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Sunday, April 24, 2011

HAPPY EASTER!

What a wonderful family weekend!  We did not have a moments rest and I cannot believe it is back to work already but boy did we squeeze as much as possible into this Easter weekend.  Our weekend started off with a jewelry party Friday evening.  Raelynn and I hosted a Premier Jewelry Party to help out our sweet neighbor who was just getting started.  The party was a lot of fun of course and it was nice to just hang out and talk to friends.  Since it was a "girl thing"  Terry, Coop and Popo all went out for dinner.  From what I hear, Coop drew a lot of attention from the ladies :) It was a fun but hectic evening for all of us.  The party finally wrapped up around 8 or 8:30pm and we scooted the kids to bed.  As I was tucking Raelynn into bed she says to me, "Mom when I wake up in the morning will our house be all cleaned up?"  "Of course" I told her. "Do you not like it messy?" I asked.  "No I just like it the way it usually is".  Awe I love that girl.  So I hustled around and got the house back to the spotless way we like it.  I finished up and was absolutely exhausted.  I sat down on the couch only to spring back up remembering that we would want to decorate Easter Eggs on Saturday and I needed to get the eggs on to boil.  I got them started and then went back in to sit down.  I was soooo tired.  I decided to go to bed instead of staying up to work.....not giving another thought to the eggs that were boiling on the stove.  Around 12:30am I was awaken by Terry reminding me of the eggs I had left on the stove which he had been awaken by as all 12 of them exploded all over our kitchen!  The house was filled with smoke and smelled horrible.  We spent the next hour cleaning the kitchen from top to bottom.  Terry and I always ponder how long one should boil eggs before they are hard but Terry decided Saturday night that 2 1/2 hours was a little too long. It could have been much worse but it is Sunday and I can still smell burnt eggs!!!!



Raelynn and Tenley Eck at the Jewelry Party

So after a long night the alarm came way too early at 5:15am.  I literally drug myself out of bed and headed to the gym.  By the time I made it back home I was feeling a little bit better and it was time to wake the troops and head to soccer.  Raelynn played well again but they got killed!  From Soccer we ran some errands, headed home to decorate eggs, ate lunch, bathed, attended a birthday party and then rushed to Aunt Bonnie's to celebrate Easter.  We had the busiest day ever but it was so fun!  The kids were great all day and we had so many laughs.




Today the fun continued, of course the Easter Bunny visited over night so we had eggs hid all over the house and then a basket full of goodies.  We went to church and then dinner and then a movie, African Cats, that Raelynn had been asking to see for weeks.  I was a little nervous as to whether either of the kids would like it but they really did and watched it well.  By the time we got home we were all ready to be home.  The kids played and played and Terry and I got a few weekend chores done.



Raelynn understands the meaning of Easter and today we asked Cooper if he did.  His response was it was a day about getting Easter Eggs, so Raelynn explained the real meaning to him.  It is great to listen to her explain it as she doesn't leave out a detail.  I am not sure that Coop fully grasped the concept as his response was simply, "Oh."  He also humored us today as his new thing is to rub his chin and say "Let me think" every time we ask him a question.  It is truly funny and even though it can be ever so annoying when you are just needing a quick answer but I still can't help but crack up!  We are finding out that Coop is really good at making people laugh and it has led he and Raelynn to "time out" a few times already.  Terry is much better at disciplining the constant laughing at that dinner table.  Somehow it is just hard to correct them when you yourself are cracking up!  As Raelynn says, "He is going to get himself in so much trouble for being so silly!"  However he may just escape trouble with that smile of his!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

SPECIAL PEOPLE..........

Every once in awhile I meet someone who intrigues me.  It doesn't happen often but when I do I think about them often and try to decide what it is that intrigues me.  Every since Raelynn started school there has been this lady who reads to the kids in the gym before school starts and then stands by the front door and greets all the kids that come in.  From day one this lady has intrigued me.  I was not sure what about her or why she caught my interest........that is until this week.  Every day this lady arrives as school around 7:30 a.m. and spends 20 to 25 minutes sitting in a gym full of kids that arrive to school early and reads them stories.  They all sit there listening intently.  Then as soon as the first bell rings she walks amongst the kids chatting with them and focused on their every word until she reaches the front doors where she stops and greets the kids still coming in.  This is where Raelynn and I see her every morning either walking in or as I walk out.  I think this is what caught my eye about her, although she always smiles and responds as I tell her to have a great day, her focus is not me in any way.  She is focused on those kids walking in the door, stopping them for a morning hug, or asking them something relevant to their lives.  She always calls them by name and it seems that those she acknowledges the most are those that might not receive acknowledgement elsewhere.  This week I learned that she is not a teacher at the school or really anything else.  She started doing this when her kids were going to school there and now that her kids are no longer at the elementary school, she continues her role before she goes on to work.  There is no doubt why I found her interesting and now I just find her amazing.  To think the impact she has made on some of the most needing children is more than honorable.  To watch her interact with the kids and now to know she does it "just because" gives me more than encouragement to better myself. She is a role model not only for the kids but for every parent that encounters her and her actions.  To the wonderful woman who greets our children every morning, thank you and thank you for giving me higher standards to reach for! 

Cooper is on the way to recovery but this has all been much more difficult than I expected.  Towards the end of last week we were teetering on calling Dr. Kelley because we had some significant bleeding and much pain.  However he is finally improving and we have actually been able to give him a regular bath without him screaming in pain the last couple days.  He told me tonight, "My peepee is better but not much! It get better soon so I go swimming?"  I assured him it would get better but might be another week or so before he could swim.  He has really been a trooper through it all but I think we will all be happy when he is healed.

Raelynn is becoming so sentimental on us.  As we are finishing the basement we are also going through some old things that we have held on to a little too long.  We are also trying to get Coop a new bedroom set since he is outgrowing his toddler bed.  Everything we try to part with Raelynn goes into a dramatic plea about how we need to keep it because is was her first so and so and she wants to keep it for her kids and on and on and on.  We picked out a new bedspread for Coop and when we got home Raelynn asked what we were doing with his Baby Snoopy bedspread.  I told her we would probably put all the baby snoopy decor in the garage sale we are having in June.  You would have thought I had burned her baby book right in front of her.  She plead with me to keep it and save it so her daughter could use it in her room.  It was crazy ridiculous!  The problem is I am the complete opposite so I have to constantly remind myself to be gentle and sympathetic to her feelings but it is hard!  On the flip side, today her sensitivity brought tears to my eyes.  In going through some things Terry had received after his Mom passed away, there was an old glass tea set in its original box.  It was very old.  Terry and I decided to give it to Raelynn.  As I showed her and explained it was Nanny's her face was serious yet sad.  She asked me if I thought Nanny played with it and I let her know I think she probably did.  Raelynn was in awe about it.  He disposition changed to that of a 10 or 12 year old and she began reminiscing about Nanny and then telling Cooper special things about her.  Coop says he does not remember her so Raelynn was intent on letting him know how special she was.  The conversation brought tears to my eyes and to see what that tea set meant to her was so touching.  As we pulled the set out to clean it one of the dishes had been broken and glued back together.  I was worried Raelynn was going to be upset but instead a soft smile spread across her face and she took confirmation in that broken dish that Nanny did play with it.  It was all very heart warming and made me realize that I just have a very sentimental little girl and the things that do not seem important to me feel like this to her.  It was more than enough to make me a little less aggressive about getting rid of "old" stuff.  Raelynn also informed me this week that she needed to learn to write more words.  "Ok, but why?" I asked her.  "Because I have all these songs in my head and I need to write them down so I don't forget but I don't know how to write them all."  I asked her to sing a few to me and although a couple were a little silly, a couple were scarily good.  She is always asking me who sings what and who wrote their songs and I have become an expert at googling singers and who writes for them, maybe she has a future in songwriting :)

We had another great weekend and got a lot of projects complete.  The kids enjoyed some fun time together here at home which they love.  Today, as Terry and I were working on the basement, the Kid's Rock Fest came down to entertain us.

Looking forward to another fun adventurous week!

Monday, April 11, 2011

WARM WEATHER MAKES EVERYTHING MORE FUN.........

We had wonderfully warm weather this past weekend and it was good thing we did as the weekend was packed with outdoor activities.  Friday Aunt Steph was in Lawrence and picked Raelynn up early from Mary Beth's and treated her to a pedicure.  That had a wonderful time! Steph was able to stay and eat dinner with us so it made for a fun evening.

Saturday morning we headed to the first soccer game of the year and wow what a year does for the kids.  Raelynn played an awesome game and her team won for the first time ever.  Raelynn contributed with 3 or 4 goals and she was beaming with pride.  It was so fun to watch her feel the pride and satisfaction.  We spent the rest of the day working in the yard and washing the car.  Sunday we headed to the KU Baseball game compliments of our church.  We had a great time there and Coop loved that they hit 2 home runs!

Then it was back home for a little more work and fun!  All in all it was a great weekend but poor little Coop is really sore from his surgery.  He screams when he potty's or when I have to bath him.  I cannot wait until he heals because I feel horrible for him. 

Today was a special day too; today is Mom's Birthday!!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! We love you and hope you had a great day!!!
 

Thursday, April 7, 2011

WHAT A DAY.............

Coop woke up around 2 a.m. this morning whimpering and crying and progressively got worse.  I gave him some of his pain meds and he eased back to sleep.  He woke up normal time this morning and seemed to be feeling pretty good.  We still put Coop in a pull up at night just in case.  So as we went to the bathroom this morning and pulled down his pull up, it had stuck.  I had to pull it off which caused bleeding, screaming and crying.....all from Cooper and the latter from me!  It was awful!  I felt so bad and he was adamant that he could wear undies to bed and he wouldn't wet the bed.  Needless to say we are giving it a try.  Had we even attempted to put a pull up on him tonight I think he would have went nuts and for good reason.  Anyway, we will see if we make it through the night dry.  Most of the day he did really well and you would not have even known he had surgery.  However he was still sore and after one run in with a dump truck he tried to jump on after pushing he was reminded that it is still tender.  Unfortunately I also think our little boy remembers all too well how nice Roxy Codone makes one feel.  We had been giving it to him every 6 hours and then giving him Ibuprofen every 3 to 4 hours.  This afternoon I figured it was time to start backing off a little but after his bath he was hurting pretty bad.  We went to the kitchen and I grabbed the Ibuprofen to give him.  He tells me, "No not that one I want that one!" and points to the Roxy Codone.  That sealed the deal for me and I put the Roxy Codone away.  We fought drug withdraw hard for 2 weeks after his second surgery and I am not doing that again.  I told him he would be fine with the Ibuprofen and there would be no more of the other that we could only take it in the beginning.  He didn't argue and that was that but all the same it brought back awful memories. 

Just to give you an idea of how "ok" he is..... today as we went to pick up Raelynn at school, I opened the door to the garage and then opened the garage door.  Coop was out the door and I had stopped in the door way to make sure I had my cell and keys.  As I look up I hear Coop say "Mommy Look!"  There Cooper was dangling from the garage door as it rose up.  He had grabbed on and took a little ride.  He was laughing and saying "Look at Me!"  Oh that boy and his adventurousness! 

We had another amazing surprise today.........we were called to a press release for the St. Patrick's Day Parade funding late this afternoon.  To our surprise Cooper's Cause Foundation was awarded $22,000!!!! This was incredible news and will go so far in awarding funds to families in need.  Bring on the application for 2011!!!  I have to say that this experience with the Lawrence St. Patrick's Day Parade has been demanding and sometimes a little difficult but they are an amazingly generous and fun group of people.  I vowed to be back next year to help the next round of deserving charities.  Thank you to all of those involved in the Lawrence St. Patrick's Day Parade, you all have so much to be proud of and we will be forever grateful!!!

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

COOP IS WELL ON HIS WAY TO RECOVERY..........

Cooper's surgery went great!  He is just so strong!  We spent most of the day on the couch together watching TV as he needed to rest and didn't want to sit alone.  What a rough day huh?  The poor boy had to go potty so bad but every time we would go he would just start and then start crying and would hold it.  After talking to Grandma Karen she suggested I bribe him with M&Ms and it worked like a charm.  It is still hurting him a little but he went potty all afternoon.  By 4 o'clock he was up running around.  I think he is going to be  just fine.  I am staying on top of the pain med by giving them to him just when they are due not really "as needed".  I will do this until tomorrow night and then we will back off.  This should help keep him comfortable.  I love the little tricks we have learned along the way :) 

IS IT REALLY ONLY WEDNESDAY...........

This week has been.......well long!  That is my way of saying "not so good".  We started bright and early Monday morning standing in line at 6am for an hour to get Raelynn enrolled in a summer program.  It is first come first serve and they were only accepting 67 kids.  I was the 2nd person in line so we were set..........we thought.  I left the enrollment center and they said that was that and she was in.  Then yesterday we receive an email from the program saying she was not in because we were not enrolled during the school year.  Never was this mentioned before in my correspondence with them or in the paperwork.  She was not eligible during the school year because she was in morning kindergarten and they only offer it to afternoon kindergarten.  We were so upset because she was looking forward to it.  So I call Mary Beth to see if she had filled her place at daycare and of course they had so now they are checking their numbers and I am panicking.  What a great start to the summer.  Then I took my car in for a service and found out it needs $700 worth of work.....yeah for us!  Yesterday we spent the afternoon at CMH for preop for Coop which luckily went well.  Then we hurried home, picked Raelynn up, went to soccer, then picked up cookie dough for her school's fundraiser, headed to Daisy's and then me off to the last St. Patrick's Day Parade meeting.  When I finally got home I felt like I had been run over by a truck! 

This morning we awoke bright and early and headed back to CMH for Coop's surgery.  Our great friends let us drop Raelynn off at their house at 6:15am and then they dropped her off at school.  Yesterday Raelynn had been pretty apprehensive of us taking Coop to CMH and even shed some tears and asked me "what if he starts to bleed a lot?"  It is always a little sad when she shows her concern, but this morning she was great! We arrived at the hospital and Coop did great until it was time to separate.  They forgot to give him his "happy medicine" so he wasn't off in lala land when we left him and he started crying and yelling for us.  From now on I will always halt everything and insist they give him the Versed because it was way too sad.  He is in surgery right now and it shouldn't take too long. 


Ok so now typing about Coop in surgery and looking at these pics......who cares about the car and we'll figure something out about Raelynn and this summer.  What's important is that I am blessed with the most amazing family! 

By the way, Coop weighed in at 26lbs and 3 ft tall.........way to go Boo!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

RAELYNN'S FIRST LOST TOOTH............

Wow some great things happened at the end of last week. The first is Terry has finished our storage room in the basement!!! We are finishing the basement basically room by room and it is the first to be completed. So now my fun starts and I get to clean out all our unneeded stuff and organize the storage room. As sick as it, reorganizing is truly one of my favorite things to do!!!



Even more exciting than the completion of the storage room is what happened Friday while Raelynn was at Mary Beth’s!
Her tooth has been loose for some time and she just couldn’t wait for it to come out. I refused to pull it or let Terry pull it because my Dad always pulled ours and it HURT! The very thought of it made me a little nauseous. I guess after lunch on Friday she was showing Mary Beth and she told her that her daughter always just got a tissue and twisted it a little and pulled it out herself. Raelynn wanted to try to Mary Beth gave her a tissue and TADAH! She pulled it herself; it didn’t hurt and barely bleed so it was successful! They sent me a pic and text and I called her right away. It was so cute she told me all about it and said, “I’m still shaking Mom I am so excited!” It was so awesome, like another passage to growing up. Friday night we headed out to Western KS to my parents so the tooth followed. I checked with a couple friends on the going rate for the first tooth and then called the bank to get the newest $5 bill they had. I was actually a little nervous that I wouldn’t pull it off as Raelynn insisted the tooth had to go under her pillow. We got to my parents around 12:30am and Raelynn was happy to go to bed so the tooth fairy could come. Luckily she was so tired it was a piece of cake. Saturday morning she was so excited to show everyone and of course everyone was great about making a big deal about it. So…..mission accomplished!

Our trip to Scott City was a quick one and we are headed back now. We did get to see my beautiful sister at her prom though which was a nice little extra.



We hope to get the yard cleaned up a little this afternoon before more cold weather rolls in! Next week should be an adventure. Coop has his circumcision so I will just hope by the end of the week he will still love us!