Mother's Day 2009

I had a good Mother's Day, in that my kids are so special to me. Even after all these years, I can't believe I AM a mom. Being a mom is the hardest thing I've ever done, but also the most special, rewarding and loving. Bailey and Hannah made me some cute things. Hannah brought home a plant from school with a nice card she colored, and Bailey made me a wooden game in his woodshop class. Hannah also colored something for me in sunday school and Steve, the wonderful husband and dad that he is bought me a book, "Jon and Kate Plus 8- Mulitple Bles8ings". He knew I wanted a book to read, so he thought this would be a good one. He knows I like true stories, if anything, so I think it will be perfect.



I had to work for a few hours on Sunday,(bummer) and thought thoughout about how I should be with my kids and my family, and why am I not. I was relieved when Jenna, our manager called in and told us we could leave early, which ended up to be about 1:30pm. I made it home just in time to shower and head out to eat with Steve's mom, grandma and sisters. Although it's always a nice time, I often wish I could be with my mom and grandma on Mother's Day and shared more of the day with my kids and husband, instead of working. It's just a day- and I hope that each time I am able to see them I show them just how much I love and appreciate them. Love you mom and grandma and I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day !! Miss you.

Ten Blessings for Your Home this Mother's Day
by Holley

PEACE

May there be peace within your walls.
Psalm 122:7 NIV

JOY

May the God of hope fill you with all joy.
Romans 15:13


STRENGTH

May our Lord...encourage your hearts and strengthen you.
II Thessalonians 2:16, 17


SUCCESS

May He give you the desire of your heart
and make all your plans succeed.
Psalm 20:4

COMFORT

May Your unfailing love be my comfort.
Psalm 119:76

GRACE

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ…be with you.
II Corinthians 13:14

FAVOR

May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us.
Psalm 90:17

KINDNESS

May the Lord now show you kindness.
II Samuel 2:6

PROTECTION

May Your love and Your truth always protect me.
Psalm 40:11

LOVE

May Your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord,
even as we put our hope in You.
Psalm 33:22

Old MacDonald had a farm....

EI-EI-O and on his farm he had some goats, EI-EI-O

Steve is putting some metal roofing on his friend Jeremy's barn out in Glencoe. Hannah has been to this farm with daddy once or twice before, and loves all the animals they have there. I had to drop the kids off there on Saturday, while Steve worked and I also need to get to work. I gave the kids the camera and told them to take some pictures. They took ALOT of pictures, but I thought this one was so cute with all the baby goats lined up.

Here are some of the other animals they saw.

Hannah and dog "Hunter"

some ducks lounging

I love the color in chickens

horses

black cat in the grass

Bailey and dog "Bailey" :)

Hannah-- The runner?

Hannah's teacher thinks she is a very fast runner. I got this cute email the other day from her teacher. I added some recent pictures of Hannah at the end.


Sheri,
Hello, just wanted to touch base with you to fill you in on Hannah at school. She is doing a fine job academically and participating consistently - the same as when we chatted last. Excellent! The main reason I wanted to write to you this morning is to ask you if you know how great of a runner she is?! She is FAST! Oh my... I played tag with the students last week at the end of the day one time and I usually pretend to catch kids and pretend that I can't catch them. But with Hannah, I really had to sprint to catch her! Then this morning at the end of phy ed, the students had a race from the basketball courts to the door to go in, she won by a long shot! Cool! Maybe I'm way to pumped up about it because I coach track, but she can run!

Anyway, just thought I'd let you know. Have a great day,
Luke

Nothing to Fear- I am not afraid of anything with God by my side

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition,
with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Philippians 4:6

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me" (Psalm 23:4).

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day..." 2 Timothy 4:7,8


Dear Lord, life can be scary. There are many challenges and temptations that could pull me away from you. But you remind me that you are with me. Help me to stay near you in your Word so I can live my days without fear. Amen.

(My mom sent this to me-- taken from www.wels.net)

I've given up..... ( just for awhile)

The last few days our house has been turned upside down or maybe a tornado hit it, Hannah keeps telling me it is tornado season, ya know.

The proof I have is pictures. It tells the story... Bailey was supposed to get a new bed. A queen mattress set that will NOT go up our stairway, nor will it fit through a window or any other way. ( it was offered to us by Steve's sister and brother in-law).
They didn't make these old houses to fit queen mattress sets upstairs. We have a queen bed but it's a Sleep Number bed that comes apart in pieces. It's the only way to go in here I guess.
So right now the matress set sits in our downstairs "playroom", like it is part of the room.



Upstairs is the worst, because in order to make room for the new queen mattress set, I pulled Bailey's twin bed apart, and his twin box spring is in the hallway and one twin mattress in the bathroom ( from the bunk bed I took apart for Hannah), and the other mattress is still in his room to sleep on. Although it's a bit hard to find, with the new project that Bailey and Steve have decided to embark on, sports card sorting. They really did pick a good time to do it, might as well make another mess, when I didnt' know what to do with the first mess.

Bailey's "card" room



there is a bed in there somewhere:


the twin box spring in the hallway


even a mattress in the bathroom:


Finally our room has a new open corner because I gave Hannah my desk..... remember. That corner didn't stay empty for long though, of course it has to be utilized. It is now filled with the bunk bed railings and ladder, and a few bins of collecting garage sale stuff. Then I ran out of bins, and Hannah decided to clean out her room and get rid of things to sell this fall, and now I have a corner in my room dedicated to future garage sale items.



In another spot of our room, I have 2 1/2 bins of things from my desk, that I now have to figure out what to do with. I have a brilliant idea....I think I need a desk. OK... It's not really a financial option, so I still have to think of plan B.




I think I pretty much covered our turned upside down tornado house. It missed the living room and kitchen for now, and I work very hard every day to keep those rooms free from clutter. I just move the clutter to an already messy room. For now I've given up on the mess until I have a plan. I can't wait for my garage sale this fall and it should clear up some of our disaster, that is a long time to wait though. :(

Just as a reminder, my sale is open to anyone who wants to donate or drop off stuff to sell. If you have it marked with a price and initials, we keep track and you will make some $$. We didn't do it last year, and did a spring Memorial Day weekend sale instead. This year it will be back to Labor Day weekend.--
It is Dassel's 50th Anniversary of Red Rooster Days!!
My sale will be from Thurs Sept 3- Labor Day (7th). Most likely, I will NOT run the sale on Sunday the 6th, and have a birthday party for Hannah on that afternoon.

Happy Spring!! We've really had some nice days lately.

migraine mystery ongoing

A month ago Bailey was in to see Dr B., his neurologist in Minneapolis, for his ongoing headaches. At that time he had his medication dose increased, and we've been on the new dose for a month.

January is when we started to notice that the Propranolol wasn't working. He was on the highest dose possible for him, and his doctor re-evealuated things and started Bailey on the next drug. The one he is on now is called Verapamil, another blood pressure type medication. Since having him on this med., his headaches have increased to an all time high. 27 headaches in 4 months, several of them being pretty severe migraines, involving dizziness, feeling sick and many more of them lasting longer than usual.
Bailey is such a trooper and is taking this sucky part of life so well. He never complains about his headaches. (although I do)

I know immediately when he has one, I will hear....
"mommy"....(pause) -just the tone of his voice, before he says-- "I have a headache". That's his phrase. Sometimes I will respond to his "mommy"......(pause), and he will always pause, until I say... "what?" or,I repsond with "you have a headache?" before he says, because I know the tone.

He will rest it off or sleep it off. One night recently he actually wanted to go to bed early, he had slept for a few hours after school, because of the headache and then slept all night, probably a total of 12-14 hrs. He woke up feeling much better. :)

We always keep Motrin stocked-- it seems to help the best and fastest. We have been giving him the Midrin, (the other med. for his onset of a headache), and he says that helps bring the pain level down, but doesn't entirely get rid of it, so we do another dose, which we can 45 min later or just give the Motrin then and that has seemed to knock it down.
**********************************************
Today I called the clinic, and Dr B. is now switching him to the 3rd drug of choice.... Topamax. I am told this is a very safe drug,---it is a seizure drug used in adults, but it is much more well tolerated in kids with migraines. It has side effects of decreased appitite and he may act more tired at first. I really don't desire these effects, BUT if it helps with his headaches then maybe we can deal with them, and maybe they won't even happen. Along with those, we need to keep watch on his eyes, as it is very rare, but it can cause pressure in the eyes and redness.
He will take both medications, for 3 weeks, weaning him off the Verapamil, and then will be on the Topamax 50 mg- 1/2 tablet twice a day. (smallest mg dose available, so starting him off on a 1/2 tab to get his body used to it, and so that there is room to raise it later if need be)

Right now I'm not very optimistic, it's been over a year struggling with different doses. I was SO optimistic in the beginning, thinking we had a magic pill for his headaches he's had to deal with since he was only 4. Now being on the 3rd drug, I'm just not so sure "preventative" medicine is going to help him. Sometime this summer I might see what a chiropractor has to say about it all. It would be such a relief not to have to live life with a headache every other day, sometimes lately it has been daily...more of a relief for him, as he is the one who gets them.

I have observed some of his triggers, but each time he has a headache it could be something totally different. Not enough sleep seems to be a big one, too much activity, hot days or just a room being too warm (he likes to be cold), not eating on a schedule, (eating meals later than usual, or not eating enough), eating certain foods like too much chocolate, too much caffine, too much processed foods-- (although with the food thing none of it I can confirm for certain) It's too complex for me to keep track, and finally possibly stress and anxiety. Although to me he seems much more laid back as he grows up he feeds off the stress of his parents and others around him and possibly keeps alot of the stress built up inside. As a toddler and preschooler he was very anxiety ridden, very unsure of alot, and took alot of time to feel comfortable in situations, and maybe to a small extent he is still that way, although it's harder to spot.

When I ask Bailey what he thinks is causing his headaches, he most definatly says it's stress....his sister!!! Get rid of sister = headaches go away. Come on now, you guys love each other. All kidding aside......

Something is causing his headaches and until we figure out what that is, we keep trying, and I hope and pray something will work.

Every 2 years

Hannah lost a tooth today. Yea! She lost her first tooth on April 20, 2007, and her 2nd tooth on April 28, 2009. So what,? every 2 years she will loose a tooth ?:)

It took almost exactly 2 years to the day for her first real tooth to come in after she lost it. Just about a month ago is when her tooth finally poked through, and also the next one was coming in behind her 2nd loose one. At least we know we won't have to wait 2 more years for that one to come in. She's finally on a roll, well maybe nothing else seems to be loose yet. Next it will be everything will be loose at once and she won't have any teeth.

She was at the dentist a few weeks ago and since her next tooth was coming in behind the loose one, they hoped that it would fall out soon, and that the new tooth would move into place. Her teeth have been looking a bit more out of sorts than Bailey's. She had x-rays done and so far everything looks fine.