The start of a new year is often a time of reflection and looking forward to what is in store. Our family has had some really big things happen this year. We have had the opportunity to foster 3 children as well as respite care for a couple of others. One foster experience in the spring/early summer was especially hard and made us question our ability to follow through on those plans. We decided to take a break for the summer and had decided August would be the earliest we would take another child. Well, August 2nd we took on almost 2 year old girl that will soon be part of our family, legally.
We have decided to change her legal name to Jazlyn Hope. Jazlyn is a similar to a nickname she had received during a previous placement and we wanted to keep it similar sounding for her sake. We chose Hope because of the journey we have been on to get to this place with Jaz in our family.
Jeremiah 29:11 states, "For I know the plans I have for you." says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future, and a hope."
That is what we feel like God has done in our lives. He has given us His plans, not ours. A future that looks different than we planned. But when we stopped making our plans and listened to His plans, we have felt at peace with how things have gone. Not easy, not always the most fun and sometimes really frustrating but the right thing to do because it feels obedient to what He has asked of us.
As I look back over 2013, I can't help but recognize some other great highlights:
* Drake had a great check-up and EEG in August and we were able to completely wean him off of his seizure medication by the end of November. So far, he has been seizure-free since being off medication!
* Grady has had the opportunity to go to the public preschool this fall and have a great teacher that also attends our church. He has loved it!
*Drake and Hadley have continued attending SCS in 4th and 1st grades and love it. We have been so blessed by the staff there.
*Drake was able to attend a few days at church camp this past summer and take a friend from school with him.
*Hadley joined Drake on the worship team at church and helps leading worship in children's area
*Gabe has had a great year at his job with the worship area remodel and installation of lots of new technical equipment. It has been a challenge but one he has enjoyed and thrived in.
* Gabe and I set a goal to go out on at least one date a month for 2013 and we made our goal and it's been such a positive for our marriage.
* Gabe and I celebrated 12 years of marriage and it just keeps getting better!
*Since Jaz joined our family, she has started speech and developmental therapy and has gone from only being able to say a few words to starting to say 2-3 word phrases and starting to communicate on a more consistent basis.
*I had a little health scare in May with a lump, some testing and a biopsy but thankfully it came back benign and the 6 month recheck still looked clear.
*2013 was the summer of Ice Deli. We had so much fun visiting this place as a family for a cool treat and visiting with friends.
*We enjoyed a short little get-away this summer to Chicago and were able to hit a few highlights of the city and stay at Uncle Josh and Aunt Jacki's house.
As we move forward into 2014, we are patiently expectant as to what God has in store for this year for the Ruts.
Happy New Year!
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Friday, November 2, 2012
The journey
As I look back over the last year or so I can see the journey we've been on. God started a big work in our lives and to be able to see where we are today, you have to see where we've been and how God has been nudging (or shoving) us throughout the last couple of years. So, here are some snippets of some past writings...
October 2011:
Lately, Gabe and I have been feeling God moving in our lives in a big way. It has been through a host of different experiences. We recently attended a marriage class, I attended a women's conference, we have been studying through a series at church entitled "Weird" on both Sunday mornings and in our small group, and I have been doing a Beth Moore Bible Study called "Believing God". In all of these things we have felt like God is doing something in our lives and our family and it's time for us to hold on because this ride is about to take off. We have struggled this year with a lot of extra (non-budgeted) bills because of medical issues and repairs. I had been having a "woe is me" attitude about it because at the end of last year we had made a commitment, on top of our tithe, to the church for a 2 year campaign. To me, I thought that meant that God should give us a pass for the next 2 years on any other financial hardship. Although it has been hard and we will still be paying off the extra expenses that we've had this year for awhile, we have been able to keep our commitment, have food on the table and the heat on in our house. Gabe and I both feel so unsettled about our current budget but without a lot of "extras" that we can cut out we are strongly considering downgrading our living expenses by selling our house and buying something less expensive. Our house isn't extravagant now and we love having room for family to stay with us. That is something we don't want to give up because we both feel strongly about spending time with family, so we are looking into possibly something not necessarily smaller but less expensive. We're not sure what that means yet and know this is not the time of year to put a house on the market. So, we're going to keep praying that God will give us discernment on this issue. We are hoping by spring, we may try to put the house up for sale and pray God will show us a house that will fit our budget and family. We just know that we are called to be generous and want to do everything in our power to be able to do that and leave our kids a legacy bigger than house payments.
Well, as time went on, we didn't feel like moving was the right option for us, so we cut back where we could and continued to try to make wise choices with our resources. God has blessed that and we have been able to give even more money away than we originally committed to. We continued to read and grow and be stretched....
In November of 2011, we started helping out at a homeless mission in town as a family. We started by providing a meal for it's 40ish residents once a month. Then, we decided we wanted to be more involved so we started helping weekly for awhile with going and hanging out with the kids. We would teach a lesson and play with the kids while the moms would do a Bible Study. It was such an eye-opening experience for us as a family. It was heart-breaking that while we lived 15 minutes away in a warm house with more toys than necessary for our kids, people were homeless, living in extreme poverty. And our side of town seemed to live in complete ignorance of this issue. It felt wrong driving back home to all the comforts of our lives. The only reason we are more privileged is that we were born into families that were able to provide and teach us about God and most of those people weren't.
I had been mentioning the idea of adopting another child to Gabe for months at this point but was trying to patiently wait for God to move in his heart if this was truly a path for our family. Adoption is a big deal and we definitely needed everyone on board if it was to happen. Well, helping at the mission helped do that for Gabe. Those kids broke his heart for what types of lives they were growing up in. And while we realize we can't take them all in, we can make a difference to one.
Around Christmas last year I wrote this regards to the financial and medical struggles we had last year...
Now, while our future is still not clear to us and we are far from having it all together, we believe that God is going to use these struggles to bring about great things in the year to come for our family. We are excited and a little anxious about the future. But, we no longer want the "American dream". We want to see how God can humbly use us, a simple family, to change the world, one day at a time.
Fast forward a few months, God was still working in our hearts in regards to adoption and we finally started sharing that idea with a few people close to us. We started feeling like it was a good to start exploring how to make it a reality in our lives. In July 2012 we started the process. We made the call to a social service agency to start getting licensed. We had decided that adopting through the foster care system was going to be the best option for our family. We were really hoping to only take a child that would be adoptable. But, as we met with the social worker and started filling out paperwork and praying about how God wanted to use this situation we decided that we were open to fostering no matter the outcome. Obviously, it would be hard emotionally if the child lived with our family for several years and then had to return to his/her biological family. But, maybe that's how God wants to use us, maybe God will use us to change a whole family and not just one child. Maybe God wants us to adopt the child that lives with us and that would be great too. We're willing to travel whatever waters lie ahead of us. That doesn't mean we haven't thought through the hard situations we may encounter, the stress of adding another child, most likely who will have a lot of baggage. We're not naive, just ready to be obedient to the journey God is asking us to walk. We are in the process of getting licensed and are in the middle of the licensing classes right now which go until December. Hopefully that means our paperwork will be all done and put us on the list for calls by the beginning of the year. We're excited to see this journey play out in our lives and grateful that God was patient with us as we learned to give up the ideas and dreams and life plans we felt entitled to but were not His plan.
October 2011:
Lately, Gabe and I have been feeling God moving in our lives in a big way. It has been through a host of different experiences. We recently attended a marriage class, I attended a women's conference, we have been studying through a series at church entitled "Weird" on both Sunday mornings and in our small group, and I have been doing a Beth Moore Bible Study called "Believing God". In all of these things we have felt like God is doing something in our lives and our family and it's time for us to hold on because this ride is about to take off. We have struggled this year with a lot of extra (non-budgeted) bills because of medical issues and repairs. I had been having a "woe is me" attitude about it because at the end of last year we had made a commitment, on top of our tithe, to the church for a 2 year campaign. To me, I thought that meant that God should give us a pass for the next 2 years on any other financial hardship. Although it has been hard and we will still be paying off the extra expenses that we've had this year for awhile, we have been able to keep our commitment, have food on the table and the heat on in our house. Gabe and I both feel so unsettled about our current budget but without a lot of "extras" that we can cut out we are strongly considering downgrading our living expenses by selling our house and buying something less expensive. Our house isn't extravagant now and we love having room for family to stay with us. That is something we don't want to give up because we both feel strongly about spending time with family, so we are looking into possibly something not necessarily smaller but less expensive. We're not sure what that means yet and know this is not the time of year to put a house on the market. So, we're going to keep praying that God will give us discernment on this issue. We are hoping by spring, we may try to put the house up for sale and pray God will show us a house that will fit our budget and family. We just know that we are called to be generous and want to do everything in our power to be able to do that and leave our kids a legacy bigger than house payments.
Well, as time went on, we didn't feel like moving was the right option for us, so we cut back where we could and continued to try to make wise choices with our resources. God has blessed that and we have been able to give even more money away than we originally committed to. We continued to read and grow and be stretched....
In November of 2011, we started helping out at a homeless mission in town as a family. We started by providing a meal for it's 40ish residents once a month. Then, we decided we wanted to be more involved so we started helping weekly for awhile with going and hanging out with the kids. We would teach a lesson and play with the kids while the moms would do a Bible Study. It was such an eye-opening experience for us as a family. It was heart-breaking that while we lived 15 minutes away in a warm house with more toys than necessary for our kids, people were homeless, living in extreme poverty. And our side of town seemed to live in complete ignorance of this issue. It felt wrong driving back home to all the comforts of our lives. The only reason we are more privileged is that we were born into families that were able to provide and teach us about God and most of those people weren't.
I had been mentioning the idea of adopting another child to Gabe for months at this point but was trying to patiently wait for God to move in his heart if this was truly a path for our family. Adoption is a big deal and we definitely needed everyone on board if it was to happen. Well, helping at the mission helped do that for Gabe. Those kids broke his heart for what types of lives they were growing up in. And while we realize we can't take them all in, we can make a difference to one.
Around Christmas last year I wrote this regards to the financial and medical struggles we had last year...
Now, while our future is still not clear to us and we are far from having it all together, we believe that God is going to use these struggles to bring about great things in the year to come for our family. We are excited and a little anxious about the future. But, we no longer want the "American dream". We want to see how God can humbly use us, a simple family, to change the world, one day at a time.
Fast forward a few months, God was still working in our hearts in regards to adoption and we finally started sharing that idea with a few people close to us. We started feeling like it was a good to start exploring how to make it a reality in our lives. In July 2012 we started the process. We made the call to a social service agency to start getting licensed. We had decided that adopting through the foster care system was going to be the best option for our family. We were really hoping to only take a child that would be adoptable. But, as we met with the social worker and started filling out paperwork and praying about how God wanted to use this situation we decided that we were open to fostering no matter the outcome. Obviously, it would be hard emotionally if the child lived with our family for several years and then had to return to his/her biological family. But, maybe that's how God wants to use us, maybe God will use us to change a whole family and not just one child. Maybe God wants us to adopt the child that lives with us and that would be great too. We're willing to travel whatever waters lie ahead of us. That doesn't mean we haven't thought through the hard situations we may encounter, the stress of adding another child, most likely who will have a lot of baggage. We're not naive, just ready to be obedient to the journey God is asking us to walk. We are in the process of getting licensed and are in the middle of the licensing classes right now which go until December. Hopefully that means our paperwork will be all done and put us on the list for calls by the beginning of the year. We're excited to see this journey play out in our lives and grateful that God was patient with us as we learned to give up the ideas and dreams and life plans we felt entitled to but were not His plan.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
What We've Been Up To
Since it's been so long since I've updated the blog, I thought I'd try to give a quick review...
In November, Hadley and Grady both had surgery to repair their umbilical hernias. They both did great and recovered really quickly!
At Christmas time, we snapped some family shots at the church. This was the best we got out of a bunch of tries...I'm trying to decide if it looks like I'm smiling really big or clenching my teeth.
Grady discovered his favorite activity: vacuuming! We had to hide the vacuum for awhile because he knew which closet we kept it in and would constantly ask for it!
We took a trip down to Nashville in February and had fun with the cousins at a Children's Museum!
We had a follow-up appointment with Drake's neurologist in March so we stopped off at the zoo while we were in town.
Hadley, Grady and I have been a part of some fun playdates through the church this winter and spring. They are usually twice a month and gives the kids some great time to play and moms to chat! This one was at the Illinois State Museum here in town.
We re-painted our living room and had the kids add some artwork. Drake had made a cool fish in art class at school, so we framed that and then had Hadley and Grady paint some canvases to add to it.
We bought a season pass to our local zoo in town and have already made several trips there. The kids liked the new wooden bird wing display where you can see how you measure up to the wing-span of different birds.
This is a perfect picture of Drake's personality with Grady. Drake is SUCH a good big brother and is such a big helper with Grady. Drake will even let Gabe and I sleep in sometimes on Saturdays and will get Grady out of his crib and feed him breakfast before we even know he's up. Yeah, that's pretty much awesome.
My girl and I enjoying the sunshine this spring watching Drake's soccer practices.
Hadley had her first swim lessons this spring. She is not my water-lover so this was a bit (or a lot) out of her comfort zone. She made little strides of progress but we'll be taking more lessons this summer to try to make more progress.
Life with 3 kids is busy but oh so fun. Parenting is the most challenging and yet rewarding job. The challenging seasons are just that, challenging but there are glimpses of the fruit of our labor as well. Gabe and I have been through a lot of struggles over the last year with medical issues, extra expenses and parenting woes but with it has come spiritual growth that is challenging us to broaden our thinking on a lot of issues. We're excited to see how God's plan unfolds in our lives and our family over the next weeks, months and years to come.
In November, Hadley and Grady both had surgery to repair their umbilical hernias. They both did great and recovered really quickly!
At Christmas time, we snapped some family shots at the church. This was the best we got out of a bunch of tries...I'm trying to decide if it looks like I'm smiling really big or clenching my teeth.
Grady discovered his favorite activity: vacuuming! We had to hide the vacuum for awhile because he knew which closet we kept it in and would constantly ask for it!
We took a trip down to Nashville in February and had fun with the cousins at a Children's Museum!
(trying to capture a picture of 3 17 month olds is hard!)
We had a follow-up appointment with Drake's neurologist in March so we stopped off at the zoo while we were in town.
Hadley, Grady and I have been a part of some fun playdates through the church this winter and spring. They are usually twice a month and gives the kids some great time to play and moms to chat! This one was at the Illinois State Museum here in town.
We re-painted our living room and had the kids add some artwork. Drake had made a cool fish in art class at school, so we framed that and then had Hadley and Grady paint some canvases to add to it.
Hadley wanted to get her hair cut so she got a super-cute new 'do!
We bought a season pass to our local zoo in town and have already made several trips there. The kids liked the new wooden bird wing display where you can see how you measure up to the wing-span of different birds.
This is a perfect picture of Drake's personality with Grady. Drake is SUCH a good big brother and is such a big helper with Grady. Drake will even let Gabe and I sleep in sometimes on Saturdays and will get Grady out of his crib and feed him breakfast before we even know he's up. Yeah, that's pretty much awesome.
My girl and I enjoying the sunshine this spring watching Drake's soccer practices.
Hadley had her first swim lessons this spring. She is not my water-lover so this was a bit (or a lot) out of her comfort zone. She made little strides of progress but we'll be taking more lessons this summer to try to make more progress.
Life with 3 kids is busy but oh so fun. Parenting is the most challenging and yet rewarding job. The challenging seasons are just that, challenging but there are glimpses of the fruit of our labor as well. Gabe and I have been through a lot of struggles over the last year with medical issues, extra expenses and parenting woes but with it has come spiritual growth that is challenging us to broaden our thinking on a lot of issues. We're excited to see how God's plan unfolds in our lives and our family over the next weeks, months and years to come.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
20 months
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Character
We recently had Drake's parent-teacher conference. I was eager to have a chance to talk to the teacher one on one and hear how Drake was doing at school. I knew, from the papers he brings home, that he was doing fairly well academically and Drake will honestly give us his behavior report every day and so we knew that there had not been any major issues (only some chattiness!). However, we struggle at home a lot with Drake. He is a perfectionist when it comes to a lot of things and also very competitive and that leads to frequent issues. So, the time came to get to hear from another adult about how he handles himself at school. His teacher started off the conference by telling us that Drake's character and honesty are very admirable and unusual for this age. Whew, I guess some things we are teaching are sinking in. She was so impressed with his honesty one day because she called several children up to get a treat for not getting any warnings that week (for talking). She called Drake's name. When she was going to give him his treat, he reminded her that he had gotten a warning for talking the day before so he shouldn't get the treat. She was so impressed with his honesty that she pulled him aside later and gave him the treat anyway. She also made the comment that when asked to use the word "believe" in a sentence in front of the class that his sentence was "I believe in God." We have struggled so much over the last few years with private vs. public education and which option is the best for our family. We want to protect him from bad influences but yet want him to be a light to the other kids as well. That was enough assurance, at least for now, that we have made the right decision.
Monday, October 31, 2011
14 months
Things you love:
broccoli and cauliflower
pizza
grapes
your puppy
being outside
seeing dogs from a distance (you aren't too sure of them when they get close)
being put down to go to bed (you are not a cuddler!)
Things you don't love:
riding in the car
green beans
anything made with sour cream or mayonnaise
riding in the car
not getting your way (you are getting the hang of fit-throwing!)
riding in the car
sleeping all night
riding in the car (this makes everything from running errands to visiting family a difficult task)
Things you are starting to say:
mama
dada
ball
uh-oh
tickle
keys
bye bye
woof woof (all animals either say "woof" or "grrrr" with an occasional "baaaa")
You are still taking two naps a day, usually about 1 1/2-2 hours each and generally go down and wake up happy each time. You have 11 teeth through now, with the other bottom molar looking like it could pop through any day. You are not a great night time sleeper. You really would like to have a snack (milk) most nights. Your night time sleep is completely unpredictable, you might sleep all night for several nights and then wake up several nights in row with no seeming pattern. However, if you wake up you have NO desire to be held or cuddled, you simply want a drink and to go back to bed! Hours and hours and weeks and weeks of attempting to make you cry it out seem to have no impact on your desire to sleep all night, every night. I have a feeling you are going to be one strong-willed child. You are wearing 18-24 month pants and 24months-2T shirts. I think you weigh close to 30lbs now. You are signing "please", "all done", "more" and "thank you" now. We are trying really hard to get you to sign all done before you start throwing your food or cup down. You are understanding more and more everyday and are starting to get better about following simple commands like picking things up and throwing things away. You are having surgery in a couple of weeks to fix your hernia, on the same day as your big sister. You love playing with your siblings and try to keep up with them. You also love to try to do the actions to songs that your siblings sing. You have added a lot to our family over the last 14 months!
broccoli and cauliflower
pizza
grapes
your puppy
being outside
seeing dogs from a distance (you aren't too sure of them when they get close)
being put down to go to bed (you are not a cuddler!)
Things you don't love:
riding in the car
green beans
anything made with sour cream or mayonnaise
riding in the car
not getting your way (you are getting the hang of fit-throwing!)
riding in the car
sleeping all night
riding in the car (this makes everything from running errands to visiting family a difficult task)
Things you are starting to say:
mama
dada
ball
uh-oh
tickle
keys
bye bye
woof woof (all animals either say "woof" or "grrrr" with an occasional "baaaa")
You are still taking two naps a day, usually about 1 1/2-2 hours each and generally go down and wake up happy each time. You have 11 teeth through now, with the other bottom molar looking like it could pop through any day. You are not a great night time sleeper. You really would like to have a snack (milk) most nights. Your night time sleep is completely unpredictable, you might sleep all night for several nights and then wake up several nights in row with no seeming pattern. However, if you wake up you have NO desire to be held or cuddled, you simply want a drink and to go back to bed! Hours and hours and weeks and weeks of attempting to make you cry it out seem to have no impact on your desire to sleep all night, every night. I have a feeling you are going to be one strong-willed child. You are wearing 18-24 month pants and 24months-2T shirts. I think you weigh close to 30lbs now. You are signing "please", "all done", "more" and "thank you" now. We are trying really hard to get you to sign all done before you start throwing your food or cup down. You are understanding more and more everyday and are starting to get better about following simple commands like picking things up and throwing things away. You are having surgery in a couple of weeks to fix your hernia, on the same day as your big sister. You love playing with your siblings and try to keep up with them. You also love to try to do the actions to songs that your siblings sing. You have added a lot to our family over the last 14 months!
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Fast Update on Drake
The long story short is that Drake went on anti-seizure meds on August 22, after meeting with a neurologist at St. Louis Children's Hospital. We really felt good about the doctor and the information she provided. To date, since being on meds he hasn't had any more seizures, yay!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Can I go to Drake's school now?
Hadley had her first day of preschool today, which she has been super excited about. Upon completing her first day she asked, "Can I go to Drake's school now?" Oh dear, preschool does last longer than one day, but once we talked about all the months she would go to preschool before she could start Kindergarten, she was good.
When we got to school, she just walked right in, hung up her bag, washed her hands, found a book and sat down like she had always been doing it. I had to get her attention to even tell me bye. I think preschool looks good on her.
When we got to school, she just walked right in, hung up her bag, washed her hands, found a book and sat down like she had always been doing it. I had to get her attention to even tell me bye. I think preschool looks good on her.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Onederful
Friday, July 8, 2011
Waiting
Drake had another seizure on June 23. This one was very similar to the last one, however it took him longer to come out of it. It was about 25-30 minutes before he could talk after this last one. I called the neurologist and he said he would like to start medication but we needed an appointment first. The next available appointment was not until July 25th. I was not ready to start medication because I wanted to make sure we had ruled out all possible causes before starting an anti-seizure medication with all of it's side effects. So, I called back to the neurologist and asked if he would order an MRI and a sleep study (since they have all happened in his sleep). He said these were not necessary at this point. He did order another EEG with total sleep deprivation, meaning keep him up all night and do the EEG and 8:30am. That is scheduled for Monday, July 11th.
In the meantime, we were just waiting...
Then, last week Drake was running a fever for a few days and had a sore throat, just some little virus. Well, while he was running the fever of about 102* he complained that everything out of his left eye looked like a DVD that was skipping. So, we went back to our pediatrician. I asked her to order the MRI and she agreed that it was not "unreasonable". So yesterday we went for the MRI. They tried to do it without sedating him first. We took the ipod for him to listen to but they must not have actually hit the play button because he said he couldn't hear it. Anyway, after a couple of tries they said there was too much movement. Even the slightest movement of his head causes distortion in the pictures, so they decided rather than keep trying it would be easier just to sedate him. He did great with them starting the IV and was "out" within minutes, maybe even seconds. He was to be in recovery for about 30 minutes but his heart rate was pretty low after wards so they kept him in recovery for about 2 hours. By the time he was home, he was his normal, full-of-energy self!
We got the call at 5pm from our doctor's office that they already had the results. They did find two small (3mm) lesions on the front of his brain. They are not sure if these are causing the seizures or not. Our doc just said to follow up with the neurologist at our appointment on the 25th. I was hoping the neurologist would want to cancel the EEG scheduled for Monday so that we can just explore these lesions but after a call to them this morning, he wants to still do it. So, my mom is going to help me split the night up on Sunday night and keep him up all night. Then, we go for the EEG at 8:30am. Gabe will be heading to camp for his week of Jr. Highers on Sunday so he gets to miss out on this experience.
So, for now, we wait...and I take sleeping pills. :)
Monday, July 4, 2011
Happy HOT 4th of July!
We spread out the festivities this year. We headed to a parade in Rochester on Saturday at 5:00. Saying it was hot was an understatement, I think the temp was about 95* with about 90% humidity. Poor Grady was soaked before we even got to the parade. He is one sweaty little dude. The kids loved hanging out with some friends during the parade and then we all had sandwiches together after the parade, thankfully where it was cool!
On the fourth, we headed out to meet some friends to catch the fireworks. Thankfully, my mom came to the house and stayed with sleeping Grady so we could just get the big kids out. It's always nice to be able to spend a little more one-on-one time with them once in awhile.
Friday, July 1, 2011
10 months
Saturday, June 11, 2011
8 dancing ballerinas
Hadley greeted her 4th year in style in some of her favorite ballerina friends. Hadley loved being a part of a ballet class this past school year. So, deciding on a ballerina party was a logical theme. This was a really fun party to put together. I had gotten in touch with a dance teacher that goes to our church several weeks before Hadley's birthday asking if she would be willing to come over for about an hour during Hadley's party to teach the girls a dance. She excitedly agreed.
**I was too cheap to actually have her party AT a dance studio because their charges for a party are a lot higher than I wanted to spend on a birthday party, so this turned out to be a MUCH cheaper way to do it!**
Unfortunately, the dance teacher I had recruited had a death in her family the week of the party and ended up being out of town. So, three days before the party I was scrambling to find a dance teacher. Within a few hours of sending out multiple pleas to people I had found one! Whew, disaster averted and party saved!
**I was too cheap to actually have her party AT a dance studio because their charges for a party are a lot higher than I wanted to spend on a birthday party, so this turned out to be a MUCH cheaper way to do it!**
Unfortunately, the dance teacher I had recruited had a death in her family the week of the party and ended up being out of town. So, three days before the party I was scrambling to find a dance teacher. Within a few hours of sending out multiple pleas to people I had found one! Whew, disaster averted and party saved!
I enlisted the help of several beauticians (ie, my mom, MIL, sister and SIL) to come help do nails and make-up before the girls devoured some pink-frosted donuts and learned and performed their dance. The party was a hit and I think the girls had a good time. 
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
9 months
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Update
EEG results on Drake came back normal so the doc suggested we just wait and see if he has any more seizures before we would do any further testing...
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Medical Drama
I was always a big fan of the show ER and have watched countless episodes of medical shows, however, I really prefer to leave the drama to TV. Unfortunately, though, we have been having some medical drama of our own around here.
A little background...on March 11, Drake woke up very disoriented, couldn't answer our questions like where we lived, etc. and we were concerned for about 40 minutes or so, then as he started becoming more aware we had him take a shower and then he threw up a few times. I took him to the doctor that day but by the time we got in to her office, he was acting completely fine and she thought it was probably just that he wasn't awake yet and had some kind of virus that caused the throwing up. I was fairly annoyed because I knew how he acted that morning was more than just "not being awake" but I didn't have any other proof.
Last Tuesday evening (May 10), Gabe was gone to Chicago for a staff retreat for a few days. I had put the kids to bed and was enjoying some kid-free time to myself on the couch. Drake came out of Hadley's room (where he has been sleeping since he and Grady share a room, but Grady wakes Drake up sometimes so he often sleeps in H's room) and asked to go to sleep in my bed because he was having a hard time falling asleep. I let him go crawl in my bed. I was having a hard time falling asleep that night for some reason and finally went to bed myself at 2am. Around 6:30am I felt the bed shaking and quickly jumped up to see Drake having a seizure in the bed next to me. It probably lasted about a minute but felt like forever at the moment. Once it was over I kept talking to him until he started making some noises like he was trying to talk. Then, I jumped up to grab my phone (and discovered it was OFF! so I had to wait for it to turn on, again seemed like forever in that moment!). I first called my mom... I know, I know..but at the moment I needed another person's opinion of what to do. She told me to hang up and call 911. So, I did. Then, I called a friend (who thankfully was IN her car just leaving a park where she had been doing her devotions) to come over to stay with Hadley and Grady until my mom could get to town. First, a firetruck arrived and they came in and checked Drake's blood sugar, did a quick check over him until the ambulance arrived. After asking several questions to me and Drake, they loaded him up and off we went to the hospital. At this point, Drake was awake and responding but slow to process what was going on. About 1/2 way to the hospital he started crying a little bit when he asked where we were going and the paramedic told him we were going to the hospital. Once in the ER, things happened pretty quickly. The nurse and the doctor we saw were both great. Drake was very brave and didn't even cry when they took blood. He also did a great job holding completely still for a chest xray and CT scan. After several hours in the ER and all the test results coming back normal we were sent home with instructions to follow up with our doctor the next day. Papa and Nana came over and kept us company in the ER and Gabe made it back from Chicago about 20 minutes before we got sent home!
We went to our doc the next day and she ordered an EEG to be done at St. John's. In the meantime, I've been paranoid to let Drake sleep by himself. So, he has either been in our bed or I've been sleeping with him in the basement.
I'm not sure when I'll feel ready to let him sleep alone again...
Today, we went for the EEG. His appointment was at 8:30am but he needed to be able to fall asleep during the test so they said to only let him sleep from 12-4am. Yikes. For a kid that normally sleeps 11 hours every night, I wasn't sure how that would go. He was very excited to stay up until midnight. Gabe took that shift (which he informed me this morning that he fell asleep from 11:20-11:45 while Drake was playing the Wii!). I took the 4am shift. When my alarm went off I felt like I had just gone to sleep, ugh. But I dragged us both out of bed and we first headed over to Walmart to pick out a lego set to work on. After about 30-45 minutes at Walmart we stopped off at Denny's for breakfast. We got back home about 6am and Drake started in on his legos. He worked on those right up until it was time to head to the hospital. He did great for the test. Let her hook him all up with the wires, cooperated for the awake portion of the test, which included heavy breathing (like you just ran a race) for 3 minutes, following commands with his eyes, and having a stobe light on him. Then, she said he could go to sleep, which took him less than 10 minutes to fall asleep. He only had to sleep for about 15-20 minutes and that was it. We were leaving by 10am. Now, we just wait for the results, which could take 3-7 days.
Here is Drake working on his legos this morning:
A little background...on March 11, Drake woke up very disoriented, couldn't answer our questions like where we lived, etc. and we were concerned for about 40 minutes or so, then as he started becoming more aware we had him take a shower and then he threw up a few times. I took him to the doctor that day but by the time we got in to her office, he was acting completely fine and she thought it was probably just that he wasn't awake yet and had some kind of virus that caused the throwing up. I was fairly annoyed because I knew how he acted that morning was more than just "not being awake" but I didn't have any other proof.
Last Tuesday evening (May 10), Gabe was gone to Chicago for a staff retreat for a few days. I had put the kids to bed and was enjoying some kid-free time to myself on the couch. Drake came out of Hadley's room (where he has been sleeping since he and Grady share a room, but Grady wakes Drake up sometimes so he often sleeps in H's room) and asked to go to sleep in my bed because he was having a hard time falling asleep. I let him go crawl in my bed. I was having a hard time falling asleep that night for some reason and finally went to bed myself at 2am. Around 6:30am I felt the bed shaking and quickly jumped up to see Drake having a seizure in the bed next to me. It probably lasted about a minute but felt like forever at the moment. Once it was over I kept talking to him until he started making some noises like he was trying to talk. Then, I jumped up to grab my phone (and discovered it was OFF! so I had to wait for it to turn on, again seemed like forever in that moment!). I first called my mom... I know, I know..but at the moment I needed another person's opinion of what to do. She told me to hang up and call 911. So, I did. Then, I called a friend (who thankfully was IN her car just leaving a park where she had been doing her devotions) to come over to stay with Hadley and Grady until my mom could get to town. First, a firetruck arrived and they came in and checked Drake's blood sugar, did a quick check over him until the ambulance arrived. After asking several questions to me and Drake, they loaded him up and off we went to the hospital. At this point, Drake was awake and responding but slow to process what was going on. About 1/2 way to the hospital he started crying a little bit when he asked where we were going and the paramedic told him we were going to the hospital. Once in the ER, things happened pretty quickly. The nurse and the doctor we saw were both great. Drake was very brave and didn't even cry when they took blood. He also did a great job holding completely still for a chest xray and CT scan. After several hours in the ER and all the test results coming back normal we were sent home with instructions to follow up with our doctor the next day. Papa and Nana came over and kept us company in the ER and Gabe made it back from Chicago about 20 minutes before we got sent home!
We went to our doc the next day and she ordered an EEG to be done at St. John's. In the meantime, I've been paranoid to let Drake sleep by himself. So, he has either been in our bed or I've been sleeping with him in the basement.
I'm not sure when I'll feel ready to let him sleep alone again...
Today, we went for the EEG. His appointment was at 8:30am but he needed to be able to fall asleep during the test so they said to only let him sleep from 12-4am. Yikes. For a kid that normally sleeps 11 hours every night, I wasn't sure how that would go. He was very excited to stay up until midnight. Gabe took that shift (which he informed me this morning that he fell asleep from 11:20-11:45 while Drake was playing the Wii!). I took the 4am shift. When my alarm went off I felt like I had just gone to sleep, ugh. But I dragged us both out of bed and we first headed over to Walmart to pick out a lego set to work on. After about 30-45 minutes at Walmart we stopped off at Denny's for breakfast. We got back home about 6am and Drake started in on his legos. He worked on those right up until it was time to head to the hospital. He did great for the test. Let her hook him all up with the wires, cooperated for the awake portion of the test, which included heavy breathing (like you just ran a race) for 3 minutes, following commands with his eyes, and having a stobe light on him. Then, she said he could go to sleep, which took him less than 10 minutes to fall asleep. He only had to sleep for about 15-20 minutes and that was it. We were leaving by 10am. Now, we just wait for the results, which could take 3-7 days.
Here is Drake working on his legos this morning:
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