Home again

I have NEVER been more glad to be home that I am today... It seems like the last 24 hours have lasted a lifetime. We're all exhausted, and I'm so relieved that Andrew's surgery is behind us.

I'm too tired to fill you in on all the details tonight, but just wanted to let you know that we're home, Andrew is covering, and resting comfortably. Considering the amount of pain he has to be in, he's in a remarkably good mood -- smiling, wanting to play, and eating some. Thankfully the pain medication is making him sleepy and helping him to rest.

I have a feeling it's going to be a rough couple of days... Details to come, but tonight I'm off to bed.

The countdown begins...

Andrew's surgery date is fast approaching, and I've got a million things to do before we head over to Iowa City... We've known all along that it would be on April 30th, but they won't confirm the exact time until the day before.

Anyway, I got a call from the University Hospital on Monday and found out that his surgery will most likely be first thing in the morning on Thursday, which means we'll need to arrive at the hospital at 5:30 am. We immediately decided that it would be best to get a hotel! So, Matt's parents are coming down tomorrow afternoon and spending the night with Katherine and Caleb.

Andrea is going to take Caleb for a couple of hours in the morning so that I can take Andrew to Flash and get his pictures taken. I got him the cutest little Gymbo outfit today, so he should look super dooper handsome!! Then we're all going to have lunch together (I'm picking up Jimmy John's on the way home) and Caleb and I are going home to get things in order. We made banana bread for breakfast and reverse chocolate chip cookies (chocolate cookies with white chips) for a treat. Tomorrow afternoon we're going to get a roast and all the fixins together so that all Fran has to do is plug in the crock pot Thursday morning. That way they'll have dinner taken care of, and little miss picky (aka Katherine) will have something acceptable to eat for dinner.

I'm so nervous about this surgery. He should be in surgery between 3 and 4 hours. Oh, and they've warned me about the recovery -- the bladder spasms, uncontrollable crying, a catheter for two weeks. Oh yea... these next two weeks are going to be a blast. My heart just breaks for the poor little guy... The list of things he can't do is much longer than the list of things he can... UUUUGH!

More to come.

All is well...

As a little background, our bedroom is the hub of activity in the morning. It's where the kids and I cuddle before we start our day, they eat their breakfast (I feed them breakfast in bed every morning), they get dressed in here, brush their teeth, etc.... Really, all they do is wake up and stumble into our room in the morning. Everything they need is in there. They only leave when I have to force them out the door to take Katherine to school.

So back to this morning... By the time the sun rose, Caleb had abandoned the bed on the floor that Matt made him (mostly because he had puked so many times that there was nothing left of it) and crawled in bed with us. I got up as usual and carried Katherine into our room, put a show on for her, and went downstairs to make her pancakes. Caleb was still passed out in bed beside her. I came upstairs and we chatted and cuddled while she ate. I left the room to grab her clothes, and while I was gone, Caleb had woken up and downed her entire cup of water. I nearly had a heart attack. All night long, he had thrown up the tiniest amounts of water and now he chugs 8+ ounces.... Lord have mercy! In a few minutes we had to jump in the car... I just about had a panic attack! The thought of puke all over the car about sent me over the edge. I can handle a lot of things -- puke all over the car -- not so much!

So off we went to school and to bring Riley down to the groomer. Since we'd be gone for a while, I made him bring a bucket "just in case" and wouldn't let him eat. The poor kid was starving! We were gone for about 45 minutes, and thankfully nothing. When we got home he begged for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, so I made him one, and then got some puzzles and we did them on the hardwood floor. After all, if the worse case scenario were to happen, vomit is much easier to clean on hardwood than carpet...

Anyway, Caleb is completely better. He's eaten like a horse all day, had tons of energy and even played outside tonight. I'm not sure what happened, but after all the chaos last night, he seems to have made a complete recovery sometime between 5 am and 8 am.

Thank goodness!! I'm so ready to enjoy the nice weather tomorrow!!

Still sleeping...

Caleb looks terrible. He's pale and almost gray in color. His poor little eyes have bags under them, and he's passed out in my bed. He begged for milk all night long, but I just couldn't give it to him, as he threw up even the tiniest amounts of water.

I'm going to have to wake him up soon. I need to drive Katherine to school and then drop Riley off at the groomer. I'm just hoping that he doesn't get sick in the car. UUUUUGH. I can't even imagine!

Oh, and would you know.... as soon as the nice weather hits again, someone in this house is sick! UUUUGH... I'm going to lose my mind!

Please...

.... trust me when I tell you that there is absolutely NOTHING in the world like needing to take a shower at 2 am because you just got puked on.

UUUUGH.... Caleb definitely has the flu. I called the doctor and he ruled out a concussion -- evidently the timing was coincidental.

So after yet another change of the sheets, and a shower on my part, we're ready to try this whole sleep thing again. But really.... I'm almost too tired to fall asleep, or afraid what'll happen if I do....

LOOOONG night....

Tonight after gymnastics Katherine and I went to my mom's house to pick up Caleb (he always stays with her on Tuesday nights while we head down to Chow's) and Matt grabbed some take-out. We sat down to eat, and after we were done, Katherine and Matt went outside to play with the neighbor kids. Since Caleb hadn't eaten well all day, I made him stay inside with me and eat a few bites before he joined the other kids. Now... I am most definitely not a "clean plate" kind of mom. I don't shove food down their throats or make them eat certain things. However, tonight of ALL nights, I insisted Caleb eat before he went outside to play.

Wow.... do I feel horrible now.....

I'm not exactly sure when happened, but somehow, Caleb and Walker collided and both took pretty good blows to head. All of a sudden, Andrea comes running up the deck steps to get me. I hand her Andrew and find Matt holding Caleb. He's bawling, bloody and has thrown up twice.... once on Matt, once in the lawn. Fun times, I tell ya!!

We both immediately assume that he threw up because he was so upset, so Matt took him upstairs and put him in the bathtub. After he got cleaned up, teeth brushed, and jammies on, Matt settled him into our bed and put on a movie for him. Shortly thereafter, he threw up again, and this time it was a TON! UUUUGH.

So, we change the sheets and fix him a make shift bed on our floor. Since Andrew can't get anywhere near any type of illness this week (his surgery is next Thursday), I'm trying to keep them as "separate" as possible, while still keeping an eye on them both.

A few minutes ago, he threw up a fourth time. I feel so bad for him. He's tired, crying, begging for milk, and forced to get up so we can change the sheets AGAIN.

To top it all off, Matt is in some management seminar all day tomorrow, which means he's unreachable. UUUUUUGH. The next 24 hours could be really long. I just pray the rest of us escape this!

First meet at Chow's

Yesterday was a BIG day in Katherine's life. It was her first meet at Chow's and she couldn't wait to get in the gym and give it her all.

They had the kids broken down into 4 groups that rotated around the gym -- bars, beam, floor and vault. All of the girls in her TAG class were in her group as well as some much older girls on the recreational side that could do similar skills.

Now... the perfectionist in me would have preferred to have the girls all wear the same leotard, like they did at her previous gym. I like the unified look. Katherine liked how "special" it made her feel. However, that's just not the way Chow's does it. They can wear any leotard they want. It's much more relaxed, much more fun really.... It was set up like a real meet -- designed to give the girls a feel for what could lie ahead for them. Each of groups was led around the gym by the girls currently on the competitive team (level 5 - level 10), and then judged.

Now -- I will say this... I have NO idea how the girls were judged. I'm not sure if they were judged based on number of skills completed, how they executed those skills, etc... In any event, at the awards ceremony each girl was given a medal for competing and then a score sheet with the four events listed below. A ribbon was attached for each of the events indicating their place i.e. blue, red, etc, but it was possible for more than one girl to get a blue (or red) ribbon on each event. Any guesses on how our little Katherine did???

4 events, 4 blue ribbons. She was the ONLY one to get all blues. When she went up to the podium to collect her hardware, she was beaming and I didn't think she was ever going to put her hands back down to her side. I was so proud of her!! It was definitely one of those proud Mommy moments.

Oh, I can't believe I almost forgot this..... After the meet was over, the older girls did several tumbling passes to illustrate how the skills progressed. It was incredible to watch.... how the basic moves our girls are perfecting turn into the twisting, flipping, high passes you see in competition. Katherine's eyes were bugging out of her head. It was so great for her to see. Then..... there is a guy who used to train and coach at Chow's (his mother will be one of Katherine's coaches this summer) who is currently training at the men's "Olympic hopeful" gym (I'm not sure what it's called....) in Colorado. He did a demonstration on the rings and then showed off his tumbling passes. Oh. My. Goodness. Incredible. Who knows if he'll make it, but it'd be incredible if he did. Chow's could have kids going to the Olympics in back to back years.

I have a ton of pictures of the big day which I'll upload and edit soon. Matt also got each event on video, so if I figure out how to upload it, I'll post that as well.

My baby boy...

Yesterday we played outside on the swing set all afternoon and enjoyed the gorgeous weather. As always, my little Andrew was all smiles..... just happy to be with us, in the middle of all the action!

Rhyme time

Today on the way down to the zoo Caleb and I were chatting about tornado sirens (yea, I know.... how random is that???), and he asked me if I'd play the rhyme game with him. It's a little word game where I say the first word, and he says a word that rhymes with it. It doesn't technically have to be a "real" word -- just so long as it rhymes. For example, if I say "cat" he could say "bat", "mat", "glat" etc...

Anyway, as we were waiting to get on the interstate, a big truck pulls up beside us. He immediately gets excited and says, "Mommy, there's a truck!! What rhymes with truck?? I know, FUCK. HHHHHMMMMM..... FUCK, that's a silly word. I've never heard that before. FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! Try saying it Mommy! It sounds so silly coming out of our mou-fes" (mouths in Caleb speak).

Oh my goodness, I'm telling ya it was all I could do to hold back the laughter. I was literally biting the inside of my cheek and had tears rolling down my face. I knew I couldn't look at him because I'd lose my game face, so I just said, "Caleb, we don't say that word. It's a super naughty word -- the naughtiest of them all, and if you say that at someone's house, their Mommy won't them play with you anymore. Please don't say that again". I then looked back at him to make sure he understood, and he said, "Oh Mommy!! It must be a super naughty word because it made you cry. I promise I'll never say fuck again!"

Good heavens! There are times I when it's all I can do to keep a straight face with that kid! I couldn't be mad at him because he was so innocent and really didn't know it was a naughty word, and all I wanted to do it sit and laugh at the whole situation.

Odds and ends....

I just got back from weight watchers with the crew (my mom, Danyel and our newest addition, Kelly, who I used to work with back in the Principal days) and left with a smile on my face. I lost another 3 pounds, which I was elated with considering the mountain of Easter candy I've eaten over the past week. I'm just glad that the number on the scale is going in the right direction! Oh, and watch out... I just might get crazy and start exercising!

In Andrew news.... Over the past few days his sleep pattern has been horrible. He's been up 6 or 7 times a night ... sometimes needing to eat, but most of the time, just needing to be comforted. On top of that, his nose has been running, and he's been a total drool factory. Anyway, I was feeding him yesterday when he decided that it'd be a *great* idea to chomp down on me as hard as he could. Oh man, I'm tellin' ya..... I about hit the ceiling. Seriously, it brought tears to my eyes. My reaction shocked Little Man and he started to cry. Actually, WAILING would be more accurate. I felt horrible, and gave him a big hug. After that, I checked out his gums and guess what??? A tooth! His first one! It's barely there, but if you look VERY closely you can see a tiny white nub. Now -- here's the deal. Getting a tooth at 6 months is super dooper early in the Hanson household. Katherine got her first tooth the week before she turned 1 and Caleb was right around 11 months. However, the tooth explains a lot -- the runny nose, sleepless nights and wanting to be held. I'll take a picture of it as soon as you can actually see it, but for now, you'll just have to trust me that it actually exists!

Today was a gorgeous day. We spent the majority of it outside and enjoyed the sunshine. We went to the park with three other families in our neighborhood, and then resumed the play date in our backyard. When the little ones went down for their nap, Caleb had a friend over and they continued to play until the big kids got home from school. When that happened, the backyard was filled with kids running around. At one point there were 10 little ones running around! The kids had a great time!

Tomorrow is supposed to be another great day, so I'm thinking of taking the boys down to the zoo in the morning. Tomorrow night is Katherine's big music concert, so we'll be skipping gymnastics and heading over to school. If we can get a decent seat, I'll take pictures and post them tomorrow night!

Our weekend in pictures

We had a wonderful weekend, jam packed with activities -- outdoor play dates, an Easter egg hunt, a birthday party, a trip to the park, a roaring fire in our fire pit, and most importantly, lots of time spent with family and friends. It was a wonderful few days!

So -- here's the pictures from this weekend. For some reason, they didn't upload in the order I intended, but that's fine I guess.....

My sweet Andrew. He absolutely loves hanging out in his little swing outside. He sat in here while the kids played outside and later watched the egg hunt from his perch.




Katherine and Caleb waiting to check out their loot after the hunt.

Katherine and Caleb with their cousins, Morgan (the one in the pink coat) and Hannah.

Just watchin' the hunt! I can't help but to wonder what he's thinking about ...

The kids in action!

Isn't this little outfit a hoot??? My mother in law made Andrew the most adorable blanket, and some of the material is this super soft, dimpled, light blue fabric. One day when my mom was out, she found this warm full body suit thing for him to wear with it. Isn't it perfect??? Those ears are irresistible! They just crack me up!!

These next pictures are from the park.

Here is my little Katherine -- climbing high!

Caleb LOVED the slide and went up and down it about 100 times -- head first, sideways, on his tummy, running up it -- pretty much every way imaginable. He had a blast!

Katherine practicing the monkey bars...

Katherine and Emma loved this spinning thing. It made me dizzy just watching them!

Happy Easter everyone! I hope your weekend was as wonderful as ours!

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Easter!

We've been super busy the last few days. Friday night we hung out with the neighbors and played outside. Oh, how glad I am that the warmer weather is upon us! Yesterday we had a birthday party to go to for one of Katherine's friends (and coincidentally Matt used to work with her Dad at Principal, IMG and Aviva), and then last night we had the traditional Easter egg hunt at our place and ordered in some super yummy Cool Basil takeout for all the adults. So fun!!

Oh, Friday morning I had to take Andrew to Dr. Jon. He's been sick and I could feel wheezing in his lungs when I was holding him. Wouldn't you know.... bronchitis. UUUUUGH! If we're all healthy for a solid week it'll be a miracle. With his surgery coming up, I have NO INTENTION whatsoever to have him leave the house for the week leading up to it. If he's at all sick, they won't put him under and given the nature of the operation, I really think that the earlier we can get it done, the better. So NO PLAY DATES for us for an entire week.

Today after church we died eggs. I'm in the process of cooking and then we're heading up to mom and dad's house for dinner. The Easter bunny brought the kids some new kites, so they can't wait to fly them at Grammy and Poppops house!

I have a ton of pictures which I PROMISE to upload before I go to bed tonight. Katherine is spending the night with Grammy, so I should actually have a few minutes to actually edit them! So tonight -- PICTURES!!

Summer!

OK, so I know summer isn't officially here. Actually, we're only a few days into spring, but that's just a technicality right??? One of my absolute favorite things about summer has begun, and it just brings a smile to my face!

Last night after school we didn't really have any plans. I was going to take Katherine and Caleb to the park to play for a while, but Andrew was still napping, so I sent them out to the backyard while I went upstairs to check on Andrew. In the two minutes it took me to check on him, Grant (one of our neighbor boys who is also in Kindergarten) joined the kids on the swing set. A few minutes later, Emma and Olivia were over, and then the Hodapp boys joined in. It was great! The kids were running around the backyard, laughing, and wearing off some of that energy that had been building up all winter long. After about an hour, all the kids ended up in my living room, and Katherine was teaching the boys tricks on the beam. If only I had my video camera. It was such a hoot!!

That's what I LOVE about this neighborhood... all the kids, all the parents who have become our dearest friends, and the sense of community our children are learning. It's so wonderful. And... I have to admit, I love that Katherine wants to invite her friends over to our house!! I love to see her in action -- how she plays with her friends, what games they make up, and what goes on in their developing minds!

I'm so ready for summer... so ready for the lazy, carefree days, so ready to abandon the rigid schedule of the school year, so ready to have kids running in and out of the house, so ready for the smell of sunscreen, so ready to have the constant noise and chaos fill the house. So ready. So very ready.

NKOTB...

AAAHHH, last night was a GREAT night! It seriously rocked! In fact, I'm still giddy about it!

I went to the New Kids On The Block concert with Danyel and her sister, and I haven't had so much fun in ages! We literally sang and danced for two straight hours, and by the time we left, my ears were ringing to the point of numbness and my throat was killing me from yelling so loud. Oh, it was a BLAST!! (.... and I'm pretty sure I racked up at least a couple weight watchers activity points in the process! HA!!).

Back in the day, I was one of those crazed little girls who dreamed of marrying Jordan Knight. My walls were literally plastered with his posters. I knew the words to every song and the steps to every dance. Oh, I'm tellin' ya.... I had mad love for these boys! So you can understand why I was sooo excited to go to the concert. I was fulfilling a childhood dream! LOL.

Seriously though.... It's been probably 20 years since I listened to their CD's and shockingly enough, I still remember ALL the words to EVERY song. It was crazy! Oh, and then there's Danyel -- she actually had the nerve to ask if a couple of the songs were their old or new stuff. BLAH! Shame on you girl!! LOL.

The other thing about the concert ... the people watching was FABULOUS! Tons of people dressed up 80's style with all their NKOTB wear. So fun! Basically, it was a mom-fest.... Tons of girls my age, listening to retro music and havin' a rockin good time! AAAHHHHH.......

Feels great!

Tonight I left weight watchers down exactly 5 pounds. It feels great! Such a wonderful start to a long journey, and I'm so glad that I'm on the way!

He's on his way....

HOME! Matt has been gone on a business trip since Sunday afternoon, so it's been just the kids and I this week. Things have gone remarkably smoothly -- the kids have been angels, we've been busier than ever, and the kiddos have gotten in some good Grammy time (aka -- I've had tons of help!). I'll fill you in on all the details later tonight when I get a chance to sit down, but I was just checking in because I've realized it's been a lifetime since I've updated.

One *BIG* piece of news.... (PUN INTENDED)....

Danyel and I have decided to join weight watchers. It's time to shed the extra weight that's been building up for AGES and get in shape for summer. It's all about healthy clean living! So there you have it.... Essentially "The Biggest Loser" 'hood style! So the race is on... the first one to lost 20 pounds wins, and we're not stoppin' there! Watch out! This 'hood is going to have two more hot mommas in the upcoming months! Can't wait! I'm soooo ready for this! I can't thank Danyel enough for suggesting this! Anyway, tonight is our second weigh in -- our first to determine how much weight we've lost! My fingers are crossed!