Updates all around :)
So, Hayden has been running me around (exhaustidly) for the past few months and I haven't been feeling all that great and I haven't updated the blog for awhile. As I was putting Hayden down tonight and rocking her for a bit, I decided to come down and update the blog. The past few months have been really busy. Incredibly busy. Way TOO busy for my sanity.
But, first I will start off with the fun stuff. A few months ago I realized that if I didn't get some vacations prioritized on John's work schedule then the poor boy would work until he fell down due to continuous exertion, so I made him bring home his work schedule and then informed him as to when we would be taking some vacations. This weekend was one of them. It was just a short one. He took Friday off, so we had a 3-dayer. After consulting with several co-workers and the all-knowing internet, we decided on visiting "Wisconsin Dells, WI"... the "waterslide capital of the world". And, we can safely report, that it is. There are easily huge waterslide parks attached to each resort, and there have got to be over a hundred resorts. We decided to go with Disney's recommendation for small kids, and stayed at the "Great Wolf Lodge".
Below was the big clock tower in the main lobby and each night it came alive with singing and dancing animals. Afterwards there was a wolf mascot that came out and read a nighttime story to the kids and taught them how to do the "wolf" howl. It was quite fun. Hayden stayed up to 9 p.m. in order to watch all the festivities... whooooooooo..... that's a late night for our little one :)
It was the perfect little vacation! No need to leave the resort area. There were several different indoor waterpark areas, and then a massive outdoor waterslide area! This is the little kiddie area, lots of things to pull and push in order to create water falls and spouts. I was so proud of Hayden because she went down a mini-waterslide (like 5 feet long) BY HERSELF! Since a little boy at swim lessons tried to push her down a slide a few months ago, she is scared of slides and won't go down them by herself. It was a proud moment for her mommy! :)
This is their wave pool, pretty impressive waves. Although, Hayden sat contently on my lap while riding an innertube and yawned a couple of times during the most dramatic waves. Our girl is an adrenaline junky I'm afraid.
To the right of this picture is a lazy river and there's about 6 different waterslides in this area. So much fun, these were my favorite waterslides!
This was one of the coolest areas, this whole fort is made of rope ladders and bridges conecting everything. The kids could climb all over it and there was water and spouts everywhere. So much fun!!
It was only about a 3 hour drive from our house and it was a great mini-vacay. We loved it :) And we decided that it was pretty smart to build all these indoor waterslides because its so cold around here in the winter, you can go anytime of the year! And I think we will! :)
Now, for other updates!
HAYDEN
As some of you know already, back in June, she was diagnosed with Type I diabetes. John and I put it altogether on the plane ride to Utah. We got off the plane and headed straight to Primary Childrens in Salt Lake City where we stayed for the next 2 days. It was really difficult to accept it initially, but as we had time to let everything sink in, we actually feel like we have much to be grateful for. First and foremost, we are grateful that Hayden contracted a disease that 1) is controllable and not a death sentence, and 2) is something that her parents already know a lot about. As we sat in the mandatory medical classes and I saw the fear and panic in the eyes of the other parents as they furiously scribbled everything they could into a notebook, I felt a lot of gratitude that John and I already know a lot of what Hayden's life will be like and what is needed to take care of her.
Since then, we have had to learn what Diabetes looks like to her tiny body. She gets a shot in the morning of an insulin that keeps her at a constant o.k. level for 24 hours and then she gets another shot everytime she eats over 20 grams of carbs. At first she did great with the shots and then she didn't. For the past month or so it has been a wrestling match to try and pin her down to get the shot in. But, fortunately she seems to have accepted that its going to happen whether she fights me or not, and has settled down and keeps her arm still. I mostly give her injections in her arms, but sometimes in her legs.
Her body is still secreting some insulin and over the next few months her pancreas is in the process of completely shutting down. This keeps things hard because I'm continually having to adjust the amount of insulin (the 24 hr kind) that I'm giving her each morning. For example, when she was first diagnosed, in June, she took 2 1/2 units of insulin, and now she is up to 5 units each morning, and I seem to be needing to up the dose every couple of days.
My biggest fear with her is that she will go *low* and bottom-out (worst case -- diabetic acoma) at night while she is sleeping. As a result, there are still many nights when I get up in the middle of the night and prick her finger to find out where she's at.
As usual, Hayden is a trooper. She is handeling this better than I ever could have expected. There are times when I just look at her with tears in my eyes because I can't believe how strong and able to handle things she is. She always handles things with a smile and stays happy through it all. Our little girl amazes me.
O.k. updates with JOHN :)
I married a worker-bee. I of course, knew this when I married him, but even I did not realize how deep this trait goes until we decided to buy a home (not just a townhouse, but a big-adult HOME). We bought our beloved home in May, and the projects have not stopped once. Here's just a short (non-complete) list of the things that John has fixed around the house...
1) followed the air-conditioning ducts all through-out the house and patched the numerous HOLES that the previous owners cut out, but did not put proper vents into.
2) Got into the attic to put insulation around all the fans so that hot air from the attic would stop pouring into the bedrooms
3) ripped out all the insulation in the basement ceiling and replaced it with new, because we were unaware of the horrendous mouse infestation that has previously existed. The insulation was saturated with mouse urine and poo. The stench was disgusting. How they covered up the smell during inspection is beyond our understanding.
4) torn out several overgrown bushes and plants (at least 15) that were way too much for the yard
5) scrubbed the basement floor at least 10 times with bleach, cleaners, pet enzyme removers, etc... in order to rid the basement storage area of the smell of dog urine. He has then sealed the concrete, and painted the floor. Unfortunately it still is not working and the only thing left is for him to grind out the top 3 inches of concrete and then repour the concrete floor. Oh yeah, this has been his FAVORITE house project so far!!! :(
6) Spray-painted all the can light in the basement ceiling white
7) tried numerous times to fix a leaky window, and water just keeps seeping in with each new rainstorm.... we had someone come by and the only thing to do now is to have the window replaced ($500).
8) And, each 3 days (yes, we live in an incredibly humid environment and plants grow insanely fast) he has to mow the lawn. I have agreed to let the poor boy buy a riding lawn mower at some point in the future
Other than house projects, he is keeping really busy at work. He has had some fun cases lately... such as, pulling a TOOTHBRUSH out of a ladies stomach! It had been there for 6 mo. and she was too embarrased to come in, until the pain was too much. Seriously, what some people do for fun is beyond me!
He is enjoying work, he really enjoys the people he works with and that makes a big difference. I'm always excited to see him when he gets home, and so is Hayden. He always arrives to lots of squeals of delight that "daddy's home!" He also helps me tremendously by helping take care of Hayden when he gets home and he is cooking quite a few meals so that I can rest.
He is a wonderful husband and father and I couldn't ask for a better friend to go through life with.
ME
Not much. I'm keeping busy taking Hayden to doctor's appointments and her summer classes. We did a "tot rock" class together where we got to dance and play various musical instruments together. She had a blast, the girl loves to dance! She also took swimming lessons and we head to story-time at our local library each week. I've gotten to be good friends with a couple of other moms and they both have little boys Hayden's age. They play well together except that they like to hug and "kiss" Hayden, which she doesn't like. But, as she has learned to do with the cats... when they do something she doesn't like then she just says "NO" firmly and puts her hand out in front of her for emphasis. :) Cute!
I'm busy with a church calling. I'm over food storage/preparedness for our ward and we are starting a year-long "get in shape with food storage" project. It has been fun, I'm learning A LOT, and its keeping me plently busy.
We really are enjoying our ward quite a bit, lots of fabulous people who have been so kind and concerned about Hayden and we really feel quite blessed (again) to be in a place with such wonderful people. Hayden is old enough to go to nursery now, but so far we haven't had much success. She clings to John or I's neck and cries. Its quite heartbreaking and we haven't ripped the bandaid off because of it. We will though, I know its good for her. Just hard to see her be scared.
Whew!! That's a lot! I am hoping to be much better about keeping up!
But, first I will start off with the fun stuff. A few months ago I realized that if I didn't get some vacations prioritized on John's work schedule then the poor boy would work until he fell down due to continuous exertion, so I made him bring home his work schedule and then informed him as to when we would be taking some vacations. This weekend was one of them. It was just a short one. He took Friday off, so we had a 3-dayer. After consulting with several co-workers and the all-knowing internet, we decided on visiting "Wisconsin Dells, WI"... the "waterslide capital of the world". And, we can safely report, that it is. There are easily huge waterslide parks attached to each resort, and there have got to be over a hundred resorts. We decided to go with Disney's recommendation for small kids, and stayed at the "Great Wolf Lodge".
Below was the big clock tower in the main lobby and each night it came alive with singing and dancing animals. Afterwards there was a wolf mascot that came out and read a nighttime story to the kids and taught them how to do the "wolf" howl. It was quite fun. Hayden stayed up to 9 p.m. in order to watch all the festivities... whooooooooo..... that's a late night for our little one :)
It was the perfect little vacation! No need to leave the resort area. There were several different indoor waterpark areas, and then a massive outdoor waterslide area! This is the little kiddie area, lots of things to pull and push in order to create water falls and spouts. I was so proud of Hayden because she went down a mini-waterslide (like 5 feet long) BY HERSELF! Since a little boy at swim lessons tried to push her down a slide a few months ago, she is scared of slides and won't go down them by herself. It was a proud moment for her mommy! :)
This is their wave pool, pretty impressive waves. Although, Hayden sat contently on my lap while riding an innertube and yawned a couple of times during the most dramatic waves. Our girl is an adrenaline junky I'm afraid.
To the right of this picture is a lazy river and there's about 6 different waterslides in this area. So much fun, these were my favorite waterslides!
This was one of the coolest areas, this whole fort is made of rope ladders and bridges conecting everything. The kids could climb all over it and there was water and spouts everywhere. So much fun!!
It was only about a 3 hour drive from our house and it was a great mini-vacay. We loved it :) And we decided that it was pretty smart to build all these indoor waterslides because its so cold around here in the winter, you can go anytime of the year! And I think we will! :)
Now, for other updates!
HAYDEN
As some of you know already, back in June, she was diagnosed with Type I diabetes. John and I put it altogether on the plane ride to Utah. We got off the plane and headed straight to Primary Childrens in Salt Lake City where we stayed for the next 2 days. It was really difficult to accept it initially, but as we had time to let everything sink in, we actually feel like we have much to be grateful for. First and foremost, we are grateful that Hayden contracted a disease that 1) is controllable and not a death sentence, and 2) is something that her parents already know a lot about. As we sat in the mandatory medical classes and I saw the fear and panic in the eyes of the other parents as they furiously scribbled everything they could into a notebook, I felt a lot of gratitude that John and I already know a lot of what Hayden's life will be like and what is needed to take care of her.
Since then, we have had to learn what Diabetes looks like to her tiny body. She gets a shot in the morning of an insulin that keeps her at a constant o.k. level for 24 hours and then she gets another shot everytime she eats over 20 grams of carbs. At first she did great with the shots and then she didn't. For the past month or so it has been a wrestling match to try and pin her down to get the shot in. But, fortunately she seems to have accepted that its going to happen whether she fights me or not, and has settled down and keeps her arm still. I mostly give her injections in her arms, but sometimes in her legs.
Her body is still secreting some insulin and over the next few months her pancreas is in the process of completely shutting down. This keeps things hard because I'm continually having to adjust the amount of insulin (the 24 hr kind) that I'm giving her each morning. For example, when she was first diagnosed, in June, she took 2 1/2 units of insulin, and now she is up to 5 units each morning, and I seem to be needing to up the dose every couple of days.
My biggest fear with her is that she will go *low* and bottom-out (worst case -- diabetic acoma) at night while she is sleeping. As a result, there are still many nights when I get up in the middle of the night and prick her finger to find out where she's at.
As usual, Hayden is a trooper. She is handeling this better than I ever could have expected. There are times when I just look at her with tears in my eyes because I can't believe how strong and able to handle things she is. She always handles things with a smile and stays happy through it all. Our little girl amazes me.
O.k. updates with JOHN :)
I married a worker-bee. I of course, knew this when I married him, but even I did not realize how deep this trait goes until we decided to buy a home (not just a townhouse, but a big-adult HOME). We bought our beloved home in May, and the projects have not stopped once. Here's just a short (non-complete) list of the things that John has fixed around the house...
1) followed the air-conditioning ducts all through-out the house and patched the numerous HOLES that the previous owners cut out, but did not put proper vents into.
2) Got into the attic to put insulation around all the fans so that hot air from the attic would stop pouring into the bedrooms
3) ripped out all the insulation in the basement ceiling and replaced it with new, because we were unaware of the horrendous mouse infestation that has previously existed. The insulation was saturated with mouse urine and poo. The stench was disgusting. How they covered up the smell during inspection is beyond our understanding.
4) torn out several overgrown bushes and plants (at least 15) that were way too much for the yard
5) scrubbed the basement floor at least 10 times with bleach, cleaners, pet enzyme removers, etc... in order to rid the basement storage area of the smell of dog urine. He has then sealed the concrete, and painted the floor. Unfortunately it still is not working and the only thing left is for him to grind out the top 3 inches of concrete and then repour the concrete floor. Oh yeah, this has been his FAVORITE house project so far!!! :(
6) Spray-painted all the can light in the basement ceiling white
7) tried numerous times to fix a leaky window, and water just keeps seeping in with each new rainstorm.... we had someone come by and the only thing to do now is to have the window replaced ($500).
8) And, each 3 days (yes, we live in an incredibly humid environment and plants grow insanely fast) he has to mow the lawn. I have agreed to let the poor boy buy a riding lawn mower at some point in the future
Other than house projects, he is keeping really busy at work. He has had some fun cases lately... such as, pulling a TOOTHBRUSH out of a ladies stomach! It had been there for 6 mo. and she was too embarrased to come in, until the pain was too much. Seriously, what some people do for fun is beyond me!
He is enjoying work, he really enjoys the people he works with and that makes a big difference. I'm always excited to see him when he gets home, and so is Hayden. He always arrives to lots of squeals of delight that "daddy's home!" He also helps me tremendously by helping take care of Hayden when he gets home and he is cooking quite a few meals so that I can rest.
He is a wonderful husband and father and I couldn't ask for a better friend to go through life with.
ME
Not much. I'm keeping busy taking Hayden to doctor's appointments and her summer classes. We did a "tot rock" class together where we got to dance and play various musical instruments together. She had a blast, the girl loves to dance! She also took swimming lessons and we head to story-time at our local library each week. I've gotten to be good friends with a couple of other moms and they both have little boys Hayden's age. They play well together except that they like to hug and "kiss" Hayden, which she doesn't like. But, as she has learned to do with the cats... when they do something she doesn't like then she just says "NO" firmly and puts her hand out in front of her for emphasis. :) Cute!
I'm busy with a church calling. I'm over food storage/preparedness for our ward and we are starting a year-long "get in shape with food storage" project. It has been fun, I'm learning A LOT, and its keeping me plently busy.
We really are enjoying our ward quite a bit, lots of fabulous people who have been so kind and concerned about Hayden and we really feel quite blessed (again) to be in a place with such wonderful people. Hayden is old enough to go to nursery now, but so far we haven't had much success. She clings to John or I's neck and cries. Its quite heartbreaking and we haven't ripped the bandaid off because of it. We will though, I know its good for her. Just hard to see her be scared.
Whew!! That's a lot! I am hoping to be much better about keeping up!
Comments