray for me not to indulge him too often.

*His favorite show? He will tell you, "Go Diego Go", with an excited voice and a cute little enthusiatic scrunched up face.

* He has gotten really good at communicating his wants. With his baby signs or with his voice. And it is very hard to say 'no' to a cute little face saying super politely "more juice please" or "snack please".

* He loves music, and loves to dance. I absolutely adore when he moves his little arms in front of him with fingers clenched, in his very unique little dance move.

* He loves to make others laugh. When we were in a hotel room last month, it was nearly impossible to get him to sleep. He craved the laughter and attention he would get from the rest of us (as much as we tried to ignore him), and decided it outweighed the discipline. He would pop his head above the pack-n-play with silly timing, and he would also make hilarious noises, from a darth vader type breathing, to fake snoring, and tons of varying buzzing/humming/silly sounds. Whenever we thought he might of actually finally fallen asleep, he'd belt out a new sound. Very comedic. The best was when he actually clapped for himself when he got us all roaring one time.

* When he really locks onto something, he has a will of iron. For example, at our local little waterpark this summer, he got it in his mind that he wanted to try the big waterslide with the big boys. But he is too little. So, for literally 45 minutes, I had to restrain him in my arms from going to that area. Ever so often he'd stop crying, and seem to calm down. I mistakenly put him down to go play elsewhere, but he would beeline for the big slide. It's not that often, maybe once every week or two, but when he decides to be stubborn, he can do it well.

*He is wildly, passionately, a fan of dogs. Sometimes he just watches from our front windows in hopes of seeing one walk by. Then he shakes and almost salivates with excitement.

*His latest word is 'church'. Figures, we practically live there. :)

* For the last few months, his most used word was "yes", said with an adorable little pronunciation. Someone even commented to me that it was a bit strange, since most toddlers' favorite word is 'no'.

Heritage Days

2011-09-01T09:42:00.000-07:00

Our city puts on the coolest living history celebration late each summer at Lake Storey. The first few years we lived here the dates never worked out for us, but last year we got to experience it a bit. It was pretty awesome, and we were able to spend even more time there this year. It is right up my American History loving alley, but I always feel guilty that I don't prep the boys enough beforehand so they could appreciate it even more.

Giant Slip-n-Slide

2011-08-31T11:10:00.000-07:00

There is not much that can compare to a giant slip-n-slide, especially with 30 junior highers egging you on.

Sure had some soapy, dirty, exhausted, and happy kids afterwards.

New Hairstyles

2011-08-31T10:45:00.000-07:00

Ethan had been asking for awhile to get his hair cut short, with spikes. Apparently a friend at school who had earned his admiration was sporting this look. I wasn't quite ready to concede spikes all over, or a mo-hawk, but I thought we could try the faux-hawk look.

Kellan was adament that he wanted his short also, but no spikes! Our hairstylist was able to give them the same haircut, but they can just wear it differently. This mom appreciated not having to fully give up their identical twinness just yet. But I love how these new looks totally reflect their personalities. Ethan is kind of zany, and Kellan is pretty strait-laced. In fact, after he got his cut, the stylist put some gel in and tossled it up a bit, and he was quick to express that he did not like it. He wanted it combed straight. That's my Kellan.

Aren't they so handsome though?

Ethan the Pilot

2011-08-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

Last year during Stearman Days, Ethan won a free aerial tour of Galesburg. We'd had the certificate on our board all year, and last week we finally got around to using it. He was allowed to take 2 other passengers. We chose Daddy and Caleb to accompany him. Caleb has always been enamored with flying, and he won 3rd place in the same contest (with a prize of a poster), so we thought it was the most fair choice.

What lucky boys! They had such an incredible time! Especially Ethan, who sat up front and helped 'co-pilot' the plane. What an experience!

Mommy and the other boys watched from the ground and waved as they did a fly-by. Very very cool.

Rockin' Quinn

2011-08-28T10:49:00.000-07:00

During a youth cookout on a hot and muggy August evening, some of our high schoolers had a little fun with Quinn's hair. We discovered this picture on the youth camera. Such a sweet face.

Aidan's First Day of Kindergarten

2011-08-18T18:07:00.000-07:00

This was a much anticipated day. He'd been counting down forever, eagerly awaiting this rite of passage into the big kid world. Not a tad of anxiety. He actually even shrugged my hand away as if I was ruining his coolness factor as we walked up to the line.

Summer's End

2011-08-16T11:03:00.000-07:00

Had to post this before I started in with the back to school pics. Caleb handed this to me about a week ago. Too cute.

Getting digits already

2011-06-01T18:19:00.000-07:00

I found this in Aidan's room, after the last week of preschool. It had apparently been in his pocket, and then he placed it on his bookshelf.

It's so Aidan.

Earlier that week he also got invited to another little girl's party. She was in his class the previous year, and they hadn't seen each other in a whole year but still talked about each other quite often. Her mom called me because she wanted to surprise Faith by having Aidan come to her party.

He's a ladies man, alright.

For the sake of all cuteness...

2011-05-27T19:17:00.000-07:00

3 boys on the same team...

Aidan's Art Show

2011-05-10T19:30:00.001-07:00

We got to visit Aidan's school last week. Instead of Open House, they call it an "Art Show", which is kind of clever. We all oohed and aahed over his work, and visited with his teacher, watched him shine amongst his friends like the socialite he is, and enjoyed cookies and Sprite... which of course one boy spilled.

I love experiences like these... and of course we went out for ice cream afterwards...

Kellan and Ethan's 4th Birthday Party

2011-05-05T13:48:00.000-07:00

There were once two little identical twin boys who loved Superheroes. One loved Spiderman. The other thought Iron Man was the coolest. For their Fourth Birthday, they requested a SuperHero party. Luckily for mom and dad, they didn't even mind that it didn't finally happen until over a month after their actual birthday.

Cakes were decorated.

Games were prepared. Costumes were donned.

And finally the eager guests arrived bearing gifts.

Friends were greeted.

Games were played.

Candles were blown out.

Cake was eaten.

Gifts were opened.

So much fun was had!

Illinois Young Authors

2011-05-01T08:31:00.000-07:00

So proud of our little man! His imagination never ceases to amaze us, and luckily, he enjoys putting it to good use to create stories. His story, "The Lost Dolphin" was one of 12 winners selected from his school.

He got to go to a special breakfast (donuts and choc. milk, his fave) at Lake Storey Pavillion. They presented all the winners with medals and a certificate. Back at his school in the afternoon, they had an assembly to celebrate all participants, and he was awarded a $10 gift card, which he thought was way cool.

My Littlest Boy in Motion

2011-04-29T07:26:00.000-07:00

My Peeps

2011-04-26T19:13:00.000-07:00

Easter 2011

Yeah, getting a good picture of all 5 of them all dressed up was not going to happen this day... much to my disappointment.

These are probably my two faves from the day... ironically they are both of Ethan, but I'm really not showing any favoritism here... :)

Gratitude: Some quick things I'm thankful for today.

2011-04-11T12:16:00.000-07:00

1. 4 successful little boy dentist visits in one day, with no major tears.
2. A toddler who is such a people person.
3. A wonderful social worker who is investing in us and we invest in adoption.
4. A day off for the hubby who put in an extremely grueling day of work/ministry yesterday (and he did a fantastic job!)
5. Taxes signed and submitted.
6. A tax refund that will help with adoption costs.
7. Sunshine.
8. Getting to work with 2 reading groups in Caleb's classroom this afternoon.
9. Soccer cleats found at the thrift store.
10. Weston making dinner so I could work with Caleb on homework and we could still make it out the door in time for practice.
11. Ethan's preschool teacher stopping by his soccer practice to see him.
12. Playing around on the soccer field as a family for a half hour after practice.
13. Snuggling with my sweet Ethan during the second half of "Tangled."
14. The way Quinn says, "Shoesth"
15. A grocery store trip with no extra little people along.

stirrings in our souls

2011-04-08T21:14:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to do this post for awhile. For those of you who haven't heard, we have just started the process of adopting a little girl from Ethiopia. Adoption has been on our hearts for quite awhile, and the time is finally here. We are thrilled to see what God has in store for us in this journey.

I will be trying to "apotionize" our blog, so that this new part of our incredible journey can be followed, but I will be still trying to keep it as primarily a family blog.

If you want to read more about why we are doing this, click on the adoption tab at the top of the page.

I will also be adding a timeline, some fundraising/support information, and some other flair. :)

Also, if you just want to just read adoption 'stuff', I will be labeling posts related to it so you can just click on that label on the right hand side of the blog.

And here, for your viewing pleasure is a quick link.

This video, actually a promotional tool for a church's adoption conference, gives a little glimpse into our heart for adoption

Just a swingin'

2011-04-02T21:37:00.001-07:00

Fun day at the park today. Hello spring!

We've got a walker!

2011-03-25T19:47:00.000-07:00

Quinn finally realized, "hey I can do this!". And off he went. With his cute little arms held up and flapping, kinda like a t-rex.

So so proud of himself.

Oxley Walking Stats:
DS1: 12 months
DS2: 9 months
DS3: 16 months
DS4: 16.5 months
DS5: 15 months

Skate Night, anyone?

2011-03-24T19:52:00.000-07:00

Don't you just remember the nights at a rink while you were in elementary school? Or maybe even those "couple skates" in junior high, when the rink was the coolest place you could actually 'go' to?

Our church has an Awana Skate Night a couple times a year, and our boys love it. I'll admit, I was really nervous before the first time. Two parents (and me very pregnant) and four little boys who can't skate. Sounds like a recipe for diaster.

What I didn't think about was that they can tighten the wheels for the little ones, and make it possible for them to skate, er... walk/skate, on their own. And it tires them out immensely.

So much fun. Especially being there surrounded with church family.

Raising a Reader

2011-03-24T10:27:00.000-07:00

I cannot even begin to describe just how tickled I am that I finally have a kid who is old enough to 'sit and read', and that he enjoys it!

So proud of your skills little man! You are a boy after your momma's heart.

Quinn's Chuckle

2011-03-23T08:55:00.000-07:00

This son of ours has the best giggle/chuckle I've ever heard. It comes from deep inside,and permeates his whole being. It is heard when he sees something that makes him extremely happy. Such as... an animal, a bathtub ready for a bath, food, the silly faces of his brothers... Or at certain moments... when you open his bedroom door in the AM, when you catch him doing something he shouldn't, and especially when his mommy picks him up from the nursery.

What a chuckle.

First Lost Tooth, Finally

2011-02-27T20:54:00.000-08:00

At 6 1/2, Caleb finally lost his first tooth! We seriously thought it might never happen! And the big one is already growing in! We hadn't even noticed!

Congrats big guy! Now, lets see how diligent the tooth fairy assigned to our house will prove to be.

If you need to keep a 14 month old occupied...

2011-02-25T08:28:00.000-08:00

may I suggest this toy?

He discovered it in the toy cabinet on Wednesday, and played with it for 20 minutes. Then I needed to run upstairs, so I placed it with him in the playpen for another 15 minutes. Then he cried when daddy took him out of the playpen because he had to leave the toy as we were off to run errands. Later in the afternoon, I placed him back in there with it, and he played in focused concentration for 45 minutes.

And he is playing with it now, still determinedly trying to work those locks as I type.

I'm Just Sayin...

2011-02-23T08:16:00.001-08:00

that our Quinn is quite the cutie.

Aidan turns 5 today!

2011-02-22T09:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Aidan!

We celebrated last Saturday with a Lego Indiana Jones themed party. A buddy got him hooked on this video game, and then he got it for Christmas, and now plays it whenever he is fortunate enough to get permission.

His interest in Indiana Jones provides a little insight into this little man. He does enjoy Star Wars, and will play imaginative games with his brothers, but this guy likes play that is much more grounded in real life than fantasy. Hmmm... Must have gotten that from his mommy.

Anyways, his much anticipated party was a blast, and he had so much fun with his best buds. Daddy even planned an incredible adventure quest that even included dodging a giant earth ball that came rolling at them down a narrow hallway.

Gotta love bowling...

2011-01-25T09:24:00.000-08:00

We took the kids to a small, but fun bowling alley last week to ward off the winter blues, and to celebrate the last day of a very long winter break. It was tons of fun, and we were in awe that they can basically do everything on their own now, and we can just enjoy ourselves and bowl also! (We did leave Quinn with someone.)

Ethan definitely had the most pizazz, style, and maybe even skill. Although he and Aidan ended up tying. :)

Get-Away

2011-01-16T18:03:00.000-08:00

We visited an indoor waterpark 2 summers ago in the Chicago area, and had such a blast we knew we had to do it again. When we couldn't quite squeeze it in last summer, we realized it would be much more appreciated in the winter anyways.
Especially after Daddy was gone for 4 days at SnowBlast. And extra-especially since the school district determined the students needed a 4 week Christmas Break this year. (I understand their reasoning, and applaud their thinking outside-the-box to save money (cutting major heating costs this way), but c'mon, 4 weeks is a long time to be holed up in the dead of winter with 5 little boys...)

So last weekend we headed up to the Starved Rock area and tried out Grizzly Jack's Grand Bear Resort. The one night hotel stay included our admission to their indoor waterpark (which we did on Friday afternoon), and their indoor amusement park, which we did on Saturday after driving around Starved Rock a bit looking at Bald Eagles (awesome). It was a very fun trip... aside from the all day vomiting from the twins on Saturday. But we pushed through it and still had a good time.
There is something so exciting about the anticipation of a trip like this for the boys, and the sense of adventure that bonds them and us together during it. I absolutely love it. Of course, we would have absolutely loved it more if 5 little boys were easy to get to sleep while sharing a hotel room.

And what is cuter than this, really?

Budding Photographer

2011-01-15T19:59:00.000-08:00

Caleb very much wanted a digital camera for his last birthday, and when he didn't get one, he promptly decided to use all his birthday money towards it. He's had a lot of fun with it, when he remembers.

Sadly though, I recently transferred his pics onto the computer... for the first time. Slacker mom, I know.

Here are a few that made me snicker. And don't worry, we deleted the one of his brother's bare hindquarters. (after a serious talk, mind you)

Boys. Seriously. They have just recently gotten into the whole "burps are funny, gas is hilarious, and any other potty humor is to be celebrated" stage. And I know it's only the beginning of a lifetime of their "boyness". Gulp. I should be thankful I was spared for this long.

This one I actually thought was pretty cool.

New Year's Eve

2011-01-02T20:19:00.000-08:00

Weston was away with the High Schoolers at Snowblast. So the boys and I decided to repeat the tradition we started last year of a "Mock New Year's Eve Party".

We played a new family game, decorated gingerbread houses (we never seemed to find time to fit that in December, so we've started buying a kit on clearance afterwards), and watched the ball drop on You Tube (so it was from last year, they don't know the difference).

We had hats, noisemakers, and a toast. Not a bad way to welcome in 2011.

And he thinks he is sneaky...

2010-12-30T12:43:00.000-08:00

Whenever Weston is out of town, I try to buy a few special snacks, easy dinners, etc., to make things easier on me and a little more fun for the boys who are missing their daddy.

So, we had these donuts one morning when Weston was away at Snowblast. There were 3 left, so they were just sitting on the counter, most likely waiting to be eaten by me later :). I walked through the kitchen that evening, and, look what I found?

I thought it was pretty funny, how just a little had been taken from each, and then they'd been placed carefully back. Like maybe I wouldn't notice.

The food snatcher had even thought to wipe his mouth off (and I was so sure the white powder around the mouth would be a dead give-away). Luckily, when I gathered the boys to confront them with the evidence, the culprit was quick to sheepishly confess. It was not who I would have guessed to be stealthily sneaking goodies. However,when I talked to Weston later, he guessed right away who it was because of how carefully this child put the donuts back.

Snow Very Fun

2010-12-28T13:04:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T13:05:00.000-08:00

Caleb's Baptism

2010-12-20T19:48:00.000-08:00

There is nothing quite like watching your child be baptized, especially when it's his daddy that has the privlege of baptizing him.

Not sure what y'all feel about when a child is sincerely old enough to make a real decision to accept what Jesus has done for him...
Weston and I have always prayed that God would lead each of our boys to a saving faith at an early age.

For more on that read this.

Caleb has always seemed to have an especially sensitive heart for the gospel. Though he's still very much a 6 year old, there are moments when the theological concepts he sometimes grapples with could put many adults to shame. He has always been full of great questions, and his childlike understanding of some deeper things always inspire us.

We cannot even offer up an exact date, or time, of his 'transformation'. Sure he raised his hand in Sunday School, and probably at VBS a few times, but with him it seemed more of a process. Around the age of 5, we became fully convinced that he 'got it' and truly had accepted what Jesus did on the cross for him as his only means to salvation. We rejoiced that God allowed us to be part of this process.

Since then Caleb had been begging to get baptized. At Bethel, kids are asked to go through a membership/baptism class first, to make sure they are ready. So we waited a bit, and had him attend when we thought he was old enough. Then we made sure to ask his teachers for feedback to make sure they thought he fully understood everything. That the heart problem, the spiritual problem, that he has, that we all have, is made right not by "trying harder" or "being better" but by fully embracing that Christ sacrificed Himself, doing for us what we couldn't do for ourselves. And that baptism in no way played a part in this, but was merely a public declaration of what had happened in his heart. And they were confident that he did. So we shared with him that we would be getting baptized in December.

Caleb was SO excited. It was on his mind almost constantly since we told him about it. He was beaming all weekend leading up to it, and boy did his sweet little face reflect the joy of the Lord when he entered the baptismal, as much as the coming up out of the water reflects Christ's resurrection for us.
What a moment.

The next day (Monday) I was walking down the hallway of his school, and a 2nd grade teacher with whom I am briefly acquainted stopped me and congratulated me on Caleb's baptism. I guess he had been joyfully sharing about it all morning at school. :

If you want to read a great post on child baptism, try this.

Favorite December Moments 2010

2010-12-19T13:55:00.000-08:00

My awesome Care Circle for Mom 2 Mom took our preschoolers to a local nursing home to sing some Christmas Carols. They had their little bells and shook them as they sang their heart out to Jingle Bells. Well, maybe it was the mommas who sang their hearts out trying to get these small children to perform on command. Anyway, it was pretty cute. But the absolute best part? A memory I will treasure forever? I told my boys that it would be very nice to go up the the 10 or so seniors in the audience (most in wheelchairs), and wish them a merry Christmas. K and E wanted nothing to do with it. But Aidan? Not only did he go to each and every senior with a sweet smile and a cheerful holiday wish, but he also hugged each and every one of them. On his own accord, just loving on some grammas and grampas. Oh, sweet child of mine.

One evening, while snuggling with me on the couch, Ethan lovingly looks up at me in the magical light of the Christmas Tree, and he whispers to me, "Mommy, you look like Mary."

Caleb brought home a book about Christmas that he made at school. And it did this momma's heart good to read all his responses to the prompts about Christmas. There was nothing in there about receiving presents, but all about giving, and most importantly all about celebrating the birth of our Savior. Not bad for a 6 year old.

And Kellan... sweet, stubborn, shy Kellan. I loved how exuberantly yet seriously he sang with all his heart each night during our Advent family time as we practiced "Away in the Manger" for their preschool performance. And he did so great that night! A few months prior, I would've never imagined he would even go up on stage with the ornery streak that had been plaguing him.

And Quinn. Just kissing his sweet chubby cheeks every day was delicious.

One of my favorite...

2010-12-19T08:44:00.000-08:00

Christmas pictures! :)

Quinn is One!

2010-12-17T07:42:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe our Quinn (also affectionately known around here as Quinny, or Quinn-Bear) has been in our arms for 12 whole months. Happy Birthday sweet boy! You bring us, and everyone around you, such joy!

We had our small group over for a little celebration.

And of course, Quinn loved his cupcake!!!

Ear Tubes for Quinn

2010-12-06T10:22:00.000-08:00

Numerous annoying ear infections in his first year led us to the decision to try tubes. It's a pretty common procedure, but still a little scary since he had to be put under.

He did great though. He loved playing around in the wagon while we were waiting. And then he was literally away from me for about 8 minutes. I think the procedure took about 5. He was awake and alert and hungry when I got him back. Then he was pretty happy the rest of the day.

Christmas Tree

2010-12-05T10:30:00.000-08:00

It was a pretty cold day, but it was really the only chance we had to go get our tree. So we bundled up, and off we went. I made it far enough to snap this picture:

And then Quinn and I headed back to wait in the warm van. I had to keep the little guy warm, right?

Daddy was a trooper with the others. They found a great tree, chopped it down, and then rode the tractor back.

We got it home and decorated it. It was Kellan's year to place the star on top. :)

Thanksgiving

2010-11-22T13:30:00.000-08:00

We had a very nice Thanksgiving, celebrating with some friends of ours; the Gasaways. The boys were very excited to have their friends here for this special meal. Maybe someday my family will actually enjoy the food that Thanksgiving is all about. This year even Aidan was picky. More for me, I guess.

This year was extra special because on Friday, we got to celebrate again with family. Dad, Bon, Will, Robin, and Megan were able to come spend time with us. We even celebrated Quinn's birthday a bit early with them.

Aboard the Mayflower

2010-11-17T13:21:00.000-08:00

Caleb's class did a little play about the First Thanksgiving. It was simple, yet very cute. Weston, Aidan, and I got to go watch, and Caleb was so excited. After the skit, his teacher had each student say one thing they were thankful for, and he said, "I'm thankful for this play."

4 Knights and a Dragon

2010-11-01T13:55:00.000-07:00

Aren't they the cutest?

And I was even a good sport, and dressed up too.

Fall is the perfect time for geocaching...

2010-11-01T08:22:00.000-07:00

We spent many fun times this fall out "treasure hunting" as the boys still call it. They are getting better and better with experience, and it is getting even more enjoyable now that they can handle a little more of a 'hike'.

We even got to take Caleb's best bud Blayne with us on one day's adventure. Aren't they adorable together?

Love this pic

2010-10-30T18:44:00.000-07:00

of the twins watching the Halloween parade at Caleb's school. They are just so... alike. :)

Pickin' Pumpkins

2010-10-20T18:33:00.000-07:00

Gotta love fall...

Kellan

Quinn Clips

2010-10-08T13:01:00.000-07:00

Mainly to brighten Grandma's Day... :)

Quinn 1

Quinn 2

Quinn and his buddy

2010-09-24T18:58:00.000-07:00

In our small group there are a lot of children. Seriously. At this point, Quinn and Isaac are two of the youngest, just a few months apart. We parked them in their strollers at our cookout get-together, and they just had to be social like the rest of us.

Pretty cute, eh?

Racing through milestones...

2010-09-22T14:16:00.000-07:00

Guess who is pulling up to standing?

He did it once for me on the bathtub last Thursday night. Then while I was away at the woman's retreat, daddy reported several more successes in that arena. Two nights ago he figured out he could do it in his crib. And yesterday morning I was outside with the older brothers waiting for the bus, when I turned around and saw this. He is getting proficient quickly, and has even starting cruising along furniture.

What a charming smile he has! He just turned 9 months old. Just ignore the horribly dirty glass door, because I do have 5 little boys, ya know. :)

So Thankful

2010-09-16T12:47:00.000-07:00

Last night as I was tucking the twins in bed, they were chattering on and on about how much fun they had at Cubbies, and they said, without prompting, and as sweet as can be, "Thank you Mommy for taking me to Cubbies", followed by, "Thank you Mommy for preschool".

I know times like this will probably be rare, but right now, at this particular moment, all of my boys are thriving and loving life. Caleb, Aidan, Kellan, and Ethan are thoroughly enjoying school. They look forward to it, and they are each doing so well in the classroom. The same goes for Awana. And Quinn is a charming, happy-go-lucky exploring crawler, despite teething and chronic ear infections.

So for a moment last night, I made sure to savor the sweetness. I said an extra thank you to God, and I just basked in the joy. Joy that comes from the privilege of watching them learn and grow...

Perfect Kite Flying Kind of Day

2010-09-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

We had some friends over for dinner, and then, the conditions were too perfect to be denied. We headed to Rotary Park, and had such a blissful kind of evening. Beautiful weather, warm perfect winds... we flew and flew our kites. The boys had so much fun, and I got some great pictures. Just a wonderful evening...

We love Stearman Days

2010-09-11T15:38:00.000-07:00

even when it's loud.

and especially when Ethan wins 1st place in a glider throwing contest of 100 kids. Earning him a yet to be cashed in prize of a free airplane ride. Coolness.

And I couldn't resist this picture of Quinn's contemplative look.

Cute Twin-ness

2010-09-03T19:33:00.000-07:00

A friend who works at the twins' preschool shared a cute story today. She is a speech therapist and visits different classrooms throughout the day. She relayed that while in the Yellow Room, Ethan's room, she heard Ethan share with the class that his brother's name started with a "K". (The teacher was talking to the class about the first letter of all the class's names.). And then later the same day, she was in the Red Room, Kellan's room, and she heard his teacher ask, "And who's name starts with an "E"? (meaning someone in that class), and Kellan enthusiastically replied, "Ethan!".

So cute!

"Must be broken"

2010-08-29T18:31:00.000-07:00

The other day Kellan hopped onto our digital scale, and said, "I am not "E", I am "K". Mommy, this is broken! Daddy needs to fix it!"

It needs a new battery, so the screen reads "E" for error. :)

Ummmm...

2010-08-25T14:08:00.000-07:00

i really should say a few words about this, um, experience... but I don't wanna.

And off they went...

2010-08-25T09:24:00.000-07:00

My 3 year olds marched right up to the bus this AM, hopped on, and waved goodbye. Off to their first year of preschool. Thankfully I think the excitement of riding the bus overshadowed the realization of leaving mommy.

They are in separate classrooms, but will be together for outside play time. God really matched them with just the right teachers for their personality. Can't wait to hear how the morning went.

Year 2 of Preschool for Aidan

2010-08-24T19:55:00.000-07:00

He started today, and was so ready to get back in the social swing of things. He had a great day, liked his new teacher, and is more than ready to go back tomorrow.

Goodnight Kellan, Goodnight Ethan

2010-08-17T20:08:00.000-07:00

Instead of asking to be tucked in, these boys asked us to "blanket them up". Too sweet, had to write that one down to always remember.

Rest assured, Kellan is ready for school now

2010-08-16T20:29:00.000-07:00

Shortly after we returned home from dropping Caleb off at school today, Kellan came running into the kitchen holding a magnadoodle, with extreme enthusiasm in his voice and on his face, yelling,
"Mom, I made a SOCK! I am ready for school now!!!!"

Not sure exactly what was running through his mind. I missed the "sock drawing" on the preschool readiness checklist. But I seriously wish you could have heard him. It was more than hilarious. I'm so glad Weston was home and we could crumple to the floor in laughter at the cuteness together.

First Day of First Grade

2010-08-16T20:02:00.000-07:00

I love the excitement of back-to-school time... The first morning is so special: well-groomed hair, new outfits, fresh school supplies. Fun! This year was much easier for this mom than last, especially since Caleb's best bud got transferred to his class after some last minute switching around, and once Caleb heard that, he was more than good to go. So fun to watch them line up, and to see all the familiar faces around. Loved it!

He had a great day, but was a little bummed that it was only a short day, because eating lunch in the cafeteria is his favorite part of the day, you know.

"But now I am Six,
I'm as clever as clever,
So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever." A.A. Milne

The MOB Society

2010-08-16T08:02:00.000-07:00

Recently found this new blog site that is pretty much a perfect fit for me. Love it. Had to link today's post to give you a taste of it. Especially if you are a mom of boys.

The MOB Society

Overheard around here lately.

2010-07-30T13:29:00.000-07:00

Aidan to his little brothers, holding a bible in the backseat of the van, his carseat squeezed in between Kellan's and Ethan's:
"This is God's Word. These are all the words of God. And this God's Word says to... always remember to get out of the house if there is a fire." "Slam. Slam bam." (I think the ending is 4 year old cool for amen.)

Caleb to Ethan who had a toy that he desperately wanted to play with: "Ethan, Mom will give you 100 m&m's if you let me have that sword." (I discovered this negotiating tactic when Ethan came into the kitchen after surrendering his weapon and asked for his candy, fully believing he was going to get them."

Caleb, correcting his brothers after they were discussing the balloons they had just let go and how high they must be rising: "No, balloons can't go to Heaven. The only way to get to Heaven is to trust in Jesus, and things can't trust in Jesus." Preach it son!

Aidan, after being asked by a babysitter how he knew for sure it was Kellan and not Ethan next to him. In other words, how does he tell them apart? "By his sound." Isn't that adorable?

And one more, just because it's my birthday. Kellan: "Mommy, you are my bestest Mommy ever." :) Melt my heart.

We LOVE visiting daddy at camp!

2010-07-29T19:57:00.000-07:00

Quinn at 7 months... almost crawling!

2010-07-25T14:10:00.000-07:00

For your viewing pleasure...

Caleb turned 6!

2010-07-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

His actual birthday was the 30th. We had a fun family lunch at Happy Joe's, and did cake and presents at dinner (right before Junior High Bible Study). Then, his very much looked forward to party, was last Wednesday. He chose a Fighter Jet theme, which was fun to get creative with. Weston brought in a big screen to do some flight simulation activities, and we had some paper airplane creations. Caleb had so much fun with his friends, and especially enjoyed having 2 school friends be able to attend.

click here for more birthday pictures

Indiana Jones

2010-06-25T10:14:00.000-07:00

The admission to the Safari Adventure Park included a pony and camel ride for the boys. One by one, off they trotted. When Aidan came around the loop, I could hear him humming, "da da dat da, da da da... da da dat da, da da da da da..." (The Indiana Jones theme song).

It was so sweet. His sure-footed slow little pony was galloping gallantly away from bad guys in his imaginative adventure-filled mind. What fun!

Encouragement for my soul today...

2010-06-22T17:57:00.000-07:00

In the middle of another day in which the lack of time I find to accomplish anything was starting to seem overwhelming... God sends this via the Gospel Coalition Blog.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones once spoke with a group of medical students who complained that in the midst of their training and the ferocious work hours they really didn’t even have time to read the Bible and have their devotions and so on. He bristled and said, “I am a doctor. I have been where you are. You have time for what you want to do.” After a long pause he said, “I make only one exception: the mother of preschool-aged children does not have time and emotional resources.”

It is important to recognize, too, that there are stages of life where you really don’t have time to do much, and you shouldn’t feel guilty about it. Children will sap you. If you have three children under the age of six, forget serious reading unless you have the money for a nanny. When our youngest finally went off to kindergarten, we celebrated that day—I took my wife out for lunch. Only then could she get back into reading again. It’s the way life is. You have to be realistic.

Click here to read the whole Gospel Coalition blog entry

It always helps so much to know that others 'get' it, and have been there. :)

Happy Father's Day!

2010-06-20T06:53:00.001-07:00

The Mighty Quinn

2010-06-08T12:35:00.000-07:00

That's a song. I was recently informed of this by a friend. A folk song about an eskimo by Bob Dylan. Also a 1989 Denzel Washington movie... Who knew?

Anyways, I just wanted to post some recent photos of our almost 6 month old. My how fast time goes by! More quickly with each one I think...

He is definitely a keeper. Mostly smiley and happy... Sleeps well... Not quite sure how we got so lucky, again.

He is starting to sit up on his own... Not crawling, but rolling/rocking around the floor, and he just started some solid foods. Drooling a lot, but no teeth yet. Babbles often, has a great giggle, loves his toes, and is our thumb-sucker #4. (even in between spoonfuls of food... it's like it helps him swallow and get all the goodness in his mouth.)

We love you Quinn! Please do well on our 13+ hour car trip on Thursday!

Winter Fun (trying to catch up...)

2010-06-04T12:30:00.000-07:00

During the winter months we planned a fun bowling and miniature golf outing. It was nice to have something fun to do out of the house. And they, of course, had a blast.

How blessed am I?

2010-06-03T09:05:00.001-07:00

How can I look at these 5 beautiful faces each and every day and not feel that my cup runneth over?

So much joy. So much love. So deeply deeply grateful.

Caleb

2010-05-19T12:03:00.000-07:00

He's always loved the ocean, and the things in it.

He's currently studying a unit on the ocean at school.

This morning when I came downstairs, he was looking at a beautiful ocean book we borrowed from the library.

"Hey mom," he says.

"Do you know what's in the deepest part of the ocean?"

After picturing the scene from Finding Nemo, where the goggles fall and fall, I just answer, "What buddy?"

In a dramatic voice, "Things yet to be discovered."

"And when I grow up and am a Fighter Jet Pilot, on my days off I am going to build a submarine so I can be the one to discover them."

Keep dreaming big, little man. The world is yours. :)

Seriously cute.

2010-05-19T12:01:00.000-07:00

Ethan, while peeking through the window at the cookies that were baking in the oven,

"We can't eat them yet. They still need to grow up."

My brudder...

2010-05-12T08:56:00.000-07:00

The big brothers just can't get enough of the little guy.

Doctors

2010-05-03T20:55:00.000-07:00

Kellan piped up from the back seat in the van last week that he wants to be a doctor when he grows up, "just like Dr. Larson" (our pediatrician.) Thinking about how methodical and meticulous he can be, we affirmed that we thought he would make a great doctor.

Jumping on the bandwagon, Ethan announces he wants to be a doctor also. "Oh, you want to be like Dr. Larson too?" we ask.

"No," he answers very matter-of-factly, "like Dr. Seuss.".

That's our Ethan. :)

Easter Pics

2010-04-20T20:28:00.000-07:00

Late, but still cute. :)

Fire Fighter Birthday

2010-04-09T20:18:00.000-07:00

Kellan

Ethan

We had a very fun party to celebrate the twins turning 3... a tour of the fire station, and then some fire fighter themed games plus cake and ice cream back at the church. Kellan and Ethan were SO excited, and were just enamored with the tour, and with the idea that the day was all about them.

Quinn

To see even more pictures, you can visit the web album here. (click on the picture)

Kellan and Ethan's 3rd Birthday

Great Post

2010-03-31T16:41:00.001-07:00

I've really enjoyed this blogger lately... partly because she has a big crazy family, loves God wholeheartedly, and is in the process of adoption, and partly because I envy her wit and way with words. Anyway, she really got me with this post. Thought y'all might wanna be moved by it also.

click here

March Madness.

2010-03-31T13:34:00.000-07:00

Bad colds and ear infections. Horrible stomach virus for all. Breathing treatments. RSV. 5 day hospital stay for Quinn. Awful sinus infection that is lasting forever for Amy. 3 weekends apart from my hubby. An incredibly messy and disorganized house. Feeling overwhelmed in almost every area of life. Potty training stagnation. Missing Pamper Me Day at Mom2Mom. Extreme exhaustion. Round 2 with a stomach bug. Most days I felt like it was all I could do to put one foot in front of the other.

Surprise day with SIL Megan and FIL Alan. Hearts at Home. Selfless help from Robin and Will. A FIL who drove from PA. A friend bringing dinner. A surprisingly promising tax return. Sunshine! Quinn's endless smiles and chuckles. A great parent teacher conference for Caleb. Getting our new trampoline set up. Celebrating the twins turning 3! A fun at home date with the love of my life. God's relentless love and pursuit despite the madness...

Happy 3rd Birthday Ethan!

2010-03-27T13:45:00.000-07:00

Silly. Fun-loving. Entertainer. Daring. Gregarious.

Loves: Peanut Butter and Jelly, dancing, being in the water, his baby brother, his doggie, books, singing "Old McDonald", Puggles, Kellan

Happy 3rd Birthday Kellan!

2010-03-27T13:29:00.000-07:00

Sweet. Sly. Serious. Determined. Particular. Protector.

Loves: wearing a hat, the color green, his baby brother, "juice and a snack", his mousey, singing "Old McDonald", books, Puggles, Ethan

RSV

2010-03-26T15:16:00.000-07:00

Respiratory syncytial virus.

Just sounds awful, doesn't it?

And it was...

Our poor sweet little baby Quinn turned 3 months old last week... in the hospital.

What started out as a yucky cough on Wednesday, turned into too much wheezing and labored breathing by that Sunday night, despite breathing treatments every 4 hours. We saw the Dr. on Monday morning, and Quinn was in enough respiratory distress to require admitting him.

Thankfully, God really helped us stay pretty calm throughout the process, and it wasn't until later that afternoon that it really started to sink in that we were in for quite a week.

One of us had to be with him at the hospital all the time, despite the 4 other little guys we needed to take care of. Weston really did great pulling so much extra weight on the homefront, and we are so thankful for everyone who helped us out in so many ways, especially Weston's dad who drove all the way from PA to be here from Wednesday PM thru Sunday to help manage the insanity. He did tons of laundry, cooking, cleaning, and was incredible with the boys.

Quinn was quite the trooper though. They had to put him on oxygen at 3AM Tuesday morning. (and we were given the warning that if he continued to get worse, he'd be moved to Peoria, 45 minutes away) The nurse warned me to be prepared because she's rarely seen a baby handle it well when its first put on. He didn't even make a peep.

It was hard to watch him cough so much, and be so miserable at times, but mostly he was pretty content and happy. The nurses just adored him, and the nursing students kept ending up in our room just to play with him.
I think he loved having my undivided attention. And it was nice to be able to give him that, and to watch him truly discover his voice and his hands that week. Something that might have slipped right by my radar had it been a normal week at home.

The funniest moment was went he learned how to use his hand to push his oxygen tube off. It was about 11:30PM, and I was trying to get him to sleep for the night, and he knocked it off. At first I thought it was accidental, but then he repeated it over and over again about 20 times and kept grinning at me like he just discovered time travel. Although I was somewhat panicking that I was going to spend all night fixing it and not get any sleep, I had to call Weston because I couldn't stop laughing and had to share his cleverness.

The started weaning him off the oxygen on Thursday, and we were released on Friday. What a whirlwind. We are so thankful that he's been doing well since.

Just another sweet picture of Quinn...

2010-03-09T12:28:00.000-08:00

who is such a sweetie.

Celebrating Dr. Seuss

2010-03-03T20:29:00.000-08:00

I love how schools (and libraries) find great excuses for celebrations! Dr. Seuss Day, or Read Across America day, was always one I looked forward to when I taught. So when I saw Sam I Am socks in the dollar bin at Target many months ago, I had to get some for C and A and stash them away... And, I actually remembered to use them on the right day! I also dressed them in red striped shirts... but would you believe I totally forgot about the Thing 1 and Thing 2 shirts the twins have? (So they wore them today, a day late...)

The library had a fun dinner, with creative food, crafts, stories, and door prizes. Ethan won a Cat in the Hat book with an accompanying CD, of which he is very proud. It was a fun evening!

Sweetest Chubby Cheeks

2010-02-26T17:15:00.000-08:00

Weighing in at 14 and a half pounds at 2 months old.

No doubt he's loved.

2010-02-25T17:49:00.000-08:00

I get asked quite frequently... how are the older boys adjusting to the new baby? And I can honestly report that they are still thrilled to pieces with him. Each morning, they greet him with a majorally enthusiastic, "Baby Quinn!", and practically smother him with attention. (I'll admit, I can't leave him unsupervised with them for long, being afraid of just how they will try to 'comfort' him, or 'play with' him.)
I have not even yet seen one glimpse of animosity or resentment, even when they have to wait to have their needs met because of his.

Thought these pictures communicated well their love for him. I often find Quinn surrounded with somebody's "lovey", which they don't share with just anyone.

My Knight in Shining Armor

2010-02-24T22:00:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Aidan's birthday with a party last Saturday; a much anticipated knight- themed party. He had a blast, of course, as did his brothers.

Sir Hugs-a-Lot

Ethan, Aidan, Caleb, and Kellan

Kellan, after he rescued the princess during a jousting/horse riding relay.

The Dragon Cake

Our big 4-year-old.

>

Happy 4th Birthday Aidan!

2010-02-22T20:23:00.000-08:00

We love you!

more Quinn

2010-02-09T14:20:00.000-08:00

Couldn't wait. Had to share these pics of our cutie.