home sweet home

Kate if finally home! (And so am I!) We got released form the hospital this evening at around 7. It is so nice to be home for more than just a shower. It was nice to see Aidan tonight too, I missed him. It has been such a long week, but all of the days kind of melded together. We were only really gaging time by 'Maybe she can go home after 2 days' and other things like that. As of this morning we weren't sure if we were going to make it home tonight or tomorrow morning. The dr. and nurse seemed to think that it wouldn't be until tomorrow because of all the things that had to be done before we were able to leave but the very good nurse pushed things through as fast as she could so we could get home tonight. It was very nice of her. This morning when they weighed Kate she had gained 3 oz. and the dr. cleared her to go home because she proved that with the right amount of calories she could gain the weight she needed to. This was after one night with the tube feedings. We were trained today on how to put the feeding tube in and change it, were were given a home pump and I learned how to use that and hook Kate up to it at night. Alot of stuff happened today, and I got to watch the last NASCAR race of the season since I was still in the hospital. JoAnn provided me with a very good lunch (I am sick of the cafeteria food...blahhh) and we had some visitors this afternoon to. John Lasley, The Brothwells, and my parents. It was nice to see everyone. Sorry if I seem to be rambling a bit, I am very tired and can't seem to keep my thoughts straight. Anyway, so I am happy to be home, have Kate in her own bed, have me in my own bed, not to have people coming in at all hours of the night checking on things (loudly) and not to have any strange people with strange sicknesses in the same room with me. I will write some more later just wanted to give an update on everything now. Thank you so much for all of your prayers, love and concern.

kate update

I just got home from the hospital. Adam and I switched places for tonight so I could get more than an hour and a half of sleep...oh the joys of room sharing. Anyway, Kate is still in Phoenix Children's Hospital (not Good Sam or St. Jo's). Today we saw the speech/swallow therapist. She told us Kate could swallow. After further extended conversation with her we have a few different things to try with Kate to get her to drink out of a bottle. She is not getting enough liquid according to her and may have to have a feeding tube put in if no progress is made with the bottle thing. We are working on training her to suck on her own etc. More details on that later when I can think straight. Feeling better about the whole thing but still need to talk to the dr. more. Hope to see him in the AM. The speech lady will be watching the noon feeding tomorrow, and we will see how things go from there. Kate has charmed all of the nurses that have seen her. She smiles at all of them and they all seem to love her. I hope she sleeps better tonight without interruptions... I declined to have her vitals checked at 2 am and we have a new teen age room mate whom I assume sleeps through the night. Kate had to have an IV this evening because she wasn't peeing enough. She wasn't too happy about that...really not happy when the nurse blew the first vein and had to start over in the other hand. But seems to be content smiling at everyone, and chewing on her ID band. More later, thanks so much for your prayers and everything, it means alot. Now...sleep

sickness becomes us?

Alright, so we all hate being sick, especially when that sickness gives vomiting and diarrhea. Aidan was sick on Tuesday and had the symptoms mentioned above. Amy got the same sickness (probably a 24 hour flu) on Wednesday. She was so sick, she was unable to keep any water down, so we took her to the maternity admitting area at Thunderbird Hospital because she was having major contractions and was in need of an IV. By midnight we were able to take her home. I had to practice with the choir that evening, so Mike (Amy's dad) came and relieved me of duty for an hour or two so I could go sing. There was to be another practice on Thursday night. So we try to sleep, and then I woke up with the aforementioned symptoms. I must have thrown up 8 or so times during the time I should have been teaching. Good thing I can take a sick day. I then tried to sleep the rest of the day. I woke up around 6:30pm when Amy called me to remind me I had practice at the church again, which I knew I had but there was no way I was in shape to make it or, even if I did make it, that I would be any good to anyone. Wednesday night and Thursday we had family in town, too, so I had to miss those get-togethers, as well. Friday came and we had a funeral for Howard Betts, my step-grandfather, husband to my grandma Irene (previously Van Liew) Betts. Amy's parents were going to join us, but they had gotten the same flu that Aidan, Amy, and I had earlier, so they were home with the same symptoms. Today is now Saturday, the day after the funeral, and we came to find out this morning that my mom (still in town for the funeral, supposed to fly out about now) had the same sickness. She's not been having a good time with it, either, so my dad called to change their flights to tomorrow. Let's just hope he doesn't get sick tomorrow and have to fly home like that. Does that sound like a fun week? I think the little bug that got us sick had a grand ol' time.

spring break

Well, it was spring break last week for Adam. And now its over, too bad. I really liked having the extra time to spend with him over the last few days. It was a really nice and relaxing week. My grandma has been in town for her annual spring training fling, so both Adam and I got to go a baseball game last week. And I didn't have to cook very much either, which was a nice break for me too. We just kind of hung around and did whatever. I was sick with a cold again, courtesy of Aidan, thank you very much. Both of us were sick together but it could havebeen worse, we are both at the end of the sickness and only have remnants of a cough and maybe some allergies now. Adam did some work on the yard this week, it was in the 100's at the beginning of the week (groan... earliest 100 on record) but it weather finally cooled down and we even got some rain at the end of the week. So Adam seeded the front yard a couple of days ago and the birds are very happy about it. Adam, on the other hand, is not so happy about the birds. He had been chasing them out of the yard for the past few days. Every so often he will open the door really fast and run into the yard clapping. He then passes around the yard for a few minuets and the comes back in. Recently, he has resorted to shooting the birds with the air soft gun that he has. The down side to this, besides for the birds, is that the gun is really big and looks like a real rifle, who knows what the neighbors think of us now...
We got to go to a Suns game on Thursday night, thanks to my parents for Adam's birthday present. It was a really nice time, we dropped off Aidan at my parents house and went to dinner. We stopped off at my old work to say hi to some people we hadn't seen in a while. It was cool and rainy. We went to a good game, despite sitting so far up I was having contractions from the altitude. We had to walk to the car in the rain because the umbrella was conveniently in the car. We got some things for the baby announcements and came home. Adam seeded the yard at 11:30 or something, I finished the announcement prep while he was doing that. We watched some movie or something and then went to bed. I didn't have to get up to feed Aidan the next morning, that was nice. Anyway, it has been a very nice week and I wish that Adam didn't have to go back to work and all the busyness but that's the way it works for now.

two weeks in review

It's been a while since I have written anything on here. Adam told me to write again and I said I would if he made a decision about dinner and my parents coming over here. He did so I am keeping up my end of the bargain. So a lot of things have happened since I wrote last, but it kind of feels redundant to talk about them because Adam already has...but he said I should do it anyway because I am different than he is so I will do it anyway. It seems like a really long time ago but High School winter camp was 2 weeks ago. Camp was really awesome this year, God answered prayer in a big way (He is a big God, right?). We have been praying for a while that God would change lives and save people at this camp, and He did! We had 15 students baptized when we came home on Sunday night. Some of them were saved at camp and some of hem rededicated their lives. It was such a great thing to come home and not be done. It was the first time that we have done a session on Sunday evening with the whole church. I really think it was good for the students and the parents, so everyone was on the same page and conversations could stem from the shared experience. It was a very good weekend, it was fun too. The dumb games and the hoedown. One of my girls had a cold while at camp an she decided that it would be nice thing to share it with me so I got it when we go home. Wow, it seems like a long time ago...moving on...So valentines day was this month. I got some flowers for me from Adam, they were very nice (thanks babe). And he gave me a very nice card and a sucker (thanks to one of his students, it was good too). Valentines day is nice but its really not that big of a deal. Its not like I don't know Adam loves me, he doesn't have o get me extra things on specific day to tell me that. I think that its just a scam from retailers to get people to spend more money. Ok, that was way too much time on that subject. So the family all came into town on Wednesday of last week. Beth, Joe, and Jon stayed with us and Vaughn and Kathy stayed at Irene's. It was a nice weekend with them here. Thursday night was here with Kathy's family, it was fun, always entertaining. Friday was pretty much all day wedding stuff. I took Charles and Allison's wedding that night, and was doing prep and pictures the majority of the day. It wore me out but I was really glad that I was able to do the wedding. I think the pictures turned out well, I hope the newlyweds agree, but if they don't they actually get a chance to retake their wedding pictures in May. Saturday was a fun day at the park. We took a large group photo of everyone while the out of towners were in town. Then we played games and hung out the rest of the evening. Sunday was church and Grandma Van's 100 birthday get together. We were late or both of the above events. We were going to go to HS group on Sunday morning but we didn't make it out of bed in time so we just went for second hour service. And we went home to let Aidan (and me) take a quick nap before Grandma's. We didn't quite make it in time for that either...which was kind of sad because they were going to have Adam do the opening prayer or lead some of the singing. Oh well, not a big deal. Grandma Van's party was really nice. She is pretty amazing, and hat is reflected in all the people that she has touched over her century of being alive. It was really nice to hear the stories that were remembered, and sing together thinking of all the she is going to join soon. It was kind of sad too, I am never too sure why believers cry at things like this but we do. I just pray that the nonbelievers that were there were touched by the love of Christ and the witness of Grandma Van. Monday was the trip of a lifetime to he Grand Canyon. It was the longest trip to the canyon I have ever made. It was cold, there was snow, there were cars and there was lots of parking. I think that's a pretty good summary of the day. I am not really sure how God intended to show His glory through that day but I am sure that he did somehow...I will get back to you on that one. On Tuesday I made a run to the airport and had a few other things hat needed to be done. Tuesday night was when everything caught u to me, I was (still am) sick through all of this. I don't think that all of the running around helped, but that ok, that's what the weekend was all about. So Tuesday night was the first night I didn't have something going on and I was very tired. I am still trying to heal from this cold...wouldn't you think that 2 weeks would be enough to feel better-good grief. And now Aidan is sick too. He made it for so long but then he got the flu. He had a fever and no appetite and threw up...a lot. I don't do so well with puke, it usually makes me puke too, but I made it through without throwing up. Aidan is now doing better but not 100%. He is such a good kid, he has only been kind of whiny and slightly more cuddly since he has been sick. I had a tea party this morning, but no one showed up except for my mom. That's ok I guess, I had some outside orders before the party and hope to get some more tomorrow. I felt kind of bad but Kelsey said she didn't care and got to do everything anyway to help train a new person. i guess that's all to talk about for now...I am going to have to write more often if I don't want this to take so long every time...

sick day

Well, I took today off from work. It's a good thing I did, too. I have a cold, my family's in town (with Beth, Joe, and JD staying with us), and I am in a wedding today at 5:30pm or so. Charles and Allison finally have everyone behind them for this pushed-up wedding. I am looking forward to what the Lord is going to do in their lives and in the friendships they will create with us and other married couples along the way. They are going to have an incredible impact that I could never have. That's why we're a Body, not individuals.