Alphabet song

Jessie was singing the alphabet song the other day and when she got to the lmnop part she sang "a lemon and a pea". Brandon informed her that was wrong that it was lmnop and she said " I know that is what I said a lemon and a pea." After arguing about it for a few minutes Brandon finally gave up and told me " I give up she is impossible."

Jessie's turn

Now Jessie is going to have to have surgery. She keeps getting strep throat, she'll be off the antibiotics for a few days and then it comes back. She is on the third round of antibiotics and the doctor is setting her up with an ENT to have her tonsils taken out. At least that can be done here in Pueblo so we won't have to keep going up to Springs. Brandon is taking it harder than she is. He started crying and said he didn't want her to have surgery because she might die. Of course he was also very tired at the time and he is feeling the stress of all the problems we have been having. I wish I was better at keeping things away from him but he is way too perceptive and he worries too much for a kid his age. Jessie takes everything in stride and unless it hits her later, she isn't worried and is just happy that she can have popsicles after. I guess I should be happy that nothing catastrophic has happened and we are still making it so far but they say God only gives you as much as you can handle and I think he has forgotten to check up on how we are doing because I am not sure how much more I can take this year.

surgery update

The first few days after the surgery Brandon was doing well with only a little pain if he tried to do too much. He had a slight fever after the surgery but it went away and there was no other sign of infection and we had to keep reminding him to keep calm. It is amazing how such a little incision and still cause a lot of pain if you move wrong. Any way on Monday we sent him to school and he didn't even want any tylenol or anything for pain and he was fine. About 10:30 while we were on our way to the grocery store the school called. They said Brandon was complaining that his incision was hurting and they took his temp because they had already sent several students home sick that morning and he was running a slight fever so we had to bring him home. Now when I got him home and took his temp it was only 99 and I figured it was because he was hurting. Other wise he was feeling fine but the school policy is you can't send the child back to school for 24 hours after the fever is gone so we knew he would be out Tuesday for sure. On the way to get Brandon, Jessie started looking like she wasn't feeling good and she was running a fever also. So on Tuesday, Brandon was acting fine except for a runny nose and a cough and a slight fever, and we had to take Jessie to the doctor because she was complaining of a sore throat and strep has been going around. She was confirmed with strep. The doctor said Brandon just has some virus and it would just have to run it's course. Scott then made me a doctor's appointment because my throat was hurting and I suspected that I had strep also ( which I do). By Wednesday, Brandon was finally feeling lousy enough that I wasn't regretting keeping him home and his fever spiked and we were all just feeling lousy. Poor Scott was the only one not sick. Brandon's nurse from the surgeon called to see how he was doing and she said that sometimes it happens that if a child has a virus that is in incubation that sometimes the surgery sets it off and the kid gets really sick right after the surgery which is what seems to have happened to him. Anyway everyone is feeling better now and we were able to have mom's birthday party on Saturday and enjoy it and Brandon will be going back to school tomorrow and hopefully won't pick up something else. Yesterday was the first day Brandon was off of surgery restrictions and he felt really good and ran everywhere. I don't think he walked anywhere.
On a brighter note here are a few cute things the kids said and did. When you ask Jessie why she is so cute she says it is because everyone loves her. And if I am getting on her about something she tells me "now mom, mind your manners". The other night I went to check on them because they were having trouble sleeping and Brandon was leaning over her bed singing to her and stroking her hair. I told him he was such a good big brother and he said "I know". Last night I was trying to get them to sleep and they kept talking and laughing and Brandon said that there were just too many jokes in their heads and they had to get them out before they could fall asleep.

Brandon's Surgery

Brandon had his surgery yesterday. We had to get up at 4 am and be up in Springs by six. We did okay until we got to the hospital and then couldn't find where to go and there wasn't anybody on duty at the front desk. A flight nurse happened by and showed us where to go. It was a good thing we took into account for getting lost and left enough time. Once we were checked in, Scott's brother-in-law Louie and the assistant pastor at his church, who had driven up, came into the room and said a prayer for Brandon. After they left we sat around the room for a little while and watched tv until it was time for the surgery. The surgery was scheduled for 7:30 and they came and got him right on time. They only allowed one parent in the operating room so Scott went in with Brandon until he was asleep, which took like five minutes, and then he was back in the room to wait with me. They told us the surgery was going to take about an hour because the doctor thought there were two small hernias. Scott had taken off to go find some food and he hadn't even gotten back to the room yet when the doctor came in and said they were done. It had only been maybe a half hour. He said there was only one hernia after all, just a lot of fat pushed through. The hole itself was probably only maybe a few centimeters big. So I went to recovery before Scott even got back to the room. The nurse said that Brandon would probably sleep for awhile because they gave him twice the amount of anethesia since they thought he would be in longer, but Brandon started coming around when he heard my voice. At first he was okay and was drinking some juice but then he started getting sick. They gave him some medicine for the pain and nausea but he just wasn't tolerating anything well. Since his vitals were good we left recovery and they took us back to the room where Scott was waiting. There we tried to get him to hold some liquid down. He was just so tired and had so much anethesia in him, plus running a slight fever, that he just felt crummy. He wanted to go home but we knew he would be so miserable riding home for an hour when he was feeling so sick. They finally gave him some different medicine that they use as a last resort because it causes the patient to fall asleep but that is what he needed. Brandon was afraid that if he fell asleep they would do more surgery. The meds kicked in quickly and he went to sleep. The problem was that as he slept his oxygen stats kept dropping below 87 which would set off the alarms and a nurse would call and see if we needed something. I spent an hour watching the monitor and waking him up enough to take deep breaths to keep his stats up until he woke up enough to stay awake. Besides the kink in my neck from looking up at the monitor, it worked wonders. Once we got him to stay awake and get dressed, he said he felt much better and he was acting more like himself. The nurses had given him a blanket and a bear to make him feel safer and he told the nurse he was going to give his bear to Jessie when he got home so the nurse gave him another one to give to her so he could keep his. Once we hit the car, he immediately wanted to go get food. Amazing because an hour ago he couldn't even stand eating a popsicle and now he was starving. He ate two fruit bars on the way home and half of a chicken sandwich when we got home. Jessie was so happy to have him home she couldn't stop watching him and mothering him. Then they both took naps. Jessie woke up at 5:30 when she realized brother was gone and made mom put in Shrek to watch because there wasn't anything good on tv that early so she was pretty tired too. He was still feeling a little bad last night with a low grade fever but this morning the fever was gone and he is just stiff and sore. The incision is only about 3/4 to a half of an inch long and covered with steri strips. The fun part is going to be keeping him calm and only doing quiet activities for a week. The surgeon told me good luck with that. He has to avoid gym and recess for a week and he is worried that he will get into trouble with the teachers for not taking gym. We keep telling him we have a note from the doctor so they won't be mad. All in all it went as well as it could have and at least it is all over and hopefully we will never have to do something like that again. I am so proud of him. He was so brave and strong through the whole thing. The nurses said they wish all their patients were like him, he never cried or anything, he just did what they told him to. Thank you for all the prayers. They were greatly appreciated.

North Pole Trip

Mom had a little money set aside for summer family trips so this year's vacation was going to the State Fair and the North Pole in Colorado Springs. The kids got to see all the free shows at the fair and the petting zoo and ride the ponies, which they always like. When we went to the North Pole, we didn't tell them where we were going so it would be a surprise. They were so excited. The first place we went was Santa's House. They were still a little overwhelmed and didn't talk much to Santa. Jessie said she wanted another doll house and Brandon wanted a real horse. Then we started on the rides. It is a good deal because you pay one price and can ride the rides all you want. Most of the rides are pretty mellow, which is the way the kids like it. Jessie and Brandon were able to ride on all of them together or with me and Scott. They were really liking it. There was only one ride they didn't like. Scott talked us into going on the Tilt-a-Whirl. They were not impressed with that one. Luckily that was one of the last so it didn't make them not want to ride any more. It did rain on us a few times. The first was no big deal. We just went into some of the gift shops while we waited it out. We told the kids one more ride and then we were going home and then it started to rain a second time. It downpoured on them during the ride and they had to stop it early. It wasn't a big deal because we were ready to go home anyway but the problem was that everyone in the park decided to go home also because it was an hour before the park closed anyway. It took us forever to get out and onto the main road because traffic was so bad. All in all it was a good day and a good way to end the summer and forget our troubles for a little while.

Brandon's surgery

Brandon had his preop appointment today. His surgery is set for next Friday, September 25 at 7:30AM. We have to be at the hospital at 6AM and since it is in Springs, we have to leave here at 5 which means getting up at like 4AM. Maybe we will be so tired we won't be as worried. Mom has offered to watch Jessie for us, and I am sure if she knew the time before hand she might have had second thoughts. At least she only has to walk over and hopefully Jessie will stay asleep for awhile so mom won't have to entertain her that early in the morning. The good thing is that Brandon should be released by 10:30 so we will be home for lunch and with any luck naps. I'll send another blog after the surgery and let everyone know how it went. lots of prayers.

Jenny’s Special Birthday Gifts

I’m sneaking into Jenny’s blog to write a story I think is cute. I thought it would be fun to take the grandkids shopping so they could pick out a birthday gift for their mother. I gave them free reign (within a reasonable price range) of what they thought would be the perfect gift for their mother. I was really curious to see what they would come up with. So the three of us set out for Wal-Mart. Before we left on our shopping trip Brandon told his mother he wanted to get her flowers, those pretty cut flowers in the case by the front door of Wal-Mart he said. Jenny talked him out of those because she told him although she loved flowers, once they died she wouldn’t have anything to keep forever from him so he decided he would rather give her something she could keep. They both decided jewelry was what mommy needed so we headed for the jewelry and I figured I would start them at the first aisle and let them look at everything on the racks and then decide which one they wanted. I didn’t realize the first aisle was the children’s jewelry. Jessie wanted to get some Tinkerbelle bracelets that would only fit a child and I don’t think she really had mommy in mind at that time. I told her we were shopping for mommy and not her and maybe she could get those later so then she liked a Hannah Montana necklace that would fit her mommy. I told her we would keep looking but if that’s what she wanted to get her we would come back for it. Brandon tends to just zero in on something, like it calls to him, and then he is set on that item no matter how many other things he looks at and this time was no exception. He headed straight for a box of earrings and that was exactly what he thought his mommy should have. Jessie is more of a shopper so she looked at everything. She liked the costume jewelry rings and picked one of the largest red stones I’ve ever seen on a ring. It was a huge square stone with a couple of small diamonds on each side. The rings weren’t the kind you can size and I was afraid if it didn’t fit any of Jenny’s fingers then she wouldn’t be able to wear it at all and Jessie would be very disappointed so she decided to keep looking (you’re welcome Jenny). Finally, she decided on a gold and purple necklace. Then she wanted to give her a second gift so I said they could pick out another gift that was from both of them. Jessie wanted to give her a card of earrings but it was very similar to the ones Brandon had picked. He wanted to give an identical box of earrings to the ones he had already picked out but with a different color stone but I thought maybe a bit more variety would be nice so they decided on a card of beaded bracelets. We thought it was a card of about eight different bracelets but it turned out to be all one bracelet and when pulled out, looks like a very pretty slinky. So happy with their purchases we paid for them and some gum that they talked Grandma into. Then we stopped at my house to wrap the presents and they were very picky about the tissue paper and bags we used. They both decided they wanted to give her a card too and luckily I have a bunch of cards I get free in the mail so they each picked one out. Fortunately, I had two with a dog that looked like Shane on it because they both wanted that one. Brandon signed his card himself but dictated what he wanted to say on it to me. It read, “I wish you have a very good birthday for many many years. P.S. I love you very much and we are back from Wal-Mart.” Jessie “signed” her card too and dictated on hers the message, “Dear Mommy, I love you, I want you, I don’t want you to die.” What with Bill, their dog Sara, and several of our special cats dying recently, death is a bit on her mind. They gave their individual presents to her on her birthday, which really helped make it a special day, especially since Brandon had that bus fiasco on her birthday, and gave her the bracelet at the family party on Saturday. Jenny wore the other jewelry they gave her at the party too. Jenny loved the fact they had picked out the gifts themselves, which made them very special, and I have some really special memories of our shopping trip as well. See the pictures below: