Today...

1. I spent an hour or so buying 100 boxes of mac n' cheese at Albertsons and I am giddy because I feel like I won the consumer battle.

2. I am considering the word "chillax." I hated it for the longest time, but I think it might be growing on me because I just found myself using it. Either that or I am becoming desensitized.

3. I just read a study about mircrowaves that says they do not actually kill all the good stuff in your food--in fact they may preserve more of the vitamins and such because they cook faster. I am relieved that all of the beans I have been feeding my children have not gone to waste.

4. I have yet to do my hair or put on clothes that are probably socially acceptable (yep, I still went to the store). And I probably won't even change before my doctor's appointment... Who really cares?

5. I picked up Sierra from school after a meltdown because she left her lunch in Daddy's Jeep and the secretary tried to coerce her into eating the yucky school lunch. How dare she?

6. I cleaned up Nikell's pee on the kitchen floor after she escaped from her towel-clad spot on her bedroom floor (supposedly waiting for a diaper). Then I even sweeped and mopped!

7. Yeah, I even did some dishes and some laundry.

I think I'll turn in and call it a day already.

Sucker or a Chewer?

My visiting teacher brought me some chocolate-covered cinnamon bears the other day (yeah, they're sooooo gone), and as I was eating them Jason said, "Hey, you can't just chow those things down! You gotta enjoy them! One of those will last you a whole hour!" Yeah right. Here's the thing...I AM A CHEWER! It is nearly impossible for me to put a piece of chocolate in my mouth and NOT chew it. I love chewing it as much as I love tasting it. So back to the cinnamon bears...this is why they are so wonderful...they are chocolate and they are chewy! Oh, I love, love, love it. To mix those wonderful tastes together while your teeth just chomp on around it all...I'm tellin' ya, it's heavenly. Anyway, this is an on-going argument between Jason and I...Sucking or Chewing. He simply does not understand the joys of chewing and I am simply not patient enough to suck...and I HONESTLY ENJOY CHEWING! Ice...the chopped up kind from the restaurants..oh how I love to chew it. Gummy worms...how can you suck on a gummy worm? And if you ask me, suckers are just kind of pointless unless there is something to chew inside. So Jason feels jipped because he sucks one piece of chocolate in the time I eat four. Hmmm...I've tried, I really have, but it's simply not as joyful to suck on it as it is to chew it. You snooze, you lose.

So what are you? A sucker or a chewer? I love it when I meet chewers like myself, it's one more person to argue with Jason about the joys of chewing. And hey...if you are a sucker...I'll share my chocolate with you. You can wrap your tongue around it for hours on end. Too bad the rest will be gone when your done.

The Good Old Days

The other day was Wednesday....I have YW's on Wednesday. Jason used to have YM's and so this was a family event, but he was recently released and so I get to go alone now. It's funny how annoying it seems that YW is to him now though.

Oh...I got sidetracked...sort of...Wednesday....I had YW's, which is a regular thing, but I also had a work meeting at 8:00 and a Board Meeting at 8:30. So I was running the list by Jason and you could almost see his eyes rolling back in his head in annoyance. Annoyance at what? You all know what...especially those of us with little kids. Annoyance that your spouse has to be gone and you have to be home. Annoyance that they are seemingly given freedom and you are not. Annoyance that someone else is taking up precious time that you could be spending with your one and only truest love. You know....you're just annoyed. I've felt it too. I think we all have. Just tonight Jason asked if it was alright if he went to Home Depot. My response, "Why?" Like I had to make sure his reasons were really valid and that he wasn't going to do something fun and leave me alone to put kids in bed. Yeah, like that.

And somehow this made me think back to the good old days. You know the ones. You know right? When you were in love? Like gushingly, never stop thinking about, make sure your hair is done and your legs are shaved, in love? I remember when Jason and I had just started hanging out (I would say dating, but that would be putting a label on something that never actually happened). We were talking one day and he asked me what my plans for the night were. I had something for school and told him I could call him afterwards. He suggested picking me up. I remember the little jolt of fear rushing through me. It wasn't just a ride offer. It was an acceptance of having separate plans but trying to cross paths as soon as possible. It was the beginning of taking responsibility for each other. I remember another weekend....Jason got in a car accident. He called me to ask for a ride back to school. To ask for help. I remember the thrill of being the "ONE" he would call for help. Ahhh...the good old days. When seperate lives were acceptable (after all how could you fault someone for having a life?) and we merely did all we could to conjoin them. No anger, no getting annoyed, just commonly trying to be together as often as possible.

Why is it that marriage produces guilt and blame? My favorite saying of Jason's is this....are you ready?..."Same team. Same team." It's his gentle way of reminding me that we have the same goals...we're trying to get to the same place...and we're trying to do it together. Yeah, he's right. Same team. Same team.

Alex is Home!

Taun and Shannon came home! I talked to Taun today and Shannon is staying home the rest of the week. Alex is still a little grumpy and a little aggressive, probably due to medication. His equilibrium is off so he can't walk or crawl and needs to be held a lot. He is slowly recovering and doing a little better every day. He will be on Anti-seizure meds for years or life. And the doctors recommend that when he gets sick, they take him in for an IV so that his body won't be lacking and trigger more seizures.

They still have many more doctor appointments and specialists to see, but they are optimistic that his seizures are managable and that he will make a full recovery from his latest ordeal.

Good luck Taun and Shannon! We love you and pray for you every day. We expect to see Benjamin over a lot to play and let us know if you want help holding that cute little baby boy!

Test Results

So they have ran the MMR and MRI and a Lumbar Tap and just about everything that they can think of and so far everything has come back normal...His brain is fine and the seizures haven't affected it. This is all wonderful news. They are waiting on a few more tests and so will probably be there another day or two. Alex is still a little grump and is still on a lot of meds, but is holding up. Right now their best guess is that it is just a hereditary thing that happens when his body is at it's weakest and will require anti-seizure medication.

Thanks again for your support and knowledge!

A quick update

Hey all,

Just thought I would give a quick update on Alex before I head off to church. He got to Primary Childrens' yesterday and was having seizure after seizure after seizure. The doctor asked Mom how long he had been having them like that and she said it wasn't until they gave him the latest medication. So they quickly took him off of said medicine and gave him two different anti-seizure meds along with sedating him and placing him in the PICU to closely monitor. Last night they lowered one of the anti-seizure meds (one that is harder to control) and he was able to wake up and has not had any seizures since. However, he has been unconsolable and as his Daddy put it, "Very Grumpy" through the night. He slept little. Although the cat scans and the EEG came back normal (meaning it's not a tumor or a form of meningitis), they think there might be something else wrong according to his unconsolable behavior. So today they are preparing for an MRI. Thanks for your words of encouragement. I'll pass them on...and please know how much I love you all! Sometimes this stupid computer screen is the life-line that keeps me going!

More Prayers Please

This cute boy is Alex. He is my nephew (Taun's son) who is 22 months old. Nikell is trying to feed him ice cream in this picture...

Alex is in the hospital. He had a seizure yesterday at about 3:30 pm and so was transported to Logan Regional where they ran tests, gave him an anitbiotic, and released him at about 7:30 pm. Taun came to get Benjamin (Alex's older brother) from our house and while Shannon was sitting in the car Alex had another seizure. So we called 911, again, and he was transported back to Logan Regional. During the night he had 3 more seizures, and this morning he had 3 more. It's getting worse and he's not coming out of them as fast anymore. Right now he's on his way. to Primary Children's where a neurologist is waiting.

This has happened once before, but not to this extent. The correlation seems to be getting sick and throwing up and diarreah. Last time I think he had 2 seizures and they called it a life-threatening event. This time it's not going away and they need prayers. Please.

Hello Again

I really think that pictures are funner than just text...but I'm too lazy right now.

SOPHIE IS HOME! YEAH! They are doing well. Meggin is excited to get out of the hospital prison and Sophie is doing great so far. Thank you, Thank you for all of your prayers and encouragement! Olivia is also happy to have somewhat of a normal routine back...although I hear she is going through Jeri Dawn withdrawls (sp?), but don't worry that's normal :).

So...the other day we were out riding bikes. Jason taught Mialee how to ride without training wheels and she was so excited! Now imagine, for a moment, Jason teaching someone to ride a bike. If it were me, I would be saying things like, "It's okay, try again." and "Just keep going." Jason, however, is quite technical (as you can imagine) and is adamate about "Turn into the fall if you are tipping over." and "Look where you want to go." and "Lean the way you want to turn." Anyway, we were riding bikes and for some reason Mialee jumped on the bike with training wheels. Whatever. But not too far into the walk she is steering off the sidewalk and into the road. Well, she's 5 so I don't really worry too much about it. But then she says, "This bike just wants to go wherever it wants." And then I start to wonder a little. At this point we had stopped to chat with the neighbors for a minute. And so when we start walking again (or riding) and I start watching her. And sure enough she starts pedaling along and ZoOoOm out she goes into the road. By this time she is getting a little frustrated with the bike that has a mind of it's own. So I very politely (not laughing and not exasperated at all :)) tell her to steer. It seems like a simple thing to me. Just steer. So she tries again. And not two seconds into the ride she is bumpin' over the grass and into the road with me yelling, "Turn, Mialee, Turn!" Now she is ticked and she finally yells back, "I AM LOOKING WHERE I WANT TO GO AND THE STUPID BIKE IS JUST GOING WHEREVER IT WANTS!" Oh. I start to chuckle to myself as she walks the bike with the training wheels to the church where insists she will try again. Once on, I try to explain to her that she needs to steer. She nods her head, jumps on, starts pedaling, looks to the right, leans way out to the right (as far as she can without falling off) and screams in frustration as the bike continues it's forward path. By this time I am really trying not to laugh out loud, much less roll around on the grass holding my stomach. And I'm not really sure if it's Jason or Mialee to blame for this little misunderstanding that has caused Mialee to swear off riding bikes (for now).