Nate's 9th Birthday

Yesterday was Nate's 9th birthday! Happy Birthday to my oldest son! We are so proud of you and all that you are accomplishing!

Some wonderful things about our Nate!

*He loves to learn about Jesus!
*He has a pure heart.
*He gives good hugs and is not afraid to be affectionate.
*He is the best kid we know.
*He always does his chores without being asked more than once.
*He tries to make everyone around him feel special about something.
*He has been trying very hard in school.
*He strives to be a good big brother and leader to his little brothers.
*He rarely complains about what he eats for dinner.
*He takes after his dad!

We Love you Nate! I hope you had a good birthday!

Oops

Although I have been blessed with mild mannered boys, they do like to play. Last night, while the husband and I were making dinner, the boys were all in Nate's room, playing. All of the sudden, I heard Nolan scream. Now, Nolan does tend to cry quite often, but this cry was definitely much worse. I ran in there and grabbed him, but didn't look at him, as that tends to make him cry worse. I asked Nate what happened, and he said that Nolan was doing flips on the bed and hit his head on the headboard. Then I started to look at Nolan and freaked out. I don't know what I would do if any of the boys actually cut their heads open...Knock on Wood...I just thank God that dad was there to take care of him and sit with him.

Nick's first lost tooth

We were at dinner a couple weeks ago and Nicky gently says "Dad!" There was blood all over his mouth and in his hand was a tiny little tooth. My perfect teeth child is no longer. Of course I cried a bit.

He was so excited to get money from the TF. I don't think Nate has ever been that excited! Nick was certain he would see the TF. When he put his tooth under his pillow, he had to have it just so. I accidentally moved it while saying prayers with him, but he made sure to move it back to the spot he wanted it in. Way to go in being so brave, Nick!

Heartbreak

I cannot believe the Cardinals lost in the last minute of the Super Bowl! It was so sad! And then to see Kurt Warner get sacked on basically the last play of the game, it broke my heart. But as my dear sister says, "It was just a game." But they were SO CLOSE to winning! I really hope Warner comes back next year and they do it again and win!

It was almost as exciting to watch as the 2001 World Series. I will never forget that 9th inning. My oldest was only 1 1/2 and had gone to bed. We didn't want to make too much noise for fear of waking him, and let me tell you...It was hard!

But to have the Cardinals so close to their victory and then get it snatched away...Ugh!

Nick can finally ride his bike!

It took a lot of patience, but Daddy finally got Nick to ride his bike without training wheels! He loves it now! He is so excited and cannot wait to take a real bike ride with us. I told him we would ride up to a restaurant and get a treat pretty soon. His eyes got so big that they almost popped out of his head! This is a real accomplishment for him, since he was in Physical Therapy last year for his motor skills. Hopefully his core will get stronger with this.

Oh Yeah! Way to go, honey, for running alongside him and keeping up with him!

New Michael Blog

I created a new blog devoted only to Michael. I am copying everything that my brother posts on a medical blog and pasting it to this blog. The blog that he has requires a sign-in that I don't want to inundate my brother with. If you want to read the latest, CLICK HERE. It doesn't have everything on there yet, but I am working on it slowly.

No more So's.

So, I noticed that I start almost every blog with "So"...I will try cutting down on that! How annoying!

Back to Life as Usual

So, the boys are unhappily back to school and I have been home with Nolan for the past 2 weeks. It is truly amazing how a child can go from being "not so fun" to a great kid in so little time! I really think he has enjoyed spending time with me alone, with no work interruptions. It has been really nice to be able to be home with him like this. I quit my job 3 1/2 years ago at a place that I was quite comfortable with, in order to be home with my boys, only to be tied to a desk for the next 4 years. All the while, I never really spent too much time with him (or the others) and he is now 4! Next year, he will be in preschool!

New Update on Michael

So...Michael had a seizure on Saturday, December 27th. It was pretty bad. It lasted for about 30 minutes. He was air-evac'ed from Flagstaff to PCH (His second home lately). They did tests and put him on an anti-seizure medication. I saw him on Sunday (1 day later). He was a bit slower, but he seemed OK. A day or so later, he had the anti-seizure medication in his system...Not good. I saw him on Wednesday and he couldn't complete sentences, he couldn't stand by himself, he had no fine motor skills (Couldn't read, write, tie his shoes, play cards). We were all devastated! He had an EEG and it said that he had slow brain activity. He also had a CT scan of his body and it showed a nodule in his lung. The doctor said it was possibly a fungus, infection or his cancer was back. They did a biopsy, but the tissue was too small. They said they were going to need a bigger sample later in the week which would be very invasive and end him in the PICU for a few days.
Last Sunday, they were going to let him out for a couple days before his big surgery, but they decided to keep him to do some experiments with the seizure medication. They totally took him off to see if the motor skills and speech would come back. But they wanted him to be in a controlled environment so, in case he had a seizure, they could take care of it right away. The next day, his speech improved, his motor skills started coming back...It was great! AND he didn't have any seizures!
Yesterday, he was supposed to have his second biopsy. Before the biopsy, they needed to do a CT scan to mark where the nodules were. Imagine their surprise when the nodules shrank and almost became non-existant. The Dr. said there was nothing to operate on and the kiddo gets to go home when he wakes up! Truly an act of God!
This boy is truly a child of God. He has looked to God for every trial in his life, and HE has provided for him. Michael is truly a miracle child!

Another Tag

Got tagged by my friend Audrey - a couple of days ago.


5 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago
1) I was a Newlywed. Very Exciting!
2) Working at Costco.
3) Painting my new house
4) Not thinking about kiddos yet!
5) Not living the Christ-like life I should have been!

5 Things On My To-Do List Today
1) Laundry
2) Think of what I want to do with my employment
3) Clean house
4) Go to the snow
5) Make a snow man with my boys!


5 Snacks I Like
1) Cookies
2) Chocolate candy bars
3) Ice cream and milk
4) Graham crackers with butter
5) Brownies


5 Things I Would Do If I Was A Millionaire
1) Pay for my nephew's medical bills
2) Help my church build a bigger building
3) Help out several members of both sides of the family
4) Adopt a little girl
5) Buy a bigger home

5 Places I Have Lived (For Various Lengths Of Time)
1) Mesa, AZ
2) Mesa, AZ
3) Mesa, AZ
4) Mesa, AZ
5) Gilbert, AZ

5 Jobs I Have Had
1) Oooh! Unemployed at the moment...As of yesterday!
2) Admin Assistant for an Auction Company
3) Costco...Administration, FrontEnd, Door
4) Red Eye
5) Matta's


5 People I Tag
1) Wow...I don't think there are 5 people who read my blog, but if you do, you are tagged!

Have fun!