Ratty Old Sheets

Mr. drench, soak, saturate the bed every night, even though he is wearing two adult diapers, and is escorted to the bathroom around 11:30 pm by Dad, every night, has had a dry bed THREE days in a row. It has never happened before so it is huge news.

The other day, the one when everything was going wrong.all three sets of his Sponge Bob sheets, all six waterproof mattress pad covers (we use two at a time), and all three comforters were in the laundry. I just did not have time to get them washed. I dug around in the linen closet and found a set of ratty, old, gray, sheets the ones that should have gone in the garbage long ago, and two tattered blankets that the kids use to build forts. I folded one of the blankets in thirds and put it on the bed as a sort of mattress pad, then I added the sheets, and topped it off with the other blanket

It does not look at all pleasant, but as long as those sheets stay dry they will stay on that bed. It will not last I am sure so I will enjoy the break for now. I have even had time to wash all of the other linen and I folded it up and put it away in the linen closet as well. This kids bedding rarely gets folded much less put away.

Kari you should get yourself some of these ratty, old sheets, maybe it will do the trick for you, too. No, I will not let you have these.

A Mom Salutes

We are a military family since our daughter Rene`entered the United States Navy on August 11, 2003. I think that I will forever be a military mom and I carry that label with honor, once you become military you remain there always.

Rene` began her service before she had turned eighteen so I and her dad had to sign the forms for her. That is something that I would hove never thought that I would do,let alone do for one of my daughters, but given the fact that she had carefully thought out her plan, she was responsible, hard working, and intelligent I let her carry on as she desired.

She was in boot camp on her eighteenth birthday marching and taking the swimming and diving tests which she passed easily since she had been on the high school swim team for six years and knew what she was doing. She completed basic training in October and was stationed in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Just four months later her ship was deployed to somewhere. In the Navy you never know where they are going or long they will be gone, but they ended up in France, Italy, Croatia, and the Middle East before it was all over. Every day I prayed that they would be able to complete with courage, the mission and return home safely.They are gone and you get about twenty-four notice upon their return. That meant that we were packed and on the road in less than an hour in order to be in Virginia Beach when the ship came in.

I will never forget the warm spring day in May, when the ship pulled into the harbor as they returned from deployment. The shore was packed with family waiting. There were infants dressed in sailor suits, flags and banners to welcome the sailors home, and people everywhere wearing red, white, and blue. We waited it seems like forever while they carefully maneuvered that huge ship into position, and anchored it in place. We searched the decks hoping to spot our sailor among the hundreds. They were all dressed in their summer dress whites so they all looked alike. When the captain announced "liberty for all" the sea of white disembarked in mass. There were tears of joy, hugs, and kisses, and a massive sense of relief that they had all come home safe.

Our daughter was deployed two more times and spent three of the four years she served at sea. We had to carry on at home while she was gone and we tried to include her in every way we could. You will never know how valuable a phone card, access to a computer, or the Red Cross is unless you have someone deployed. We sent care packages which were greatly appreciated when they finally got there. Her birthday gifts did not get to her until six weeks after her birthday, but deodorant, a tooth brush, and some sunscreen were welcome gifts from home along with some art work her little sisters had made and school pictures.

Rene` is on reserve duty now and attending school in North Dakota only about six hours away from home. I now know where she is and that she is out of harms way which gives me much peace as her mom. I know that she learned a lot serving her country and brought home with her a great appreciation for being an American. We as a family have that same understanding as we have been on the military journey. Not a day goes by that I don`t give thanks for those people and their families who have served our country,serve today, and will serve tomorrow. They are all truly heroes who allow us all a wonderful life filled with much freedom. It is a privilege to be Americans!

Late Late Late

I am the type who has a schedule and I actually follow it, not because I can`t be flexible or anything but because the schedule allows me the time to get things done when they need to be done.Today was one of those days were things started off schedule and never even came close to getting back on track.

The first school morning of the week is always the worst and since it was quarter break and they did not have school yesterday things were moving along pretty slowly. Allen insisted that he only needed one of his shoes so he was not going to cooperate and get both of them on. Hanna was rummaging around in her lunch box and discovered that I had not put a green spoon in there so she was going nuts, like you can only eat your yogurt with a green spoon. She found one in Lauren`s lunch box so she took it and did not put a different one in there so Lauren was screaming at her for taking her stuff and being stupid, which she was being. I have no idea if either of them had a spoon in their lunch box when they left but they finally got out the door.

I rushed around for the next two hours and fifty minutes while Paul went to school, trying to get the laundry under control, lasagna made and ready for Dad to put in the oven later, check beds , and fill out two forms that needed to get to school today.

I made it outside at the appointed time for Paul to return and I waited and waited, when the bus had not shown up in fifteen minutes I got worried because they are always right on time. I called the school and found out that a kid had a seizure (not my kid thankfully), on the bus so they had to stop and wait for assistance. Paul was forty-five minutes late. I had to get him fed. Then a PCA who was supposed to be here was not so I had to call Dad home from work. He was not a happy camper.

Jared called to tell me that he was running twenty minutes late coming home from his girl friends so I was waiting again. He was going to go with me to take the girls to some appointments. He got here and we headed to the high school to pick Lauren up for an appointment to take photos of her broken teeth. The insurance people are crazy because they will not accept the photos that were taken in September so we had to do it again, as if those broken teeth are looking any different less then two months later. Anyway we go to Lauren`s school and even though we are twenty-five minutes late Lauren is still not ready to go so I have to get it into her head that she needs to get a move on it.

We next went to get Hanna`s school to pick her up as she has an appointment as well and I have to hunt someone down in order to check her out of the building.

I get back in the van and Jared says "I need your credit card because we are running on E".

We haven`t even gotten out of town yet and we are forty-five minutes behind. we have to deal with city traffic yet , oh my goodness. Jared just do not get pulled over. He drove us safely to where we needed to go. Traffic was not bad in the middle of the afternoon.

We make it to Gillette only about fifteen minutes late and they were running late so we were okay. We got to sit around in a very crowded waiting area that is cluttered with construction all over the place, what fun. We get Lauren`s photos done. They did some major work on Hanna`s upper braces and also put them on her lower teeth. We finally left the clinic at six.

Just like my day has been running the clock on this blog is running about four hours late. It has been doing that for some time now. It is bothering me but I don`t know how to fix it so I will have to get one of my computer smart kids in here to do it some time soon.

I am ready to call it a day and hope I can get back on schedule tomorrow. For me a schedule is security and today I did not seem to have that security.

Monday Madness

It has already been a pretty long weekend mostly Hanna acting up. Today it continues as there is no school here since last Friday was the end of the quarter. Lets just say that not much housework, cooking, and the like is going to get done here.

Karre is taking my van for an oil change and she has volunteered to take Paul with her. He will enjoy walking around the parking lot of the car place for a half hour looking at the cars.

This afternoon Paul has as EEG scheduled. That is two hours of great entertainment. It is a rather complicated task to hook up all of those electrodes to a very wiggly head containing a massive amount of hair. The second task is to try to get him to lay still for an hour or more until they can find what they are looking for. Finally all of the electrodes have to come off with some stinky fingernail palish remover. This is the part that he dislikes the most. We will get it done and hope that it will finally be clear so that we can begin to take him off his seizure medication. If it is not clear we wait another six months and repeat the entire procedure again. I hope that he does grow out of this seizure issue at some point.

Miss Sabotage

It is a gorgeous day and the plan was for everyone to go biking and hiking and to have a picnic lunch, but as usual we have Miss Sabotage here who is in full out melt-down mode. she has been at it for more then an hour now, since I made her take a shower. What is it about being gross and disgusting that make her so happy, I will never understand. The plan has been revised and I will stay here and work in the kitchen and let her do her thing. Tomorrow Karre and I are going shopping so I will get a little down time from this.

Laundry And The Lady

We are well into November now and it is warm enough to hang laundry out on the line. I can not ever remember being able to do that, it just does not happen here in Minnesota, God has blessed us. While hanging the laundry on the line I am usually greeted by the old lady who lives next door, (well actually I do not know how old she is, but she is retired), She always says something about how much laundry I do and I go about explaining that when there are eight to ten people who live in a household there is going to be a mountain of dirty clothes. I do at least three loads of laundry every day in order to keep the pile under control. She then walks away and goes to sit in her rocking chair. She sits there for hours and hours taking in all of the activity which occurs in our back yard. She yells and swears at the kids and the dog and when they are not out there to give her a show (they can give her a pretty good show at times) she just sits there and watches the laundry on the line.

A couple of months ago I went out on a limb and invited her to join us as we were heading to a local park to build a fire, roast hot dogs, make s`mores, and let the kids run for a couple of hours. I figured since she gets such a bang out of watching us then she might just as well join us. She declined to show up at the park and no one was at all surprised, but hey we offered.

Well anyway yesterday, today, and maybe even for a few more days next week we will provide her with the entertainment of watching the brightly colored t-shirts and blue jeans waving in the breeze while they dry on the line. I will be sure to send kids out there after school to do their thing as well. I actually wonder what she does all winter long while the clothes are spinning in the dryer.

The Why Question

I was up at 3:30 this morning and it was not because I had to deal with Hanna. It was a surgery day for Lauren. This is now part of the routine for her. I get up get showered and dressed, grab a glass of orange juice, and a banana to consume. At 4:00 I get Lauren up showered, dressed, and out the door, no food or drinks allowed. That is a hard one to explain to her because she just does not understand. Jared was my assistant this morning as I need someone who can help me with the lifting involved throughout the day. We headed north on the mostly deserted highway in order to arrive at Gillette Children's Hospital by 6:00. Lauren was prepped and in the operating room by 7:30. She was having Phenol and Botox injections done and some other stuff to help reduce the tightness in her lower limbs. We have been doing this routine for nine years now, sometimes it is a lengthy surgery, casts, Bradley Bars, to hold her legs straight, hospital stays, and therapy, and sometime we get in and out all on the same day, such is the situation today.

Then comes the waiting game. I waited with the dad of another girl who was having the same type of procedures done today. In fact Lauren and Jenna have been doing this routine together for several years now. The hospital is willing to schedule this way for them. Jenna is a beautiful young lady eleven months older the Lauren. She has very similar issues as Lauren does. The difference being that Lauren`s are caused by a non-accidental traumatic brain injury and Jenna`s are a result of a stroke that she had before her birth. Anyway the two girls have become friends and they look forward to seeing each other at the hospital, and therapy. Usually Jenna's mom and I catch up during their procedures, but today mom could not be there so I visited with dad.

He commented "Why the heck would anyone throw a seven week old baby at a cement wall? That is just so unthinkable to me".

He is correct of course, for most of us that is something that is just not going to happen, but it does bring up the why question. This is something that I have considered from time to time.

Was it that he was young and not ready to be a father? I do not think so because he was twenty-four years old and he was already the father of another child. (I dread to think what has happened to that kid)

Was it that he was heavily intoxicated? Yes he was, but he chose to consume that alcohol of his own free will and certainly knew the affects of its consumption.

Was it that he was not intelligent enough to understand the consequences of his actions? This is a extremely intelligent well educated person.

How it happened, when, where, and who did it are all questions that are easy to get an answer to, but the why of it is something that there just is no acceptable answer for, None of the excuses given above nor any of the hundred others that have come up for that matter can justify such behavior. There is no just cause for attempting to kill a child, any child so the why question can not be justly answered. Therefore that is one of those issues that has to be let go of. Things are the way they are just because and we move ahead rather then in reverse.

As a side note I left Dad and Angela our PCA in charge at home today and Dad got four medical calls to schedule this and that, and rearrange as well as one behavior call from school He says I can keep this job because he would goes nuts if he had to do it every day. Yes I will send him off to work tomorrow and get back to doing my own work.

Now it is time to get people to bed so I can crash. Its been a long long day.