Intense Week

Intense Week

This last week was an incredibly intense week.  What started off as a typical week ended with my mother in the hospital.  My mother was struck by an incredibly severe gallbladder attack.  After suffering for about 7 hours, I demanded we go to the Emergency Room.  She protested, but Mike and I managed to get her into the car.  A heart attack patient came in right after us, so we had to wait a couple of minutes.  She began to pass out from the pain in the waiting room and I had to hold her up.  They took her into the E.R. and she stayed there for about 9 hours.  They gave her fluids and potassium to replenish what she had lost while vomiting for the night before.  She ended up in and out of conciousness the entire day.

After she was admitted to the hospital and moved to a room, I returned back home to help Mike with the twins.  The entire week consisted of my sister and I swapping places between sitting bedside with Mom and watching the babies.  By Friday, she was ‘well enough’ to have surgery to remove her gallbladder.  Surgery went well and she returned home on Saturday.

Jaren and Rhonin were very sweet and made ‘Get Well Soon’ cards for her!  Rhonin’s was particularly funny since it had a person on the front.  A green person.  We all thought it looked a bit similar to Mom when she was ill!  She didn’t think that was too funny though!

It finally hit me after she had her surgery and headed home how serious the situation was.  That visit to the ER was a little bit of a blur.  But I now remember the ER doctor talking to me.  “You’re her daughter, yes?”  “Yes, that’s me.”  “It’s a good thing you brought her in when you did.  She was so dehydrated and needed quite a bit of potassium.  Her pancreas is inflammed and the enzymes were starting to dissolve it from the inside.  If you had let this continue for much longer, it would have killed her.”  I think I didn’t really register what he was saying at the time.  I was overwhelmed and stressed, and honestly, I don’t think I could have handled that information well.  But now that that’s over, I feel very relieved that she is safe and sound.  I am a bit proud of myself for being able to make a good call to take her to the hospital.  I don’t even want to think of how bad the situation could have been.  (We love you, Nana!)

In other news, both Jaren and Rhonin attended a roller skating party on Sunday.  I honestly didn’t think they would enjoy it as much as they did, as they had never been roller skating before.  I thought they would be a bit frustrated at falling down a bit.  Boy, was I wrong!  They both enjoyed it so much, they wanted to go back.  Jaren went back the next day with Auntie Ali as a “Fun Day”.  Rhonin ended up with a huge bruise on his knee, but he was laughing and enjoying himself the whole time!

We were also able to go back to the Fair this last weekend.  I took the older boys myself.  They rode rides and played a couple games and just generally had a blast!  They both won goldfish, too.  I wasn’t expecting that.  But they were lucky and ended up with two!  So we welcomed home Saturn and Pete.

Hopefully this next week will be a bit slower paced, but I’m not holding my breath for it.  I start school and my schedule will probably be packed!  Here’s to hoping it’s not nearly as intense as this last week was!

Packed Weekend

Packed Weekend

It seems as though life has picked up yet again!  I am running around non-stop!  From appointments to paperwork, I don’t think there’s a single moment in the day where I’m not doing something on my To Do List!  Maybe I should write “Get some rest” on that list!

Mike and I took all the kids to the Fair this last weekend!  They all behaved and had a great time!  Rhonin was even daring enough to drag Mike on his first roller coaster!  That’s “first roller coaster” for Mike and for Rhonin!  Jaren was a little more reserved and sat with me and the babies while they went.  They had fun on the Carousel, the racecars, and even the little canoe ride.  I have pictures from all the rides!  They rode some rides for a bit and even played a couple carnival games.  Jaren was really excited about the ballon and dart game so we had to give it a try.  The carnival guy gave us three darts, so a good compromise was for each of us to throw a dart.  Jaren concentrated so very hard, but ended up missing.  I popped a balloon with mine, and tried to give Rhonin some instructions on how to hold the dart.  He totally ignored me and just tossed it haphazardly at the wall of balloons.  It hit the bottom board and bounced up, popping a balloon as it went.  Jaren was rather surprised at his luck!  The carnival guy was very nice and gave us two small prizes instead of the one medium prize.  So both boys walked away with green fuzzy dice!  After that, the boys had a blast at the Pirate Play Area for the younger kids.  They even stuck around for the ventriloquist’s show, where Jaren was able to get up on stage and help out!

After that fun-filled part of the day, we somehow wrangled the two bags of energy into the car for a trip to Nana’s house.  Auntie Ali was quite happy about this!  We quasi-celebrated Jaren’s birthday all over again since Auntie Ali was away in Florida for the first celebration!  She made him a blue cake!  (Very tasty!)

My father even came out and mets the twins!  He said they were quite cute, and really, I have to agree!  (They turned 8 months old on Sunday, too.)  It was great to see him again.  I don’t get to see him very often, unfortunately.

Anyway, seeing all the cross stitch exhibits at the Fair really motivated me to get mine done.  My mother and I calculated that if I work on it at the pace I have been, it’ll take me about 4 years to finish.  If I manage to work on it daily, it’ll take me 2 years.  I am really hoping I can keep my motivation up!  My piece would blow the judges away for the Fair!  I think mine would be nicer than all of the other projects that were submitted this year.  The winners this year were nice, but mine is going to be much better!  It’ll be incredible… when it’s finished.  Now I just have to finish it…  I’ll keep you all posted on it’s progress!  Til next time… Cheers!

Fretting the Fair

Fretting the Fair

I don’t know exactly what’s been up this last week! Part of it is probably my Big Pregnancy Hormones. Rhonin has been in a “clingy” mood a lot lately. He will hold onto my legs and reach out for me when I drop him off at school, and he will demand I hold his hand while he falls asleep. I can’t say I really mind it, though, because as a mother, it’s good to “feel wanted and needed”. Of course, trying to use the restroom in peace has become a bit more of a chore!

We went to the fair last Saturday, and had a good time. I packed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich lunch with raisins, cheese, and two small cookies. We ate while at the fair, and they seemed to enjoy it. They had a cute little Pirate Area set up for the young children, so Jaren dressed up as a pirate and they both climbed all over the large, wooden ship they had set up. The petting zoo was cute, but Rhonin was a bit nervous around the goats and didn’t want to touch anything! He just clung to me. We attempted some rides, but Jaren wanted to try the rides that Rhonin didn’t… And Jaren sort of left Rhonin behind at the funhouse! (Don’t worry, Mike was there to rescue Rho!) But Rhonin ended up crying because he was scared of the big fun house slide, and he was so upset on the small motorcycle ride, that they stopped it a little early so we could get him. I felt awful. I know he was just a little scared because Mike, Mommy, and Jaren weren’t on the ride with him. But he wanted to go on it and we thought he’d be okay! There is something about the image of him crying on the ride that is burned into my mind. He was totally fine afterwards, as he and Jaren went on the small canoe ride.

That experience, combined with Jaren being a little bummed we didn’t go into the Flower Hall to see the flower displays, has made me worry all week whether or not they really had a good time. Like I said, it’s more than likely all pregnancy hormones! Logically, I know they had a good time, and I am worried over nothing. Mike even reminds me over and over that they had a good day! I did manage to forget my camera, so we didn’t get a lot of pictures. (Sorry, Mom!) I got a couple via my cell phone, though!

I don’t believe I am the only parent out there that worries about the kids having a good time at the fair or enjoying themselves. I just wish these hormones would stop making me worry so much!

Oh, and I won 5th place with my pencil drawing that I submitted to the Fair! Yay me!