cousins

Delaney and Hayden are just 5 months apart in age. We get to see Hayden about once a month, sometimes more. What a cutie!!
Hayden is very laid-back, happy to play with toys.
Delaney is constantly moving, which means I'm constantly moving.
Before long, they'll be able to play together. But for now we just make them pose for cute pictures.

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Jeremy seems to have made a turn for the better. I forced gently encouraged him to stop taking the Lortabs and try to get by with Tylenol or Ibuprofen. That seemed to make all the difference. They were making him feel worse all over and he still had a sore throat. At least now he's not all druggy and I don't think his throat feels any worse. I even took him on a big outing yesterday...I drove him to the recycling center and then he got a movie from Redbox. Not bad for the first time out of the house in 5 days!

this and that

Did you notice my new blog layout? I changed it to a 3 column format (thanks Kristine!!) so that I can cram even more crap cool stuff onto my page!!
On the right side bar I've added "Good Things" which are just links to fun places to go or things to do. I only have one link on there now. It's to a coffee house in Winfield, KS.
I had lunch there yesterday (yes, while my dear hubby was writhing in misery trying to sip water and swallow jell-o) and it's just the cutest little place. She has turned a bungalow style house into a coffee house. She serves all sorts of coffee and tea and has a wonderful lunch menu.
And in the summer she has live music on the lawn on Friday nights.
Oh and did I mention the owner is my grade-level partner's sister? So it's an annual tradition to head down to her place for a summer lunch.
Thanks Blenda for the yummy food!

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When I took Delaney out to swing earlier in the week, I noticed these hiding behind my rose bush.

They were laying down on the ground so I thought I'd better cut them and bring them in the house to enjoy. After all, I didn't even realize they were there!
The lady who lived here before us did a wonderful job with planting flowers. I have all sorts of flowers that pop up year after year.
The smell of star gazers remind us of hospitals. After our car accident (10 years ago) when I broke my neck, my hospital room was filled with enormous flower arrangements, some with star gazers.
Isn't it weird how smells can bring you back to certain events in your life?
Every day I'm reminded of elementary school when I walk by the school cafeteria. The smell of school lunch never changes!

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Some artwork by Nate:

Nate is in summer school and this is the first piece of artwork that he has actually done all on his own. Melissa, his nurse, usually holds his hand and helps him with whatever art projects or crafts they are doing.
I would've actually kept the original, except the glitter was making a mess on everything.

So I decided to snap a picture of it. And this way, you all get to enjoy it as well!

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Jeremy update:

We are on day 3 which I've heard is THE WORST. So far, he's handling the pain like a WOMAN! Ha!! He knew going into this, that it wouldn't be a piece of cake, but he's not been a complainer at all!

Yesterday he ate some scrambled eggs, mac and cheese and had 2 scoops of chocolate ice cream (courtesy of our Sunday School class, delivered by Kristine...thanks, again!!)

One of his biggest discomforts is his tongue. It is swollen to almost twice the normal size. I gave him Benedryl last night, in case it was an allergic reaction. This morning I called the doctor's office and they said it is most likely caused by the retractor used to hold his tongue down during surgery. It's not common, but happens with some people.

It isn't impeding his swallowing or breathing, but I know it is uncomfortable. Hopefully the swelling will go down soon.

Thanks to everyone who has been praying for him. I think he's a much better patient than I am nurse!!

what a trooper!

We are home and Jeremy is doing great. The surgery only lasted 15 minutes and we were leaving the surgery center just 3 1/2 hours after first checking in. Absolutely amazing! The nurse was able to get his IV started on the first try, which was his biggest fear. After surgery, when the nurses took me back to see him, Jeremy was joking around and talking. I know he's in a lot of pain, especially when trying to swallow, but he's being a great patient.

Dang...I was hoping to get to play the "poor wife card" for awhile.

Summer Days

Summers for teachers are supposed to be 3 months of sleeping in, hanging out at the pool (or golf course), catching up on reading, staying up late, laid-back days, right? Well let me set you straight!

First of all, for the record, summer vacation is really only a little more than 2 months. Especially when you consider the extra days we spend in August getting our classrooms ready. Just wanted to make that little tidbit clear to everyone.

For us, summer does have its share of laid-back days. We piddle around the house, complete home improvement projects, take a family vacation, and the golf course sees plenty of Jeremy.
But we also spend a LOT of time at doctor's appointments.

Today we started the appointment season with a visit to the ENT for Jeremy. He's already had strep throat at least twice this year. I suppose you could count it as three times because after the first bout he had to get back on an antibiotic. And he's had more than his fair share of encounters with strep in his life. I won't go into all the gory details. But he is having a tonsillectomy in July. Lord give me strength!!!

Other upcoming appointments include visits to the neurologist, endocrinologist and pulmonologist for Nate. Dentist appointments for Mom, Dad, Bri and Alli. Orthodontist appointment for Allison. Delaney will see the pediatrician for more shots. Sports physicals for both girls. Mom sees the gyno (woohoo). And most likely Nate will have a bronchoscopy (annual procedure) toward the end of the summer.

In other news, Nate started summer school yesterday. He goes from 8:30 to 12:30 on Monday through Thursday for seven weeks. His nurse, Melissa goes with him and the bus transports them to and from school. It's so good for him to get out. I think he gets bored at home. I mean there's only so much baseball a kid can watch! Let me rephrase that...there's only so much baseball WE can watch! And it's nice for us to have a little bit of freedom from his care.
But there goes sleeping in.

So there you have it. Not a terribly exciting start to our summer. But we're starting to get into a routine. And before you know it, we'll be back to school and dreaming of the summer days we were sitting in waiting rooms, flipping through magazines.