Through my own stupidity, I missed this morning's neuro appointment. Not only did I get yelled at when I called to see if we could still make it in, I had to make 4 calls to make another appointment because the first lady wouldn't make one for me. Then, I got yelled at AGAIN by the scheduling lady and was told that we now have to go to the end of the line and wait until October 19th. When I asked if I could get on a list for any cancellations, she told me that was, "doubtful as the list is very long." I was so mad when I got off the phone that I was shaking.
So, I did a little research and called KU Med. They were EXTREMELY nice on the phone...already a bonus. The earliest they could get us in was September 2, but that's still 1 1/2 months before the other guy. AND they put us on the cancellation list. She couldn't guarantee us anything but said they'd try.
Now, I'm just waiting to call our pediatrician to get Daniel's records transferred over to KU.
And we wait again...
Showing posts with label Daniel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daniel. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Epilepsy Part II
I'm just so confused at to why all this stuff isn't lining up. Why has Daniel had one abnormal regular EEG and one abnormal 24 (48) hour EEG with the spikes lining up in the correct area of the brain for seizure activity but nothing is wrong with that? Why are they dismissing family history of this particular kind of seizure (this is where I really wish Mike had gotten tested, too)? Why, if it was no big deal, did they keep us for 48 hours when the test was only supossed to be 24? We were told you cannot "turn off" seizures and therefore it's ADD...which you can't "turn off" either. Why is my child so special that he's the "1 in 100 that can walk around with these misfireings in his brain and it's nothing when 99 other people would have Epilepsy?" But we were never able to push that stupid plunger when they happened. Because of that he's fine...go home and wait for a real seizure.
I'm so mad that we were dismissed like that. "He doesn't have Epilepsy so go home." Awesome.
We, kind of, know this new neuro. His son was Hannah's kindergarten Sunday School teacher. Rabbi Vered, our educational rabbi, put us in contact with him. After having a long conversation with Vered in the middle of Wal-Mart on a random day in January around midnight, she made sure she hooked us up the following Sunday after Family Service.
I'm hoping that, at this time tomorrow, we have some answers. I'll keep you posted.
Monday, March 29, 2010
When Is Summer????
It's been a long month. That's not to say it hasn't been good, but it's been long. Spring Break has come and gone, which is sad. Bobbi and Ed were here for the week and we did a lot of things that we never do on our own.
We visited the World War I monument and museum...the only one of it's kind in the country. We all enjoyed that one. The only problem was that there were so many challenges to my fear of heights.
Of course, the kids wanted to go up to the top of this. Okay. I've been up in the Arch. How bad could this be? Ummm...it's open at the top. AAAAAAAAACCCCCCKKKKK!!!!!! But, I went up and even looked over the side. However, I did think I was going to be sick the entire time and the kids told me I was a buzzkill. Oh well.
Here's the view of downtown Kansas City from the top.
Oh, and when you walk in, there's this.
Pretty, right? Each poppy represents 1,000 soldiers that lost their lives in the war. Of course, that's covered with Plexiglas and you have to walk over it to get to the actual museum. And, it's fairly high up. Like a story up. *sigh* Is it sad that Hannah held my hand as I walked, eyes closed, over it? Oh well.
We also went to Kaleidoscope (a children's craft type thing by Hallmark) and Crown Center. It was neat to see the Hallmark Visitor's Center...we got to see them actually make a card. Jacob really liked that.
Interestingly, it snowed 10 inches at the end of the weekend. This weather never ceases to amaze me.
Jacob has started baseball and he loves it. His coach says that Jacob's already the most improved player on the team. His first outdoor practice (they've just been doing batting practice) is tomorrow. I guess it's a good sign that Jacob keeps asking to go to the batting cages. The last time he played, he wanted nothing to do with any of it.
Hannah started soccer again tonight. She just loves soccer. Half of her team from the fall left but there are still 12 girls playing. I have a feeling they'll be back in the fall. I think many of them are playing softball.
Daniel bought himself a pair of roller blades with his birthday money and I swear that's the best $30 I've ever seen anyone spend. That boy is constantly on them. He took them with us to Hannah's soccer practice tonight and skated around the playground for the entire hour. He's getting really good. He and many of his friends play street hockey after school, so he's been begging for a hockey stick. The trouble is, I can't find one. And I'm not spending a fortune on one at the hockey store at the ice rink. Someone suggested Toys R Us...eventually I'll get there.
Jacob crossed over to Boy Scouts last week. I cried the entire meeting. They had some boys from the Order of the Arrow come and help with the Arrow of Light ceremony, which was awesome.
Jacob with his Arrow of Light Award
Our former pack leader asks Jacob which Boy Scout troop he'd like to join
Crossing over
His new troop is there to welcome him. They outfitted them with their new neckerchiefs.
We visited the World War I monument and museum...the only one of it's kind in the country. We all enjoyed that one. The only problem was that there were so many challenges to my fear of heights.
Of course, the kids wanted to go up to the top of this. Okay. I've been up in the Arch. How bad could this be? Ummm...it's open at the top. AAAAAAAAACCCCCCKKKKK!!!!!! But, I went up and even looked over the side. However, I did think I was going to be sick the entire time and the kids told me I was a buzzkill. Oh well.
Here's the view of downtown Kansas City from the top.
Oh, and when you walk in, there's this.
Pretty, right? Each poppy represents 1,000 soldiers that lost their lives in the war. Of course, that's covered with Plexiglas and you have to walk over it to get to the actual museum. And, it's fairly high up. Like a story up. *sigh* Is it sad that Hannah held my hand as I walked, eyes closed, over it? Oh well.
We also went to Kaleidoscope (a children's craft type thing by Hallmark) and Crown Center. It was neat to see the Hallmark Visitor's Center...we got to see them actually make a card. Jacob really liked that.
Interestingly, it snowed 10 inches at the end of the weekend. This weather never ceases to amaze me.
Jacob has started baseball and he loves it. His coach says that Jacob's already the most improved player on the team. His first outdoor practice (they've just been doing batting practice) is tomorrow. I guess it's a good sign that Jacob keeps asking to go to the batting cages. The last time he played, he wanted nothing to do with any of it.
Hannah started soccer again tonight. She just loves soccer. Half of her team from the fall left but there are still 12 girls playing. I have a feeling they'll be back in the fall. I think many of them are playing softball.
Daniel bought himself a pair of roller blades with his birthday money and I swear that's the best $30 I've ever seen anyone spend. That boy is constantly on them. He took them with us to Hannah's soccer practice tonight and skated around the playground for the entire hour. He's getting really good. He and many of his friends play street hockey after school, so he's been begging for a hockey stick. The trouble is, I can't find one. And I'm not spending a fortune on one at the hockey store at the ice rink. Someone suggested Toys R Us...eventually I'll get there.
Jacob crossed over to Boy Scouts last week. I cried the entire meeting. They had some boys from the Order of the Arrow come and help with the Arrow of Light ceremony, which was awesome.
Jacob with his Arrow of Light Award
Our former pack leader asks Jacob which Boy Scout troop he'd like to join
Crossing over
His new troop is there to welcome him. They outfitted them with their new neckerchiefs.
We also celebrated Hannah's 7th birthday on Sunday. I don't know where the time has gone. How is it that she's already 7? I think I'm being punked. I haven't uploaded the photos yet but I will soon.
Also, Happy Passover to all of my Jewish friends and family.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Ugh!
It's been a seriously insane weekend.
Since Daniel's birthday was last week, we decided to throw together a little sleepover for him. It started out as four boys (Matt, John, Jett and Quinn). Little did we know that Daniel had invited several other boys to spend the night as well. I began getting phone calls on Thursday night from the moms of these other boys. I couldn't say, "no. You're kids are not invited," so, they were invited as well. Friday at 5 pm (1 hour before party time), Melissa calls me and says that her son, Michael, is talking about Daniel's party. Was he really on the list or was it something Daniel decided on? I told her that it was fine if Michael wanted to come, so the guest list grew from 4 to 7.
The boys were great until it was actually time for sleep. I threatened, Mike threatened...no sleep. I guess they fell asleep around 4:30am. Yep. 4:30am.
It was with so much glee that I went downstairs at 7:30am to wake them up.
I threw the lights on and said, "good morning party people!" They began stretching and Mike says, "well, this is what 3 hours of sleep feels like." No kidding, they looked at us, bounced out of their sleeping bags and asked when pancakes would be ready. Figures.
The last of the boys left at 9:30 and we began focusing on getting ready for Daniel's last basketball game at 11:30. This season has flown by...mostly because there was no complaining about going to games or practices. Daniel's even asked to play again next year. Next up is Hannah's soccer season which starts in a couple of weeks. Then, Jacob has asked to play baseball again this summer, so, we'll be doing that after soccer ends. Oh, and did I mention that Daniel joined the school's Running Club? I'm so tired already.
We got a bunch of ice on Saturday night. We woke up Sunday morning not sure whether or not we'd actually have Sunday School. We called, looked at the website, checked Facebook...nothing told us they were closed. After seeing the radar, we decided it wasn't worth trying to get there. Snow doesn't bother me. Ice scares the living heck out of me. I posted on my FB status that we weren't going and got a couple of responses, one from the educational director and one from the rabbi, telling me that they'd cancelled classes. The rabbi even told me that she felt better about cancelling classes knowing that someone with our excellent attendance wasn't risking it. Of course, when I checked my e-mail later in the day, the e-mail from another educational leader said that Sunday School was cancelled. Figures. That was the one place we didn't check this morning.
Next week is the Blue and Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts. The boys will get their new ranks (except for Jacob who will be moving on to Boy Scouts. He's finally picked a troop, too!) and there's a big dinner thing. They also have a centerpiece contest within the dens. Daniel's den has won for the past two years. Mostly because we think outside of the box and don't go for the obvious. The first year was Chinese New Year and we did a papier mache "pack rat" (it was the year of the rat) and dressed him up in Cub Scout gear. It was way cute. Last year was Presidents and we made macaroni art presidents (a la the Three Wise Guys). This year is Happy Birthday Scouting (it's Boy Scout's 100th Anniversary). Almost every den is doing a cake or presents. Of course we're not! We're making a quilt. Yep. A quilt.
Each boy was responsible for two squares. One for an era from the last 100 years and one personal one (what I love about Scouting). They all came in today and I pulled out my dusty sewing machine and got to work. I couldn't believe how fast I got the top put together. I was really expecting it to take me a couple of days. Literally an hour after I started, the top was all ready. I decided to add a thick border around the outside so it should be all ready to go for quilting tomorrow. Fortunately, I didn't expect to start quilting until at least Thursday, so I'll be able to go a little more elaborate on the actual quilting part (I'm a purist and have to do that by hand). Even if we don't win, I'm really proud of the work the boys did and will post pictures after it's done.
Of course, pulling out the sewing mahine makes me want to start sewing again. I'm going to have to head over to the local quilt store when I'm all done.
Since Daniel's birthday was last week, we decided to throw together a little sleepover for him. It started out as four boys (Matt, John, Jett and Quinn). Little did we know that Daniel had invited several other boys to spend the night as well. I began getting phone calls on Thursday night from the moms of these other boys. I couldn't say, "no. You're kids are not invited," so, they were invited as well. Friday at 5 pm (1 hour before party time), Melissa calls me and says that her son, Michael, is talking about Daniel's party. Was he really on the list or was it something Daniel decided on? I told her that it was fine if Michael wanted to come, so the guest list grew from 4 to 7.
The boys were great until it was actually time for sleep. I threatened, Mike threatened...no sleep. I guess they fell asleep around 4:30am. Yep. 4:30am.
It was with so much glee that I went downstairs at 7:30am to wake them up.
I threw the lights on and said, "good morning party people!" They began stretching and Mike says, "well, this is what 3 hours of sleep feels like." No kidding, they looked at us, bounced out of their sleeping bags and asked when pancakes would be ready. Figures.
The last of the boys left at 9:30 and we began focusing on getting ready for Daniel's last basketball game at 11:30. This season has flown by...mostly because there was no complaining about going to games or practices. Daniel's even asked to play again next year. Next up is Hannah's soccer season which starts in a couple of weeks. Then, Jacob has asked to play baseball again this summer, so, we'll be doing that after soccer ends. Oh, and did I mention that Daniel joined the school's Running Club? I'm so tired already.
We got a bunch of ice on Saturday night. We woke up Sunday morning not sure whether or not we'd actually have Sunday School. We called, looked at the website, checked Facebook...nothing told us they were closed. After seeing the radar, we decided it wasn't worth trying to get there. Snow doesn't bother me. Ice scares the living heck out of me. I posted on my FB status that we weren't going and got a couple of responses, one from the educational director and one from the rabbi, telling me that they'd cancelled classes. The rabbi even told me that she felt better about cancelling classes knowing that someone with our excellent attendance wasn't risking it. Of course, when I checked my e-mail later in the day, the e-mail from another educational leader said that Sunday School was cancelled. Figures. That was the one place we didn't check this morning.
Next week is the Blue and Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts. The boys will get their new ranks (except for Jacob who will be moving on to Boy Scouts. He's finally picked a troop, too!) and there's a big dinner thing. They also have a centerpiece contest within the dens. Daniel's den has won for the past two years. Mostly because we think outside of the box and don't go for the obvious. The first year was Chinese New Year and we did a papier mache "pack rat" (it was the year of the rat) and dressed him up in Cub Scout gear. It was way cute. Last year was Presidents and we made macaroni art presidents (a la the Three Wise Guys). This year is Happy Birthday Scouting (it's Boy Scout's 100th Anniversary). Almost every den is doing a cake or presents. Of course we're not! We're making a quilt. Yep. A quilt.
Each boy was responsible for two squares. One for an era from the last 100 years and one personal one (what I love about Scouting). They all came in today and I pulled out my dusty sewing machine and got to work. I couldn't believe how fast I got the top put together. I was really expecting it to take me a couple of days. Literally an hour after I started, the top was all ready. I decided to add a thick border around the outside so it should be all ready to go for quilting tomorrow. Fortunately, I didn't expect to start quilting until at least Thursday, so I'll be able to go a little more elaborate on the actual quilting part (I'm a purist and have to do that by hand). Even if we don't win, I'm really proud of the work the boys did and will post pictures after it's done.
Of course, pulling out the sewing mahine makes me want to start sewing again. I'm going to have to head over to the local quilt store when I'm all done.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Such Love and Support
I can't even begin to say how grateful I am for everyone that has offered love, support and prayers for Daniel. I've had so many people come up and ask how we are and have been telling us that they've been praying for him. It's overwhelming. It's also been interesting to find out how many people out there actually have epilepsy. So many people have told me that either they have, or know someone that has, epilepsy and that they are doing well. So encouraging.
The principal, counselor and school nurse have been so helpful with helping me out as well. They're locked and loaded for after Daniel sees the neurologist. I just wish I could figure his teacher out. I don't exactly know what's going on with her. She's acting weird and strange. Almost like she's trying to protect herself. Huh.
I was at my soccer game last night and we were warming up when my friend, Debbie, asked me about Daniel. She hadn't heard that we got the EEG results. My neighbor, Katie, only heard the word, "epilepsy," and looks at me, panicked. "Who has epilepsy?" She asked me. "Daniel," I told her. "Oh my God, Barb! I am so sorry!" She tells me as she gives me a big hug. I told her that it was okay. Really, it was going to be fine. That's when another girl on our team, Renee, comes over to tell me her mother has epilepsy and she's doing really well on medication. It was very nice to hear.
Children's Mercy has been running these commercials, both on radio and TV, where they talk about the Million Reasons Mosaic The line goes a little like, "there are a million reasons to choose Children's. What's yours?" Then, they show the picture of a child made up of a bunch of photos of other children. It always made me a little misty but now, I flat out cry when I see or hear those commercials. (I'm welling up just typing this.) I don't know if I'm going to be able to listen to the radio-thon my radio station does every spring. The whole idea of needing Children's is overwhelming. I think a lot of it is that I feel guilty for not catching this before now. That he's had to struggle all these years and I let him down. I know it's silly and we've got the diagnosis now, but...
The principal, counselor and school nurse have been so helpful with helping me out as well. They're locked and loaded for after Daniel sees the neurologist. I just wish I could figure his teacher out. I don't exactly know what's going on with her. She's acting weird and strange. Almost like she's trying to protect herself. Huh.
I was at my soccer game last night and we were warming up when my friend, Debbie, asked me about Daniel. She hadn't heard that we got the EEG results. My neighbor, Katie, only heard the word, "epilepsy," and looks at me, panicked. "Who has epilepsy?" She asked me. "Daniel," I told her. "Oh my God, Barb! I am so sorry!" She tells me as she gives me a big hug. I told her that it was okay. Really, it was going to be fine. That's when another girl on our team, Renee, comes over to tell me her mother has epilepsy and she's doing really well on medication. It was very nice to hear.
Children's Mercy has been running these commercials, both on radio and TV, where they talk about the Million Reasons Mosaic The line goes a little like, "there are a million reasons to choose Children's. What's yours?" Then, they show the picture of a child made up of a bunch of photos of other children. It always made me a little misty but now, I flat out cry when I see or hear those commercials. (I'm welling up just typing this.) I don't know if I'm going to be able to listen to the radio-thon my radio station does every spring. The whole idea of needing Children's is overwhelming. I think a lot of it is that I feel guilty for not catching this before now. That he's had to struggle all these years and I let him down. I know it's silly and we've got the diagnosis now, but...
Friday, November 20, 2009
Boo-Ya! I Told You So!
We got our answer today. The pediatrician told us that Daniel's EEG was "abnormal and indicative of epilepsy." I told you it wasn't ADD. So his teacher can freaking bite me.
After school, I talked with the school counselor who wants me to let her know what the neurologist says so that if we need to start any kind of IEP proceedings, we can get that going. Also, so that we can start making modifications for him in the classroom. She's the one who, surprisingly, has been incredibly supportive and told me months ago that this diagnosis makes perfect sense. She wanted to know if I wanted her to tell his teacher to "take one thing off my plate." I told her no that I'd do it.
I ran down to find her in the classroom. When I told her the test was positive for epilepsy, she looked as though I'd hit her and her jaw hit the floor. She told me that she'd never seen Daniel have seizures and I told her that she had. When he goes blank, that's a seizure. I don't know if she's yet a believer but she'd better get her butt on the bandwagon.
Mike is livid with the school psychologist. He wants a sit-down with the principal, teacher, counselor and psychologist. He also wants an apology since the psychologist diagnosed Daniel with ADD, clinical depression and anxiety disorder. Of course, it's always behavioral, it can never be anything medical. Mike wants there to be more education on their part. I have to agree. It's far too easy to say that your kid doesn't pay attention so he has ADD. We could have gone that route and medicated him but I just knew that he wasn't.
And I'm not in denial. And I have an EEG to prove it.
So, we have an appointment with the pediatric neurologist at Children's Mercy on December 2. I thought that was pretty fast. We'll have more specifics then.
After school, I talked with the school counselor who wants me to let her know what the neurologist says so that if we need to start any kind of IEP proceedings, we can get that going. Also, so that we can start making modifications for him in the classroom. She's the one who, surprisingly, has been incredibly supportive and told me months ago that this diagnosis makes perfect sense. She wanted to know if I wanted her to tell his teacher to "take one thing off my plate." I told her no that I'd do it.
I ran down to find her in the classroom. When I told her the test was positive for epilepsy, she looked as though I'd hit her and her jaw hit the floor. She told me that she'd never seen Daniel have seizures and I told her that she had. When he goes blank, that's a seizure. I don't know if she's yet a believer but she'd better get her butt on the bandwagon.
Mike is livid with the school psychologist. He wants a sit-down with the principal, teacher, counselor and psychologist. He also wants an apology since the psychologist diagnosed Daniel with ADD, clinical depression and anxiety disorder. Of course, it's always behavioral, it can never be anything medical. Mike wants there to be more education on their part. I have to agree. It's far too easy to say that your kid doesn't pay attention so he has ADD. We could have gone that route and medicated him but I just knew that he wasn't.
And I'm not in denial. And I have an EEG to prove it.
So, we have an appointment with the pediatric neurologist at Children's Mercy on December 2. I thought that was pretty fast. We'll have more specifics then.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Daniel, Children's Mercy and the EEG
*Not that you all would know but this post is going to take me forever since my cat won't let me put her down. And she's all spread out on my lap and arms. My cat has issues.*
We had the big EEG today. We were told that Daniel couldn't have caffeine or chocolate yesterday or today and that he could only sleep from 12-4am on Monday morning because they wanted him to be able to sleep for part of the test. Also, I hear that the flashing light portion works better when they're sleep deprived. Mean, but true.
So, I hunkered in for the first shift. We were good until 11:15 when Daniel started getting really sleepy. I kept telling him that he only had 45 minutes...30 minutes...15 minutes...until it was finally time for bed. He went right to sleep.
Mike took the 4am shift and, I have to say, he did an amazing job. He made sure to get himself all ready to go so that he wouldn't have to worry about Daniel falling asleep while he was in the shower. Mike then took him to IHOP for breakfast.
Of course, Jacob was mad because that's his favorite restaurant...why didn't they wake him up...blah, blah, blah. I told him to suck it up and go to school.
When I got up for the day, Mike left for work. I got Jacob and Hannah breakfast and Daniel announced that he'd like some cereal. Well, okay. Stupid me, I handed him a bowl of Cocoa Pebbles. Stupid. Luckily, he'd only taken a bite when I realized my mistake.
We decided that it wouldn't be fair to send Daniel to school on 4 hours of sleep so we kept him home. I got to see him go through all sorts of different phases this morning...the really loud and obnoxious phase, clumsy phase, quiet and withdrawn phase. The worst part was the drive to Children's. We were doing okay, singing and talking, until it started sleeting and the roads were congested and slick. I hate driving into downtown anyway. I was already worried about going somewhere I'd never been and trying to keep Daniel from falling asleep, I really didn't need the extra worry about the roads. Fortunately, I left an hour early because I managed to turn the wrong way...twice. Then, finally, I saw the building that said Children's Mercy Hospital. Should have been easy from there, right?
Next to Children's is UMKC (University of Missouri Kansas City) School of Dentistry. Next to that is UMKC School of Optometry. Next to that is Truman Medical Center. (I guess that's why they call it Hospital Hill)And they all have their own parking decks. And they all have very specific decks for employees. I could not find the parking deck for Children's. Silly me, you pull up to the front of the building and it's right there. Figures. It's never right out in front.
So, Daniel and I park on the Red Rocket level and walk toward the elevator. Even the parking deck lets you know this is a place for kids. It's the most vibrant parking deck I've ever seen. We follow the crowd to the first floor and head toward information. The very nice lady pulls out a map and starts telling me how to get to the EEG lab. Walk down this hall to security (yep...almost as much security as an airport). Pass through and take the Lightning Elevator to the first floor (I thought we were already on the first floor). Get off, turn left. Pass through the atrium and past the gift shop. Play chess with the gnome at the vending machines and turn right. Crawl under the barbed wire and make a slight left at the big tree. Turn left at the T and you're there! You can't miss it. I thank her, take my map with all kinds of lines and squiggles marked on both sides and head for security.
There, the guy asks for my license. I hand it to him and he swipes it. He smiles at me and asks me to verify my name. He looks at Daniel and says, "you must be Daniel. Good luck on your EEG." What? How did he know that? He knew everything just by scanning my license. Scary. He prints out a badge with my name and why we're there for me to wear and sends us on our way.
Somehow, we find our way to the EEG lab. We walk in and are told that we're too early. Go get some lunch. Seriously? So, we crawl back under the barbed wire to get Daniel a pretzel. Luckily, we didn't have to play chess with the gnome again.
When we return to the lab, there are now two people ahead of us and we're told to wait in the waiting room. I feel like banging my head on the wall. Luckily, these people are really efficient. One of the groups ahead of us has already checked in and as soon as we sit down in the waiting area, we're called. I'm thrilled to hear that our pediatrician has already done all of our paperwork for us and all I have to do is sign a couple of forms.
Back in the waiting room, the two dads (for once I was the only mom there) have turned on ESPN and tell me that I'm more than welcome to change it. That's okay. I've brought a book. One by one, the kids are called back. When it's Daniel's turn, we go into the room and Daniel won't stop talking. What does this do? Will it hurt? Why are you measuring my head? Can I touch that? Can you take that off to show me it won't hurt when you have to take them all off? Why are you putting one on my heart? Why are you coloring my head? What does the glue feel like? Are you done yet? Does this really measure my brain waves? Why do you have to do a blinking light? Are you going to make me go to sleep? What if I sleep through the blinking light?
You get the idea.
She kicks me out and tells me it'll be about 30 minutes. I head to the waiting room to read. The dads are pacing between sports stories on ESPN. It was making it very hard to concentrate on my book. Why don't guys think to bring something to do? After a few minutes, we all began yawning and looking like someone was going to pass out. We joked about how nice it would have been if the test could be a couple of hours long so we could take a nap. An eternity (30 minutes) later, I'm told I can come back into the room. She's wiping the glue out of his hair and she tells me he's all done. They'll send the results to our pediatrician. If we haven't heard by Thursday, we need to call and get the results. By Thursday. If the pediatrician doesn't have the results, they need to call and get them from the lab. By Thursday. It was hard to tell if this was the standard line she gives everyone or if she was being urgent or what. Ugh.
Poor kid was out by 7pm. I can't believe he lasted that long. He was mad that I made him take a bath but he still had glue in his hair and crayon measure marks on his forehead. As soon as I said, "done," he was out of the tub and in bed. Poor kid.
So, that was our adventure. Now, we wait.
We had the big EEG today. We were told that Daniel couldn't have caffeine or chocolate yesterday or today and that he could only sleep from 12-4am on Monday morning because they wanted him to be able to sleep for part of the test. Also, I hear that the flashing light portion works better when they're sleep deprived. Mean, but true.
So, I hunkered in for the first shift. We were good until 11:15 when Daniel started getting really sleepy. I kept telling him that he only had 45 minutes...30 minutes...15 minutes...until it was finally time for bed. He went right to sleep.
Mike took the 4am shift and, I have to say, he did an amazing job. He made sure to get himself all ready to go so that he wouldn't have to worry about Daniel falling asleep while he was in the shower. Mike then took him to IHOP for breakfast.
Of course, Jacob was mad because that's his favorite restaurant...why didn't they wake him up...blah, blah, blah. I told him to suck it up and go to school.
When I got up for the day, Mike left for work. I got Jacob and Hannah breakfast and Daniel announced that he'd like some cereal. Well, okay. Stupid me, I handed him a bowl of Cocoa Pebbles. Stupid. Luckily, he'd only taken a bite when I realized my mistake.
We decided that it wouldn't be fair to send Daniel to school on 4 hours of sleep so we kept him home. I got to see him go through all sorts of different phases this morning...the really loud and obnoxious phase, clumsy phase, quiet and withdrawn phase. The worst part was the drive to Children's. We were doing okay, singing and talking, until it started sleeting and the roads were congested and slick. I hate driving into downtown anyway. I was already worried about going somewhere I'd never been and trying to keep Daniel from falling asleep, I really didn't need the extra worry about the roads. Fortunately, I left an hour early because I managed to turn the wrong way...twice. Then, finally, I saw the building that said Children's Mercy Hospital. Should have been easy from there, right?
Next to Children's is UMKC (University of Missouri Kansas City) School of Dentistry. Next to that is UMKC School of Optometry. Next to that is Truman Medical Center. (I guess that's why they call it Hospital Hill)And they all have their own parking decks. And they all have very specific decks for employees. I could not find the parking deck for Children's. Silly me, you pull up to the front of the building and it's right there. Figures. It's never right out in front.
So, Daniel and I park on the Red Rocket level and walk toward the elevator. Even the parking deck lets you know this is a place for kids. It's the most vibrant parking deck I've ever seen. We follow the crowd to the first floor and head toward information. The very nice lady pulls out a map and starts telling me how to get to the EEG lab. Walk down this hall to security (yep...almost as much security as an airport). Pass through and take the Lightning Elevator to the first floor (I thought we were already on the first floor). Get off, turn left. Pass through the atrium and past the gift shop. Play chess with the gnome at the vending machines and turn right. Crawl under the barbed wire and make a slight left at the big tree. Turn left at the T and you're there! You can't miss it. I thank her, take my map with all kinds of lines and squiggles marked on both sides and head for security.
There, the guy asks for my license. I hand it to him and he swipes it. He smiles at me and asks me to verify my name. He looks at Daniel and says, "you must be Daniel. Good luck on your EEG." What? How did he know that? He knew everything just by scanning my license. Scary. He prints out a badge with my name and why we're there for me to wear and sends us on our way.
Somehow, we find our way to the EEG lab. We walk in and are told that we're too early. Go get some lunch. Seriously? So, we crawl back under the barbed wire to get Daniel a pretzel. Luckily, we didn't have to play chess with the gnome again.
When we return to the lab, there are now two people ahead of us and we're told to wait in the waiting room. I feel like banging my head on the wall. Luckily, these people are really efficient. One of the groups ahead of us has already checked in and as soon as we sit down in the waiting area, we're called. I'm thrilled to hear that our pediatrician has already done all of our paperwork for us and all I have to do is sign a couple of forms.
Back in the waiting room, the two dads (for once I was the only mom there) have turned on ESPN and tell me that I'm more than welcome to change it. That's okay. I've brought a book. One by one, the kids are called back. When it's Daniel's turn, we go into the room and Daniel won't stop talking. What does this do? Will it hurt? Why are you measuring my head? Can I touch that? Can you take that off to show me it won't hurt when you have to take them all off? Why are you putting one on my heart? Why are you coloring my head? What does the glue feel like? Are you done yet? Does this really measure my brain waves? Why do you have to do a blinking light? Are you going to make me go to sleep? What if I sleep through the blinking light?
You get the idea.
She kicks me out and tells me it'll be about 30 minutes. I head to the waiting room to read. The dads are pacing between sports stories on ESPN. It was making it very hard to concentrate on my book. Why don't guys think to bring something to do? After a few minutes, we all began yawning and looking like someone was going to pass out. We joked about how nice it would have been if the test could be a couple of hours long so we could take a nap. An eternity (30 minutes) later, I'm told I can come back into the room. She's wiping the glue out of his hair and she tells me he's all done. They'll send the results to our pediatrician. If we haven't heard by Thursday, we need to call and get the results. By Thursday. If the pediatrician doesn't have the results, they need to call and get them from the lab. By Thursday. It was hard to tell if this was the standard line she gives everyone or if she was being urgent or what. Ugh.
Poor kid was out by 7pm. I can't believe he lasted that long. He was mad that I made him take a bath but he still had glue in his hair and crayon measure marks on his forehead. As soon as I said, "done," he was out of the tub and in bed. Poor kid.
So, that was our adventure. Now, we wait.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Busy Weekend
You've already seen the video from the Miley Cyrus concert that Hannah and I went to yesterday. That was just one part of the weekend. Mike left for Chicago on Friday morning so it was just me and the kids until this evening. Fortunately for us, there was no Sunday School this morning so we got to sleep in since none of us were in bed before midnight. This morning, I made a lovely breakfast of bacon, eggs and pumpkin pancakes. Yum. This is the time of year that I really get into the whole pumpkin thing.
Hannah was the star student for the week in her class so she got to bring home Bow Wow for the weekend. It's pretty cool that she'll get to put the concert in Bow Wow's journal (Bow Wow never got further than the parking lot). Bow Wow also got to go to puppy school with us this afternoon, which was super cute. Jen, the trainer, was really into the whole thing and would occasionally call on Hannah to have Bow Wow do something. LOL! We got some really cute pictures this weekend.
Jacob and Daniel enjoy dinner at Five Guys on Friday.
Hannah and Bow Wow
Jacob and Alice. I love this picture.
Daniel has a big dog that looks just like Bow Wow. They insisted on getting a picture together.
Hannah and Bow Wow during puppy school. Hannah's hair looks so long!
Bow Wow, Hannah and Jen the trainer at puppy school. Jen looks about 16 in pictures. In real life, she's mid-20's.
Hannah was the star student for the week in her class so she got to bring home Bow Wow for the weekend. It's pretty cool that she'll get to put the concert in Bow Wow's journal (Bow Wow never got further than the parking lot). Bow Wow also got to go to puppy school with us this afternoon, which was super cute. Jen, the trainer, was really into the whole thing and would occasionally call on Hannah to have Bow Wow do something. LOL! We got some really cute pictures this weekend.
Jacob and Daniel enjoy dinner at Five Guys on Friday.
Hannah and Bow Wow
Jacob and Alice. I love this picture.
Daniel has a big dog that looks just like Bow Wow. They insisted on getting a picture together.
Hannah and Bow Wow during puppy school. Hannah's hair looks so long!
Bow Wow, Hannah and Jen the trainer at puppy school. Jen looks about 16 in pictures. In real life, she's mid-20's.
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
A Little Bit of Crazy
Wow. Another week has gone by.
My dogs are nuts. Alice is still trying to figure out her place in the pack. Oriana's been letting her go until recently. All it takes is on arm to pin Alice. Alice doesn't like that much, but Oriana's had enough. And considering there's a 60 pound difference between Alice and Oriana, Oriana's probably going to win every time. For the most part, they do look like they're playing and that's been good for Oriana.
Alice has been going to Puppy Preschool on Sunday afternoons. It's been a lot of fun for all of us. The nice thing about Mini Schnauzers is that they're very smart and they learn pretty quickly. She's got "watch me" and "leave it" down and this week we're working on the "loose leash walk" and "sit." The interesting thing is that a lot of this is through hand commands instead of verbal. The trainer says it works better, especially for a family like ours, since a hand signal is always the same but verbal cues can vary (especially for Hannah who still has speech issues). It's fun to see the kids really getting into the training. Of course, when they fight about who gets to go first, that's not so fun.
Mike dropped Bella off at the vet to be spayed this morning. We go pick her up tomorrow. It's strange how a little 4 pound kitty makes such an impact on the house. Of course, you don't realize it until she's not here. I really miss her already.
Last week, we discovered that our hamsters had babies. Ugh. Seven babies to be exact. We've been watching them and yesterday, their little eyes opened. They actually look like itty bitty hamsters. So cute. We also talked to the pet store and they're going to take them for us. Sweet.
Hannah tested for her low brown belt in tae kwon do this Saturday. She did really well and actually broke a 1 inch board on the second try. We were all pretty shocked. She's now just one belt below Daniel. We think he's hit the wall.
My dogs are nuts. Alice is still trying to figure out her place in the pack. Oriana's been letting her go until recently. All it takes is on arm to pin Alice. Alice doesn't like that much, but Oriana's had enough. And considering there's a 60 pound difference between Alice and Oriana, Oriana's probably going to win every time. For the most part, they do look like they're playing and that's been good for Oriana.
Alice has been going to Puppy Preschool on Sunday afternoons. It's been a lot of fun for all of us. The nice thing about Mini Schnauzers is that they're very smart and they learn pretty quickly. She's got "watch me" and "leave it" down and this week we're working on the "loose leash walk" and "sit." The interesting thing is that a lot of this is through hand commands instead of verbal. The trainer says it works better, especially for a family like ours, since a hand signal is always the same but verbal cues can vary (especially for Hannah who still has speech issues). It's fun to see the kids really getting into the training. Of course, when they fight about who gets to go first, that's not so fun.
Mike dropped Bella off at the vet to be spayed this morning. We go pick her up tomorrow. It's strange how a little 4 pound kitty makes such an impact on the house. Of course, you don't realize it until she's not here. I really miss her already.
Last week, we discovered that our hamsters had babies. Ugh. Seven babies to be exact. We've been watching them and yesterday, their little eyes opened. They actually look like itty bitty hamsters. So cute. We also talked to the pet store and they're going to take them for us. Sweet.
Hannah tested for her low brown belt in tae kwon do this Saturday. She did really well and actually broke a 1 inch board on the second try. We were all pretty shocked. She's now just one belt below Daniel. We think he's hit the wall.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Here We Go...Update
We took Daniel in this morning and our pediatrician thought there was enough evidence to send him to the pediatric neurologist at Children's Mercy for an EEG. What I think is really nice is they are actually going to set the appointment up for us. He told us that it can take about a month to get in but the when we do get in, it will be a very thorough exam.
More than likely, he'll have to do a sleeping EEG. Unfortunately, what that will mean is we'll have to keep him up all night so that he'll sleep during the day of his appointment.
While I was hoping this would happen a little quicker, I think this is playing out the way I'd thought it would. I'll keep you updated.
More than likely, he'll have to do a sleeping EEG. Unfortunately, what that will mean is we'll have to keep him up all night so that he'll sleep during the day of his appointment.
While I was hoping this would happen a little quicker, I think this is playing out the way I'd thought it would. I'll keep you updated.
Here We Go...
We have Daniel's doctor's appointment this morning. I hope we get some answers today. We probably won't get much more than a referral but it'll be a start.
I have to say that I'm really disappointed with Daniel's teacher. I asked her to simply write down whenever she notices Daniel zoning out and she told me that she couldn't possibly watch Daniel all day. That maybe I should ask the school psychologist to come in and observe Daniel for 20 minutes. That's not what I asked you to do! I just wanted her to document it when she noticed it. She's so not on board here.
The person that surprised me, though, is the school counselor. I left her a voicemail explaining what I thought was going on and she left me a message back. Her first words were, "Wow. Wow wow." She also said that it makes total sense and that she'd be more than happy to help in any way that she can and that she'd talk to Daniel's teacher about watching for whenever Daniel zoned out (HAHAHAHAHA!!!) and about strategies she can use to help Daniel more in the classroom.
I can't believe how nervous I am about all of this.
I have to say that I'm really disappointed with Daniel's teacher. I asked her to simply write down whenever she notices Daniel zoning out and she told me that she couldn't possibly watch Daniel all day. That maybe I should ask the school psychologist to come in and observe Daniel for 20 minutes. That's not what I asked you to do! I just wanted her to document it when she noticed it. She's so not on board here.
The person that surprised me, though, is the school counselor. I left her a voicemail explaining what I thought was going on and she left me a message back. Her first words were, "Wow. Wow wow." She also said that it makes total sense and that she'd be more than happy to help in any way that she can and that she'd talk to Daniel's teacher about watching for whenever Daniel zoned out (HAHAHAHAHA!!!) and about strategies she can use to help Daniel more in the classroom.
I can't believe how nervous I am about all of this.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
A Ray of Hope?
I was so upset about the 9 minute long voice mail that I got from Daniel's teacher the other day that I couldn't even think. I asked Mike to listen to it so we could discuss it before deciding what action we were going to take. Mike told me that Daniel's teacher said something that really resonated with him. The line was this:
Daniel will just be sitting there working and then it's like he's suddenly gone.
Mike said he could relate to this and even said that he experiences it as well. It's like he's listening and the next thing he knows, someone is saying, "are you listening to me?" He says it's really frustrating but he can't help it.
As we were talking, Mike casually mentioned that his brother has Epilepsy. I knew that but it wasn't on my radar. Yesterday, I, on a whim, Googled Epilepsy in children. The first article that popped up was something about getting the school ready for a child with seizures. I clicked on it and I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
The first thing they said to let the school know was "my child is not ignoring you. He's having a seizure. Please let me know when this happens." What? Aren't seizures where you lose total control of your body and have convulsions? Apparently, there are many types of seizures.
There is a type called Absence Seizures where someone hits the pause button in the brain. It gets turned back on after 10-20 seconds and the child has no memory of it and, aside from appearing to be daydreaming, there are often no other symptoms. Some have eye rolling or fluttering but most just stare. The scary thing is these can happen 50-100 times a day. And it's often genetic.
I call Mike and he tells me that this is the type of seizure his brother has. Now we're getting somewhere. I called the pediatrician and we have an appointment for Friday morning. I was talking with my friend, Vivian, last night at TKD. Her husband is a neurologist and she told me that more than likely they'll just send him for an EEG for an official diagnosis. That's what Marc told me as well. I also called his teacher and told her to write down any time she may see him appear to be daydreaming. I don't know if she'll actually do it but we'll see.
My gut tells me that this is what it is. Everything I've read about it and everything I've seen on YouTube of kids with it tells me that it's seizures. Not that I want him to have Epilepsy but it would explain so much and it's completely treatable. My research tells me that most kids are able to stop meds after 2 years. The school will also be forced to make accomodations for him, like repeating directions and offering extra help.
Please pray for Daniel on Friday. The poor thing needs to get rid of the label of being a bad kid.
Daniel will just be sitting there working and then it's like he's suddenly gone.
Mike said he could relate to this and even said that he experiences it as well. It's like he's listening and the next thing he knows, someone is saying, "are you listening to me?" He says it's really frustrating but he can't help it.
As we were talking, Mike casually mentioned that his brother has Epilepsy. I knew that but it wasn't on my radar. Yesterday, I, on a whim, Googled Epilepsy in children. The first article that popped up was something about getting the school ready for a child with seizures. I clicked on it and I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
The first thing they said to let the school know was "my child is not ignoring you. He's having a seizure. Please let me know when this happens." What? Aren't seizures where you lose total control of your body and have convulsions? Apparently, there are many types of seizures.
There is a type called Absence Seizures where someone hits the pause button in the brain. It gets turned back on after 10-20 seconds and the child has no memory of it and, aside from appearing to be daydreaming, there are often no other symptoms. Some have eye rolling or fluttering but most just stare. The scary thing is these can happen 50-100 times a day. And it's often genetic.
I call Mike and he tells me that this is the type of seizure his brother has. Now we're getting somewhere. I called the pediatrician and we have an appointment for Friday morning. I was talking with my friend, Vivian, last night at TKD. Her husband is a neurologist and she told me that more than likely they'll just send him for an EEG for an official diagnosis. That's what Marc told me as well. I also called his teacher and told her to write down any time she may see him appear to be daydreaming. I don't know if she'll actually do it but we'll see.
My gut tells me that this is what it is. Everything I've read about it and everything I've seen on YouTube of kids with it tells me that it's seizures. Not that I want him to have Epilepsy but it would explain so much and it's completely treatable. My research tells me that most kids are able to stop meds after 2 years. The school will also be forced to make accomodations for him, like repeating directions and offering extra help.
Please pray for Daniel on Friday. The poor thing needs to get rid of the label of being a bad kid.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Phew!!!
Okay...so I've been really, really bad about posting. I will try to do better. I promise.
This is the kids' third week of school. That doesn't seem possible. I've already gotten a call from Daniel's teacher about getting homework done. It's frustrating when he "forgets" his assignment notebook or doesn't fill it out completely. I really think they should have one starting in second grade but whatever. At least he's got his teacher wrapped around his finger. Hannah's doing really well in first grade. She LOVES her teacher and seems to be loving the challenge that comes with more the tougher academics of first grade. Jacob loves being high man on the totem pole. In fact, tomorrow he has hall duty in the morning. One of his fourth grade friends told Jacob that having hall duty was "tight." I just thought that was seriously funny. Translation for Dad...cool or awesome. Gotta keep up with the current slang. :)
Hannah's been really enjoying soccer. Her coach is fantastic and the kids really love him. She's getting really good at dribbling the ball and keeping it away from defenders. First game is in two weeks on the swanky new fields in Overland Park. Their team name is the Shamrocks because they wear green jerseys. Hannah was mad that they weren't the Green Lightning. I don't know where she got that from but she was convinced that was their team name.
Most of the moms on Hannah's team play on a recreational soccer team of their own. I was asked to join said team. Like an insane lunatic, I said yes. Our first game is next Monday. This should be seriously funny. I haven't played since high school. I can't keep from laughing as I type this!!!
Hannah's team also has a winter basketball team. *sigh* Seriously??? Of course, she wants to play. And she wants to play soccer again next Spring. And softball next summer. Oh, and there's no way she's quitting gymnastics (she told me that). How funny is it that of the three, she's my athletic one?
Jacob's looking into the violin mentoring program this year. Basically, the high school kids come to teach the elementary kids for 1/2 hour a week (private lessons) for FREE. Since they get community service hours out of it, they can't charge (they do in the summer since they don't get the credit). He's excited about the private lessons. I'm trying to figure out how to put another 1/2 hour into my week.
Daniel is...well...Daniel. He's just enjoying living life and drawing. He's been filling up notebook after notebook of drawings. He's been creating various characters in anticipation of a comic book series he's going to write when he's older. I hope he does.
This is the kids' third week of school. That doesn't seem possible. I've already gotten a call from Daniel's teacher about getting homework done. It's frustrating when he "forgets" his assignment notebook or doesn't fill it out completely. I really think they should have one starting in second grade but whatever. At least he's got his teacher wrapped around his finger. Hannah's doing really well in first grade. She LOVES her teacher and seems to be loving the challenge that comes with more the tougher academics of first grade. Jacob loves being high man on the totem pole. In fact, tomorrow he has hall duty in the morning. One of his fourth grade friends told Jacob that having hall duty was "tight." I just thought that was seriously funny. Translation for Dad...cool or awesome. Gotta keep up with the current slang. :)
Hannah's been really enjoying soccer. Her coach is fantastic and the kids really love him. She's getting really good at dribbling the ball and keeping it away from defenders. First game is in two weeks on the swanky new fields in Overland Park. Their team name is the Shamrocks because they wear green jerseys. Hannah was mad that they weren't the Green Lightning. I don't know where she got that from but she was convinced that was their team name.
Most of the moms on Hannah's team play on a recreational soccer team of their own. I was asked to join said team. Like an insane lunatic, I said yes. Our first game is next Monday. This should be seriously funny. I haven't played since high school. I can't keep from laughing as I type this!!!
Hannah's team also has a winter basketball team. *sigh* Seriously??? Of course, she wants to play. And she wants to play soccer again next Spring. And softball next summer. Oh, and there's no way she's quitting gymnastics (she told me that). How funny is it that of the three, she's my athletic one?
Jacob's looking into the violin mentoring program this year. Basically, the high school kids come to teach the elementary kids for 1/2 hour a week (private lessons) for FREE. Since they get community service hours out of it, they can't charge (they do in the summer since they don't get the credit). He's excited about the private lessons. I'm trying to figure out how to put another 1/2 hour into my week.
Daniel is...well...Daniel. He's just enjoying living life and drawing. He's been filling up notebook after notebook of drawings. He's been creating various characters in anticipation of a comic book series he's going to write when he's older. I hope he does.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Ask For a Little Storm...(and a big vacation photo post)
Well, I finally got my awesome storm last night....on what's considered the last day of severe weather season. The lightning started a good hour before the rain and continued well after the rain slowed. The rain came down in sheets. We lost power for just a second so that wasn't so bad. We also didn't get any hail, which was good. We did, however, get some really nasty wind. Enough wind that it blew my hanging flower baskets down. And those suckers can take some wind. I thought about pulling them down but didn't want to be touching a bunch of metal in a huge lightning storm. Luckily, they don't seem injured, so that's good. I saw Jacob in his room just watching the lightning from his bed. It was cute. I joined him for a while and we 'oohhed' and 'ahhhhed' at it all. He asked me to wake him up if the storm got cooler. LOL!
While we were on vacation, they came and inspected our fence around the pool. He left us a note asking if we could get the fence just a smidge closer to the house and that otherwise, we're good. Sweet. Now I can get on with my life.
We got back from our Oklahoma trip on Sunday evening. We were barely in the garage when the kids' friends were asking if they could play. They were certainly missed while we were gone.
The trip to Tulsa was surprisingly easy. Especially since there are no interstates between here and there. We had to take 169 Hwy all of the way. Fortunately, not only was it four lane for a good chunk, it was also 65mph. Nice. We also only hit about 5 towns before Tulsa so we didn't have to slow down much. There's not much in southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma...lots of hay, wheat and little oil pumps. That was the funniest thing. We also passed signs for Independence, KS and I realized we're not that far. I'm so going before the summer's over.
In addition to the water park, aquarium, Build-A-Bear and other stuff we did, we caught up with Mike's great-aunt and two cousins, who live in Tulsa. That was really neat. Of course I took a few hundred pictures (literally)...
Daniel at the Air and Space Museum. They had a hands-on portion that they loved.
Jacob was the only one tall enough to do this. He was like an astronaut.
Hannah in a plane
Waiting for the movie at the planetarium
Okay...so on our honeymoon, we got to pet stingrays. I asked Mike to take a picture of me petting one. When the film came back, it was just my hand and the stingray. For ten years, I've been on Mike about that. Here, Mike tries to fix that wrong. Here's me petting a stingray. Of course, I wasn't paying attention to the stingrays and one of them put my hand in their mouth. It felt strange and squishy (not painful in the slightest) but it scared me enough to scream and pull my hand out abruptly and splash the heck out of Daniel, who was standing right next to me.
The kids and Mike pet the stingrays.
This was cool. They had a tunnel where the bull sharks would swim above your head.
The kids outside of the aquarium.
The Oklahoma Aquarium
At the zoo, they had a rainforest exhibit and there were tons of these little blue poison dart frogs.
There were also monkeys running around. So close we could have touched them.
The kids goof around at the lion drinking fountain.
These tigers were too cute. They had such a good time with this ball.
At the zoo.
We ate dinner at the most bizarre steakhouse. Before the steaks came hummus, pita and tabbouleh. Oh, and cabbage rolls!
Did I mention that dinner also came with a basket of ribs and smoked bologna?
Daniel in the lazy river at the water park
Jacob loved the wave pool. I have to admit that I did too.
My little Hannah was fearless. This slide emptied into a 9ft deep pool. The girl had no problem swimming to the side.
I couldn't believe Jacob went down this 7 story tall slide. Three times. That's him going down.
And at the bottom.
Here's Mike going down.
These slides were 5 stories tall. The kids loved it. Hannah comes down.
And Jacob
And Daniel. The yellow one was faster than the green one. The pink one was for the tubes...Hannah was mad because we wouldn't rent one and she really wanted to go down the pink slide.
Mike's cousin, Kenny, Mike's great-aunt Lorraine and his cousin, Robert with us in the background just after breakfast Sunday morning.
One of my favorite things from the trip. We confused the Garmin so much that it stopped telling what road we should turn on. Instead we got, "Left on road."
The kids wait for the Build-A-Bear to open. They were so excited.
Jacob stuffs his bear.
Hannah dressing hers
The kids with their finished products. Of all the things we did in Tulsa, this is the one thing they can't stop talking about.
Daniel is a happy boy.
This is the coolest sign. You'll have to click on the picture to make it bigger so you can read it. This is the border coming from Oklahoma back into Kansas. It says, "Leaving Cherokee Nation."
While we were on vacation, they came and inspected our fence around the pool. He left us a note asking if we could get the fence just a smidge closer to the house and that otherwise, we're good. Sweet. Now I can get on with my life.
We got back from our Oklahoma trip on Sunday evening. We were barely in the garage when the kids' friends were asking if they could play. They were certainly missed while we were gone.
The trip to Tulsa was surprisingly easy. Especially since there are no interstates between here and there. We had to take 169 Hwy all of the way. Fortunately, not only was it four lane for a good chunk, it was also 65mph. Nice. We also only hit about 5 towns before Tulsa so we didn't have to slow down much. There's not much in southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma...lots of hay, wheat and little oil pumps. That was the funniest thing. We also passed signs for Independence, KS and I realized we're not that far. I'm so going before the summer's over.
In addition to the water park, aquarium, Build-A-Bear and other stuff we did, we caught up with Mike's great-aunt and two cousins, who live in Tulsa. That was really neat. Of course I took a few hundred pictures (literally)...
Daniel at the Air and Space Museum. They had a hands-on portion that they loved.
Jacob was the only one tall enough to do this. He was like an astronaut.
Hannah in a plane
Waiting for the movie at the planetarium
Okay...so on our honeymoon, we got to pet stingrays. I asked Mike to take a picture of me petting one. When the film came back, it was just my hand and the stingray. For ten years, I've been on Mike about that. Here, Mike tries to fix that wrong. Here's me petting a stingray. Of course, I wasn't paying attention to the stingrays and one of them put my hand in their mouth. It felt strange and squishy (not painful in the slightest) but it scared me enough to scream and pull my hand out abruptly and splash the heck out of Daniel, who was standing right next to me.
The kids and Mike pet the stingrays.
This was cool. They had a tunnel where the bull sharks would swim above your head.
The kids outside of the aquarium.
The Oklahoma Aquarium
At the zoo, they had a rainforest exhibit and there were tons of these little blue poison dart frogs.
There were also monkeys running around. So close we could have touched them.
The kids goof around at the lion drinking fountain.
These tigers were too cute. They had such a good time with this ball.
At the zoo.
We ate dinner at the most bizarre steakhouse. Before the steaks came hummus, pita and tabbouleh. Oh, and cabbage rolls!
Did I mention that dinner also came with a basket of ribs and smoked bologna?
Daniel in the lazy river at the water park
Jacob loved the wave pool. I have to admit that I did too.
My little Hannah was fearless. This slide emptied into a 9ft deep pool. The girl had no problem swimming to the side.
I couldn't believe Jacob went down this 7 story tall slide. Three times. That's him going down.
And at the bottom.
Here's Mike going down.
These slides were 5 stories tall. The kids loved it. Hannah comes down.
And Jacob
And Daniel. The yellow one was faster than the green one. The pink one was for the tubes...Hannah was mad because we wouldn't rent one and she really wanted to go down the pink slide.
Mike's cousin, Kenny, Mike's great-aunt Lorraine and his cousin, Robert with us in the background just after breakfast Sunday morning.
One of my favorite things from the trip. We confused the Garmin so much that it stopped telling what road we should turn on. Instead we got, "Left on road."
The kids wait for the Build-A-Bear to open. They were so excited.
Jacob stuffs his bear.
Hannah dressing hers
The kids with their finished products. Of all the things we did in Tulsa, this is the one thing they can't stop talking about.
Daniel is a happy boy.
This is the coolest sign. You'll have to click on the picture to make it bigger so you can read it. This is the border coming from Oklahoma back into Kansas. It says, "Leaving Cherokee Nation."
Monday, June 08, 2009
Dreary Monday (and my 900th post!)
I had a great time getting my toes done and having dinner with Roxanne yesterday. I'm totally hooked on pedicures.
It stormed and stormed last night. We got the thunder and lightning about 45 minutes before any rain which was kind of strange. It was super windy too. The TV stations have learned their lesson (I think) about breaking into programming for random tornado warnings because they just kept the box up. Gary Lezak on NBC would come on during commercials. ABC was running the NBA finals and you could tell that it was killing them not to break in. I think they learned their lesson after the whole Grey's thing. Every two minutes or so, they'd play the *BEEP BEEP BEEP* and a big ol' scroll across the top. Why couldn't they do that for Grey's? Oh well. Katie Hoerner on Fox (people around here make fun of her for her scare tactics...she actually told people last year to get in their basements with hard hats on) was adamant that she would be on as long as there was a tornado warning in the viewing area and that those of us in the KC metro would have to suck it up. Oh well. Now, it's kind of cold and cloudy. Hopefully it'll clear up soon.
Daniel started Summer School today. He was so not happy with me when I woke him up. It was everything I could do to get him in the van. I picked him up an hour and a half later and he had the biggest smile on his face and wouldn't stop talking about what a great time he had. He's already done the assigned homework for Wednesday and can't wait to go back. He actually told me that he wished it was every day! Let's hope it stays this fun for him!
It stormed and stormed last night. We got the thunder and lightning about 45 minutes before any rain which was kind of strange. It was super windy too. The TV stations have learned their lesson (I think) about breaking into programming for random tornado warnings because they just kept the box up. Gary Lezak on NBC would come on during commercials. ABC was running the NBA finals and you could tell that it was killing them not to break in. I think they learned their lesson after the whole Grey's thing. Every two minutes or so, they'd play the *BEEP BEEP BEEP* and a big ol' scroll across the top. Why couldn't they do that for Grey's? Oh well. Katie Hoerner on Fox (people around here make fun of her for her scare tactics...she actually told people last year to get in their basements with hard hats on) was adamant that she would be on as long as there was a tornado warning in the viewing area and that those of us in the KC metro would have to suck it up. Oh well. Now, it's kind of cold and cloudy. Hopefully it'll clear up soon.
Daniel started Summer School today. He was so not happy with me when I woke him up. It was everything I could do to get him in the van. I picked him up an hour and a half later and he had the biggest smile on his face and wouldn't stop talking about what a great time he had. He's already done the assigned homework for Wednesday and can't wait to go back. He actually told me that he wished it was every day! Let's hope it stays this fun for him!
Monday, May 04, 2009
Crazy Weekend
Mike's nephew, Bryan, and his fiance, Marlaina, got married on Saturday. Hannah was so excited because she got to be the flower girl. Quick funny story:
Thursday night, Hannah had asked me a question.
Hannah: Is there going to be a reindeer at the wedding?
Me: Ummm...I don't think so. I think it's too warm for reindeer.
Hannah: No. A REEEEEIIIIIINNNNNdeer. Will one be there?
Me: Sweetie, maybe at a winter wedding but reindeer don't come to spring weddings.
Hannah: MOM! Seriously! You know...a reindeer. They walk down the aisle with a pillow!
Me (finally getting it): OH! A ring bearer? I don't know if there will be a ring bearer at the wedding.
Hannah: Geez. That's all I wanted to know!
We left for Atlanta on Friday morning. We were nervous because the rehearsal was to start at 5 and we weren't landing until after 2pm. We then had to get the car and drive to Commerce, GA which is where we were staying and where the wedding was taking place. We made it to the hotel at 4:45, we checked in and headed straight to the church.
Amazingly, we were the second people there...Mike's parents were the only ones that beat us. That was fine because the kids got to run around a little and Mike and I were able to change.
Here are some pictures from Friday night. Click the photos to make them bigger.
Mike and his brother, Marc
Thursday night, Hannah had asked me a question.
Hannah: Is there going to be a reindeer at the wedding?
Me: Ummm...I don't think so. I think it's too warm for reindeer.
Hannah: No. A REEEEEIIIIIINNNNNdeer. Will one be there?
Me: Sweetie, maybe at a winter wedding but reindeer don't come to spring weddings.
Hannah: MOM! Seriously! You know...a reindeer. They walk down the aisle with a pillow!
Me (finally getting it): OH! A ring bearer? I don't know if there will be a ring bearer at the wedding.
Hannah: Geez. That's all I wanted to know!
We left for Atlanta on Friday morning. We were nervous because the rehearsal was to start at 5 and we weren't landing until after 2pm. We then had to get the car and drive to Commerce, GA which is where we were staying and where the wedding was taking place. We made it to the hotel at 4:45, we checked in and headed straight to the church.
Amazingly, we were the second people there...Mike's parents were the only ones that beat us. That was fine because the kids got to run around a little and Mike and I were able to change.
Here are some pictures from Friday night. Click the photos to make them bigger.
Mike and his brother, Marc
The bride and groom, Marlaina and Bryan
Hannah and James, the "reindeer."
Hannah waits patiently with the bridesmaids.
The kids loved this huge chess set outside the chapel.
So, we head back to the hotel and are told to be back at the church at 11:30am. Seriously, we could have shown up at 1:30 and we would have been fine but that's okay. The wedding was beautiful and we got some great pictures. It was the first time we got the whole family in for a picture. Here are some photos from the wedding.
Jacob, Daniel and Hannah before the wedding.
Hannah and Marlaina
I can't believe how nice this one turned out. I'm going to put it in a sepia tone and get it blown up. Hannah was looking out the window to see Marlaina getting her picture taken outside.
Hannah and James walk down the aisle. James was so fascinated by what Hannah was doing.
The start of the wedding.
What a big group!
David and Hannah
Daniel and Maurice
The five of us after the wedding.
It was a fun weekend but it's so good to be home.
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