G day at the Hospital

Here we are in Bremerton at the hostipal (Rylan's terminology). We decided to bring the little ones because I feel more comfortable knowing they are around and Ry was a little too concerned about mommy to stay with any friends. They really did quite well and kept Shane company for the several hours we were there. What child doesn't have fun in a hospital room? There are gloves to blow up, contraptions to mess with and nurses to annoy!

Wouldn't you know it, Mae pulled out her "Little Mommy" book out of herbag that I had packed for daddy. We only read it 4 times before the nurse came in to take me into another room. As you can see, brother has given in and is starting to like the book as well.

Here is my awesome nurse Dorreen. She was so sweet and fun and helped me to relax.

The surgery went well. I was pretty nervous, but thanks to a blessing given to me by my husband and Brother Van Aken, I was calm and ready for the surgery.
Here is the end result. I tried to cut out as much of myself as I could so that you could just see the incisions. Each is about an inch long with the exception of the belly button incision which is about 2 inches long. Sore, but manageable.


Here is the belly button incision. Not too much gross out factor, but still a little icky all the same. Sorry about that!That's all for now. Back to resting! Ciao!

A OK!

I'm home, all is well. I am sore, but doing good. I'll write more tomorrow and post some fun photos.
Yes.......I brought the camera. I know I know, but I couldn't help myself!
-Katie

Feeling funny, and it's not the medicine

I am really starting to get nervous about tomorrow. I know it's safe and the procedure has been done so many times that I bet my surgeon can do it with his eyes closed, (let's hope he doesn't), but I am so one of those "what if" people. Here are my "what if's". What if I don't wake up, being a big one, what if I have a bad reaction to the medicine, what if it appears that I am asleep but, I really am awake and can feel everything! Seriously, these are just a few of my concerns. This really has been a blessing because it has reminded me how very important it is to keep your body healthy. Not just for yourself, but for those darling, be it sometimes annoying children of yours that you are in charge of. I am so close to writing them all letters tonight just in case something goes wrong tomorrow. Okay, changing the subject.
Let's talk football because, let's face it....it's my favorite sport. Right? Wrong!
Here's just another reason why. Yesterday Bren had another game. He fumbled the ball a couple of times and the reaction of the 7, yes 7 coaches was disturbing. Not just the shaking of heads and mumbles to each other of what a disappointment his playing was this game oh no, they continued to call him a mama and daddy's boy in front of his team mates and so on because Brennan walked over to us after being embarrassed about the fumble. Shane and I were sitting right behind the coaches and watched the whole thing. The icing on the cake was when Brennan walked over with tears in his eyes because one of the coaches used the F word to describe how if the kids see the other teams players in front of them, "F*** em up". Whoa nelly! I talked to the head coach after the game about this and how we don't use that language around our kids and I was basically scoffed at. My question is.....what now?? Brennan doesn't want to play anymore because his coaches are mean. Apparently every time they mess up at practice, such as running outside a cone etc, they run a lap (size of a high school track). Brennan runs an average of 5 at each practice. Practices by the way are 3 days a week for 2 hours. The kids in his division are anywhere from 7-9 and do full on tackle football. A child in a higher level, 11 years old was hurt on Saturday after a tackle and was rushed to the hospital because of a suspected spinal injury.
I know.....these are things that I should have considered early on, and did, but Brennan's passion outweighed the risks. Honestly, it is ridiculous watching these grown man act as if they are coaching a professional team. They are trying to relive their old football days. These are children, not men. There was one mom cheering on the kids that I swear could have been right out of a SNL skit. She was screaming and tough faced and I nearly peed my pants laughing so hard. Who are these people fooling anyways??
My question to you my faithful readers is this....do I pull him out like he wants or will I be teaching him that quitting is okay?? Any advice would be so very welcome.
Stay tuned for post surgery blogs. I imagine they will go something like this....
afdaf went lkafjd well aaf on good pain adfkl;;af meds. Oooh, soal;dfjkafa good.

Ciao!

Playing catch up.....it's not a sport

Now that I am feeling better, slightly annoyed with my children at the moment, but better all the same, I am going to write about what I would have written about Tuesday night. It was a big moment for Nathan when he and I went to his new school Woodward the day before school started. Well, maybe a bigger moment for me. He has an actual locker now with a combination. It was fun to open a locker again and to teach Nathan how to do the combo. It took him a few tries, but he finally got it. We walked around the school and to each of his classes and met some teachers. They do this for everyone earlier on, but we had missed it and I am glad we did. It is really nice to be the only parent/child duo walking around the school. No lines to meet the teachers and no chaos. Frankly, I have plenty of that already. It was relaxed and pleasant and I felt better about him going there and having 6 classes! What happened to my little guy? Who said he could grow up?

It's official, I have created a reading monster. For those of you that read my earlier blog about how Mae would never let me read to her and that she would only read to herself, psh. Remember my complaints? Well, I never anticipated that she would live and breathe being read to at such a young age. Her favorite books? "Little mommy", "The Teddy Bears Picnic", and " Curious George". It would be cute if she just liked to read them once, heck, it would even be cute if she wanted to read one book over and over one night. But, no.....after I finish each book, she screams and hands me the book again. Her favorite of all time is the 1950's classic "Little Mommy". I love that she makes the meow noise for the kitten playing on each page and I love her expression of wonder for how this little girl takes care of her dolls. It is so girly. What I don't particularly love, is that this afternoon, she was so tired and yet, wouldn't let me put the book down. We read little mommy 12 times until finally I hid the book and let her cry. I know, I am such a mean mommy.
Here are some cute photos of her in book bliss.
Rylan started his first team sport today. Soccer! He was so excited to finally be old enough. We went and bought him his first cleats and shin guards yesterday and he slept in them last night.
His team was too cute. Rylan went out there and talked more than he played. He talks with his hands so it was pretty dang cute.

Here he is in action. Look at him run! Some great moments on the field were when a couple of the kids ended up on someone else's field but kept playing anyways, Ry's friend Kyler would go up and high five his family during the game and Rylan just walking off the field because he was tired. Too cute!

Meanwhile, the big boys were playing. Myron is an amazing soccer player, so he is really fun to watch. He is super fast. Here he is with a couple good buddies from his team. Go Demon Pandas!
Yes.....the kids picked the team name. Can you tell?
After a quick rest, we are off to Brennan's football game at 5:30. I will post photos and news of that game later!
Ciao~

"I get by with a little help from my friends"

Today I am thankful for friends. Friends that are like sisters. Friends that drop everything to help you out. My cup runneth over with amazing friends. Yesterday was hard and last night even harder thanks to my midnight snack that turned into an all night gall bladder ache. That and Mae has a cold and kept waking up. Luckily I was able to get up with my first early riser, Myron who had to be on the bus by 6:55 this morning. After that, it was all over. I popped a pain pill and was out until 10:30. I had an apt at 11:30 with the surgeon and my friends Leslie and Chantal wanted to take me so I left the kids with Shane and went with my dear friends. I was feeling really hazy because of the pain meds so Leslie took notes and asked all the right questions. Thank heavens for her because even now, I couldn't tell you what went on in there. Just that my surgery is scheduled for Monday at 7:30am and I have to be there at 6:30am!!! Again......for those who know me....you can pick your jaw up from the floor now. I have to do it! I tried for a later time slot, and Leslie, bless her heart did as well. It's okay, I probably wont sleep much the night before anyhow. After the Dr, we all headed to Costco. I watched Chantal eat Pizza and yearned to take a bite. I have been put on a strict no fat diet until my surgery. Right before I was going to steal Chantals pizza and bolt for the door, Leslie brought me a chicken caesar salad and a berry shake. You know Costco though! On every aisle, there were enticing samples of bacon, cheese, sweets, etc. Anyhow, I made it out and am home in bed and on another pain medicine.
It's not really working, but I am not in too much pain, so I think I will relish in my clearmindedness for now. Oh, by the way......today is Shane's birthday! Just saying this last line reminds me of the episode on Seinfeld where George is trying to give the most pitiful story of his life to win over the apartment in his building. Okay okay....so he wins, but I am definitely a close second at this point!
Ciao

They're baaaaack!

While waiting for Myron at soccer practice last night, I had a gall stone attack that hit me very suddenly. It was so bad that I couldn't even talk through it. I had to drive, so I said a prayer and sped as fast as I could go safetly to get Shane. After getting Shane, we decided the best thing to do would be to call an ambulance but, we were only a block away from the fire station, so we went there. It would be too much to wait another hour for Bren to get home from football and then load everyone up at 7 at night. Did I mention that the today was the first day of school? So, I was put on a stretcher and loaded up and taken to East Bremerton which was about an hour away. The Silverdale hospital was full. I made Shane stay home with the kids to get them to bed and ready for school the next day. I had never been in an ambulance before. My imagination was on overload that's for sure. If I could think clearly, i'd elaborate but......I am on a very high dose of a certain narcotic and my mind isn't functioning the way it normally does. Anyhow, to make a long story short, I arrived at the hospital at 8, left at 11 (quick I know) and got home around 12:30. Around 2am the pain started coming back and I didn't have any pain pills because I couldn't find a 24 hour pharmacy. At about 6 in the morning, I took one of my sleep pills left over from after Mae was born and finally fell asleep. Fast forward to 1pm. Pain is back and intense again. Luckily I had an apt at 3 with my dr. Betty Bennet. Wrong...apparently it was at 2.
I got there at 2:45 and they were so incredibly rude that finally, in tears I said to the office manager Cindy how I didn't appreciate how inconsiderate and unkind she was being to me. I had to be seen by my Dr. to be referred to a surgeon, so this really was a big deal to be seen. Cindy told me that I would never been seen there again and told me that she was going to call my insurance people to let them know. I broke down again, here I am in pain with Rylan and Mae in tow and she is denying me service?? Finally Dr. Bennet came in and I told her everything. Guess what she said to my question of her stand on letting me go because her employee was rude to ME. "It's for the best". I was hurt and shocked. I walked out stunned. So, no Dr., lots of pain, and no plan. I called Dr. Keyes, a member in our ward, my mothers doctor and Myrons scout leader. He had me come in right away. He had them give me two shots for the pain and a number to call tomorrow to schedule the surgery. Talk about an insane day. So after that....Shane and I had to do some grocery shopping. Boy, that was a crazy experience. Anyhow, i'm home, got my drugs, my book and some snacks. Hopefully the pain won't come back or I am on my way to the ER again. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, here is a cool website that explains what I am going through. Ciao.
http://www.becomehealthynow.com/article/bodydigestive/677/

Blackberries and cream

Nathan and Myron are in the same class at church and for their class party, they were invited to the Bill Point outdoor pool today. Here are my boys with a couple of the silliest, sweetest and coolest kids I know. My kids are in good company.
While the boys were at their party. My friend and I took our younger ones over to Point Blakely to pick berries and go down to the beach. The berries are so small this year, it really was a lot of work to get enough for all of us. Mae loved the berries and didn't even care if they weren't ripe all the way. She was so cute walking across the field. Every three steps or so, she'd fall down because of the tall grass and little humps in the ground, but she kept on getting back up and trying again. That's my girl. I cut her bangs last night. I started at her eyebrows but as you can see, they ended up quite higher than that because of her wiggling.


I need to go back and take a better photo of this peek a boo spot. We walked straight from the blackberry field to this spot. I didn't dare let Mae down in the mud. I didn't have a change of clothes and her shoes were the little leather ones that soak through to the socks when wet.
Here we are at last. Blackberries and cream. Thank you Cade for reminding me of how good this is. We had to add quite a bit of sugar because the berries were pretty sour. I remember one of my favorite things at my grandma's house was rasperries and cream. Canned raspberries. Yum.
Speaking of yum, I came up with a great quick dish last night that the kids and hubby loved.
Grilled chicken on a corn tortilla with mango, avocado, pepper salsa. They loved it and it was so easy.
Take chicken and broil. Would be better if marinated in olive oil, lime salt for 30 min before grilling.
Cube the chicken or shred it, whatever
Fry your corn tortillas for only about 20 seconds each side
Wrap chicken in tortilla and top with salsa and sour cream.

Salsa-
cut up 1 avocado, 1 mango, 1/2 a red onion, 1/2 cup cilantro, 1/2 a chopped red pepper, 1 large tomato, squeeze some lime, salt and pepper, garlic (I used 2 tbsp of jarred) and a little fresh jalepeno.
It is amazing, light and healthy.
Try it and tell me what you think!
Ciao